Scholarship Excluding Males Who Identify As Males at Rochester Inst. of Technology Challenged By Equal Protection Project

Scholarship Excluding Males Who Identify As Males at Rochester Inst. of Technology Challenged By Equal Protection Project

The Equal Protection Project (EPP) (EqualProtect.org) of the Legal Insurrection Foundation has challenged numerous racially discriminatory programs done in the name of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This discrimination comes in various ways, but the overarching theme is to exclude or diminish some people and promote others, based on race, color, or ethnicity. We have filed over two dozen complaints and legal actions since launch in February 2023, with over half the schools withdrawing or modifying the discriminatory programs. (See EPP Impact Summaries.)

Not all of our actions have been limited to racial discrimination, we also have challenged multiple instances in which racial discrimination was mixed with sex discrimination and gender identity discrimination against men who are not “trans” or nonbinary. The intersectionality of these discriminations is a byproduct of the DEI ideology.

For the first time, we have filed a case involving solely sex and gender identity discrimination that came in through an anonymous tip on the EPP contact form.

On July 10, 2024, we filed a Civil Rights Complaint (full embed at bottom of post) with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education, against Rochester Institute of Technology over its Women in Stem Award for incoming students. The scholarship is open to females and persons who identify as female or nonbinary. Males who identify as males are not eligible, which violates Title IX which as interpreted by the Biden OCR covers gender identity discrimination. Whether we agree with this interpretation of Title IX is irrelevant, it is OCR’s guidance that schools like RIT that receive federal funding are required to follow.

RIT’s own nondiscrimination policies also prohibit sex and gender identity discrimination. RIT can’t promulgate these rule but only apply them to harm males who identify as males. We are seeking to make RIT live by its own set of rules.

From the Civil Rights Complaint:

We make this civil rights complaint against the Rochester Institute of Technology (“RIT”) for sex-based discrimination in violation of Title IX. Specifically, RIT offers, administers, funds, and promotes the single-sex, female-only “Women in STEM Award”2 that is one of six scholarships that form RIT’s High School Awards Program offering “an undergraduate scholarship valued at $76,000 ($19,000 per year).” The Women in STEM Award is offered exclusively to an “outstanding female, female-identifying, or non-binary student who has demonstrated high achievement, ability, and interest in science, computing, robotics, and/or math” (see screenshot below).

In other words, students who are not female, “female-identifying” or “non-binary” are excluded from this scholarship and discriminated against based on their sex. This policy is in violation of RIT’s Nondiscrimination policy3 and as set forth below, a violation of law.

fn 3 “Nondiscrimination Statement: RIT does not discriminate. RIT promotes and values diversity within its workforce and provides equal opportunity to all qualified individuals regardless of race, color, creed, age, marital status, sex, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, veteran status, or disability.” Rochester Institute of Technology website. Found at https://www.rit.edu/nondiscrimination; archived at https://web.archive.org/ web/20240709203945/https://www.rit.edu/nondiscrimination.

We then go on to discuss the law, including OCR’s interpreatation that “sex” discrimination inclused gender identity discrimination.

By this letter, we request that OCR investigate RIT for sex-based discrimination in violation of Title IX’s prohibition of such discrimination.4 Title IX makes it unlawful to discriminate based on sex in education. That statute provides that “[n]o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” 20 U.S.C. §1681(a). For this reason, a school may not administer scholarships, fellowships or other forms of financial assistance that impose a preference or restriction based on sex, with limited exceptions not applicable here. 34 C.F.R. § 106.37(a).

fn 4 OCR guidance includes gender-identity discrimination as actionable under Title IX. “Enforcement of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 With Respect to Discrimination on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Light of Bostock v. Clayton County,” 86 Fed. Reg. 32637 (June 22, 2021) (found at https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/202106-titleix-noi.pdf (“Addressing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity . . . fits squarely within OCR’s responsibility to enforce Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination”).

The case has received substantial upstate New York media coverage, including the Rochester Business Journal (which was syndicated in other papers in the chain):

“The eligibility requirements for this scholarship openly discriminate on the basis of sex and gender identity,” said William A. Jacobson, founder of the Equal Protection Project. “A male who identifies as male is excluded, while a male who identifies as female or nonbinary is eligible. Regardless of the purpose of the discrimination, it is wrong and unlawful.” 

Jacobson said the organization is calling on RIT leadership to make sure nondiscrimination standards are upheld throughout the university system, noting that RIT’s nondiscrimination policies forbid discrimination on the basis of sex or gender identity.  

“RIT needs to come up with a remedial plan to compensate students shut out of this scholarship due to discrimination,” Jacobson said.  

A spokesperson from RIT said the school “would not comment on a pending complaint.”  

WXXI, the local NPR affiliate, also covered the story:

This action is part of a larger campaign by the Legal Insurrection Foundation and its Equal Protection Project against affirmative-action related programs and policies at higher education institutions. EPP has filed a litany of complaints over the years alleging discrimination over affirmative-action related programs. Recently, the group filed a complaint against Ithaca College over programing uplifting Black, Indigenous, students of color….

According to the OCR, when its office receives a complaint about “a sex-restricted scholarship or program, and in response, the school seeks to invoke its ability to engage in affirmative action, OCR will require the school to support its justification with a specific assessment of the facts and circumstances surrounding the scholarship or other program.”

ABC 13 News in Rochester also ran a short segment on the regular news and morning show:

EPP is in a major expansion mode, and we expect to broaden our challenges to racially discriminatory programs.  But we need your help. We are a small organization going up against powerful and wealthy government and private institutions devoted to DEI discrimination. Donations are greatly needed and appreciated.

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