I learned two really important things recently.
First, Prof. Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame has started a Substack, Glenn’s Substack. Prof. Reynolds has been a great friend of Legal Insurrection since our inception, and he has proven that there is an intangible that makes some blogs/websites succeed, and others not so much. Trying to be “the next Instapundit” has been an exercise in futility for many a blogger. Imitation may be the hightest form of flattery, but it doesn’t keep readers coming back. You need a unique wit, a connection with readers, and a credibility that money can’t buy. So I have no doubt that Prof. Reynold’s Substack will be a great success, you could say “the next Instapundit.”
Second, I learned about Prof. Mark Perry. I knew “of” him, but I don’t know him personally. He’s a legend for filing civil rights complaints over discriminatory campus policies and administrative conduct that is oh so politically correct, but illegal. His list of complaints he has filed notes that as of the end of 2022:
Based on resolutions with the Office for Civil Rights in 2022 resulting from my civil rights complaints, nearly 100 US colleges and universities agreed to change, discontinue, or stop promoting 170 female-only or BIPOC/Black-only programs, awards, fellowships, and scholarships to correct their Title VI and/or Title IX violations.
A legend.
In this May 2021 video interview, Prof. Perry explained his methodology and strategy:
Prof. Reynolds has an interesting substack post about Prof. Perry, Fighting Campus Bigotry with Prof. Mark J. Perry:
When it comes to fighting the power, Prof. Mark J. Perry is doing it. He’s been filing complaints for civil rights violations against universities that discriminate on the basis of race and sex – for example, establishing all-women or all-minority scholarships or programs – because doing so, even if it’s for fashionable reasons, is against the law. I asked him a to talk about what he’s doing and why, and at the end he has some advice on how you can help, and an offer of assistance. I chime in with some other things you can do.
What follows is a Q&A that you need to read all of. Here are some short excerpts:
…Over the last four years, I have identified more than 1,500 violations at US colleges and universities of Title VI’s prohibition of race-based discrimination and Title IX’s prohibition of sex-based discrimination. Based on that documented evidence of illegal violations of federal civil rights laws, I have filed Title VI and Title IX complaints against more than 700 colleges and universities with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Based on those complaints, the OCR has so far opened 337 federal civil rights investigations and has resolved 257 of those investigations, mostly in my favor.***Title VI (only 40 words) and Title IX (only 36 words) are both very simple and clear civil rights laws, and I’ve tried to only file complaints for violations of those laws that are clear and well-documented with indisputable evidence. OCR is staffed by experienced attorneys and investigators and I try to make their work easy by only filing complaints that I am confident will result in successful outcomes with appropriate corrective remedies.In 2022 alone, the OCR resolved 170 violations of Title VI and IX at 97 colleges and universities based on my complaints, which I think demonstrates the success I’ve had by filing timely complaints with convincing and incontrovertible evidence.***Most of the conservative press that follows higher education (The College Fix, Minding the Campus, Campus Reform, Alpha News, Daily Caller, Instapundit, Legal Insurrection, Washington Free Beacon, etc.) have covered my civil rights efforts and success on a routine basis. On the other hand, the mainstream press that covers higher education like the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, Washington Post, and the New York Times have routinely ignored my civil rights efforts and documented successes….If I were fighting for the civil rights of today’s most favored groups – women, BIPOCs, and LGBTQIA+s – and had 200 successful civil rights complaints resolved on behalf of those groups, I am confident that I’d be promoted in the mainstream media as a modern-day Martin Luther King. But given the unfavored groups I’m fighting for, my civil rights efforts and successes are convenient to ignore by the mainstream outlets like the Chronicle of Education and Inside Higher Ed.
Prof. Reynolds wrote a book, An Army of Davids, and that ethos still applies, Prof. Reynolds added at the end of the interview:
I believe that this sort of approach is very productive. Anyone with a web browser and an email account can file a complaint, and the research material is usually on the university’s own website, where they cluelessly brag about their illegal programs. Often, higher education people seem generally amazed that race or sex discrimination – so long as it’s performed on behalf of fashionable groups – is nonetheless illegal. It’s important for them to be reminded that the law does not comport with modern woke ideas on race and gender. It’s also the case that the investigations themselves are a deterrent. They involve paperwork, hassle, and risk for the institutions involved and the personnel who run them. As the left likes to say, “the process is the punishment.” Leftist advocacy groups are happy to exploit that fact. Why let them have all the fun?
Head over to “the next Instapundit” – Glenn’s Substack, and read the whole interview.
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