Civil rights activist says alerting legal team is key to effecting change
The University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business recently revised an admissions program aimed at black transfer students following a federal civil rights complaint.
The original program, known as the Marshall Pathways Program, was “the first Undergraduate Admissions initiative designed to support Black and African-American prospective transfer students throughout the application and matriculation processes,” according to the business school.
However, this description has since been removed and replaced with race-neutral language after Professor Mark Perry filed a complaint with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
Perry filed the complaint in January of this year.
The former University of Michigan-Flint professor said the key to effecting change, based on filing nearly 1,000 complaints, is to alert the school’s legal team.
“I’ve now filed 943 federal civil rights complaints with the Office for Civil Rights for sex-based discrimination in violation of Title IX and race-based discrimination in violation of Title VI at more than 850 colleges and universities,” Perry told The College Fix via email. “In some cases like USC, I also share a courtesy copy of my complaint with the school’s Office of the General Counsel after filing the complaint with OCR.”
Perry highlighted the importance of involving a university’s legal staff to address potential violations more swiftly than waiting for OCR’s sometimes lengthy evaluation and investigation process. He said it is often effective to bring such violations to the attention of a university’s legal team, which is motivated to minimize legal risks for the institution.
“It has often been very successful to bring a violation to the attention of a school’s legal staff, and that was the case with USC Marshall School of Business,” the civil rights activist told The Fix.
This strategy helped get the university to review its program, according to the Office for Civil Rights.
“Upon learning of the complaint, the University reviewed the Program and took steps to ensure that the Program does not have any criteria for participation that is based on race, color, or national origin,” the resolution letter sent to Perry stated.
New programs should undergo “legal review” to ensure compliance with federal civil rights laws, according to Perry.
“When new programs are being introduced, like USC’s discriminatory Black-only transfer student program, those programs should be submitted for a legal review with the university’s lawyers in the Office of the General Counsel to ensure legal compliance with federal civil rights laws,” Perry said.
He criticized the widespread lack of awareness or concern about federal civil rights laws within university administrations when creating programs that favor certain groups.
Perry also provided advice for students and faculty who wish to ensure their institutions uphold civil rights laws. He suggested bringing questionable programs to the attention of the university’s legal staff or filing external complaints with the OCR. For those concerned about retaliation, Perry offered to file complaints on their behalf, ensuring anonymity.
USC’s business school did not respond to two emailed requests for comment sent in the past month. The Fix also called recently and provided contact information to a university staffer, but no further comment has been provided.
The Fix asked what measures the university will implement in the future to prevent similar problems, how it would communicate the changes in program eligibility, and what role its general counsel plays in reviewing programs for legal compliance.
Editor’s note: Mark Perry is a paid consultant to The College Fix on an unrelated project.
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IMAGES: Michael Jung/Shutterstock; Mark Perry
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