Blacks-Only Executive Program At Santa Clara University Challenged By Equal Protection Project
The Black Corporate Board Readiness Program “explicitly discriminates on the basis of race by offering training only to black individuals”
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, ethnicity, or sex. In all we have filed over 40 complaints and legal actions since launch in February 2023, with over half the schools withdrawing or modifying the discriminatory programs after our filing. (See EPP September 2024 Impact Report.)
Almost all of our actions have addressed discrimination in higher education. In our latest action, we have 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 the private Santa Clara University.
From the Complaint:
We write in connection with Santa Clara University (“SCU”), a private university located in Santa Clara, California, which, through its Leavey School of Business (“Leavey”), operates, administers and promotes The Black Corporate Board Readiness Program (“BCBR”) – an executive education program “designed to accelerate diverse representation in corporate governance”2 – which is only open to Blacks, in clear violation of Title VI.
As demonstrated in the screenshot below, which is taken from the SCU web page, BCBR explicitly discriminates on the basis of race by offering training only to black individuals (yellow highlighting added):
The racially exclusive nature of BCBR is further shown on the program’s application page, which, under the heading “Alumni,” states that “[t]he purpose of BCBR is to get more Black leaders on public and private corporate boards.”3 [image omitted]
Further, the “Our Story” section of BCBR’s website makes clear that the program was designed by Blacks for Blacks: “BCBR was designed as a ‘for us, by us’ initiative to prepare Black executives[.]”4 [image omitted]
The “Frequently Asked Questions” portion of the “Our Story” section makes clear that the program is only open to Black executives:
“The BCBR program is open to Black executives who have gained extensive senior leadership experience or an equivalent span of control, including as a CEO or general manager. From among qualified Black executives nationwide who apply, up to 35 participants are selected per BCBR cohort.” (emphasis added) [image omitted]
The “History” section of BCBR’s website delineates that only Blacks are invited to apply, stating, “We invite proven Black leaders to apply to a future cohort[.]”5 [image omitted]
It is clear that any reasonable person reading BCBR’s program details as set forth on SCU’s website would understand the racially restrictive nature of the program.6
6 See OCR Guidance on Race and School Programming (2023), https://www.ed.gov/sites/ed/files/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-20230824.pdf [https://web.archive.org/web/20240919154554/https://www.ed.gov/sites/ed/files/about/offices/lis t/ocr/letters/colleague-20230824.pdf] (accessed on Oct. 22, 2024) (“In determining whether an opportunity to participate is open to all students, OCR may consider, for example, whether advertisements or other communications would lead a reasonable student, or a parent or guardian, to understand that all students are welcome to participate.”).
We then go on to explain why this program violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, to which SCU is bound because if receives federal funding, including from the U.S. Department of Education.
The filing has received substantial media coverage in the Bay Area / Silicon Valley, including, KRON4 TV:
The Equal Protection Project (EPP) filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against Santa Clara University on Wednesday. The complaint claims that SCU’s Black Corporate Board Readiness Program violates federal law by only accepting Black applicants.
The EPP was formed in 2023 to fight against discrimination in any form, primarily focusing on higher education. Santa Clara University is the project’s current target, saying the university’s BCBR program discriminated against anyone who isn’t Black.
EPP founder William Jacobson says the university’s Black Corporate Board Readiness program, or BCBR, is the reason. “[BCBR] is limited to Black executives. You can only apply to it if you are Black. That violates the law. You cannot have a program that is open to only one race, or excludes races,” Jacobson said.
Jacobson says a university that receives federal funding has to comply with federal law, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin.
BCBR was formed in 2020, the same year that George Floyd was killed and Black Lives Matter protests ignited nationwide. Jacobson says regardless of the purpose of discrimination, it is “unlawful.”
“They view the remedy for racism as more racism, and if there is discrimination, if there is an imbalance in corporate boards, it is perfectly ok to address that, but you can’t do it by discriminating in addition,” Jacobson said.
The EPP says the US Supreme Court 2023 decision in Students For Fair Admission affirms the wording of the discrimination complaint against Santa Clara University. In it, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority opinion that eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.
“My hope would be that Santa Clara University would change this program and would open it up to everybody, but regardless of what they voluntarily do, we want the Department of Education to open a formal investigation, which is the next step in this process,” Jacobson said.
KRON4 reached out to Santa Clara University for comment, and a spokesperson got back to us saying the university has not received notice of the complaint and has no comment at this time.
Local Fox7 affiliate also reported on the story.
Additional coverage was provided by The Santa Clara, the student newspaper, as well as The College Fix:
“It’s hard to understand how SCU allowed this program,” Jacobson, a Cornell University law professor, stated. “Where were the administrators whose job it is to fight racial discrimination?
“The harm from racial educational barriers is that it racializes not just the specific program, but the entire campus,” the civil rights activist stated. “Sending a message to campus that access to opportunities is dependent on race is damaging to the fabric of society.”
Jacobson’s group has previously flagged questionable program at University of Illinois and Indiana University among other places.
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Comments
As I have stated before, I like EPP’s way of doing something better than other orgs way of doing nothing.
However, all this legal effort is still just one big game of wack-a-mole until those uni admins are criminally prosecuted for egregiously, aggressively, and repeatedly violating federal Title X laws.
We either have laws all should obey, or it’s just *clown world* where wack-a-mole is the national past time to keep lawyers perpetually employed.
That SC is a family school for me; sad.
Well, that’s one way to ensure that your management skills are programmed to fail – exclude anyone from your management team that doesn’t share your skin color, just as you were taught in a curriculum that excluded anyone that did not look like you.
One has to wonder how ideas like this survive internal discussion? Do they not see that a program like this is so obviously illegal that a five year old could figure it out? Are there no attorneys on staff to stop them from doing stupid things that will cost them a lot of money?
I guess the answer is no.
How about programs for people with a minimum to favor whites, Asians and Jews?
Then we could watch Dems howl.
Generally ,intelligence leads to better outcomes.. It is unfortunate that we cannot fix stupid.
It’s so offensive and galling that these blatantly racist, discriminatory and unconstitutional school and corporate programs are still being widely established and promoted.
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