Poison Ivies: DEI and the Downfall of the Ivy League
“The review of Ivy League practices by our CriticalRace.org project reflects substantial efforts by Ivy League schools to purport to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action, while maintaining work-arounds and DEI practices that continue the obsession with racial identities.”
Our CriticalRace.org project doesn’t get as much coverage at this Legal Insurrection website as our Equal Protection Project (EqualProtect.org), but it’s been chugging away documenting the spread of CRT and its offshoots, like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, since February 2021. Over 150 media outlets have linked to and cited the CRT databases, and over 600,000 users have performed almost 8 million actions.
We have expanded the interactive databases to now cover over 700 schools, including over 500 colleges and universities, all 156 Medical Schools, the military service academies, elite K-12 private schools, top business and veterinary schools, and DEI Certificate programs.
While others have moved on from CRT to other hot topics, we have continued to update and databases and research, firmly believing that just because the media spotlight has shifted, the importance of fighting the racialization of education remains critical.
We also have moved into content creation and analyis using the databases as a source, including how the largest universities in states that have ordered the elimination of DEI have rebranded rather than eliminated the DEI agenda, and how DEI is active in the schools of the Southeast Conference. Expect more reports and analysis in 2025, plus a Parents Guide that is ready to be revealed soon.
Our latest analytical report focuses on Poison Ivies: DEI and the Downfall of the Ivy League [full embed at bottom of post].
Fox News has picked up coverage, Report highlights prevalence of DEI at Ivy League institutions: ‘Dominant ideology’
The Equal Protection Project, founded and led by Cornell professor William Jacobson, has released a deep-dive report on the prevalence of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training at Ivy League universities.
In his comprehensive report, “Poison Ivies: DEI and the Downfall of the Ivy League,” Jacobson examines programs the eight Ivy League institutions use and require for students.
“The review of Ivy League practices by our CriticalRace.org project reflects substantial efforts by Ivy League schools to purport to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action, while maintaining work-arounds and DEI practices that continue the obsession with racial identities,” Jacobson told Fox News Digital.
In his report, Jacobson shows how Ivy League institutions are sidestepping the June 29, 2023, ruling by the Supreme Court that says race cannot be used in admission decision-making at universities.
“Ivy League universities pretend not to take race into consideration but then provide essay question opportunities for students to talk about their race,” he said.
“The Supreme Court affirmative action ruling took place in the context of university admissions, but it’s clear that the court’s opinion at its core was an Equal Protection Clause ruling that applies in other university contexts.”
In his report, Jacobson found that out of the eight Ivy League universities:
- Four require DEI training in student orientation programs (Columbia, Harvard, Princeton and Yale).
- Six require faculty or staff DEI training in some capacity (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Penn, Princeton and Yale).
- All eight have DEI offices at the institutional and/or department level.
- Five have a strategic plan devoted to DEI or anti-racism (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth and Yale).
- All eight have DEI or CRT (critical race theory) topics in classes and curricula.
- All eight have bias reporting systems.
Jacobson said he found that while the universities “pretend” not to consider race, in practice, they often do….
“It’s hard to believe that in environments in which DEI is the dominant ideology, taking on a quasi-religious fervor, that race does not enter into admissions decisions in fact, even if there is window-dressing to provide possible legal cover.”
* * *
The Equal Protection Project focuses on challenging race-based discrimination. The organization has challenged over 100 scholarships and programs discriminating against White and Asian students at universities across the country.
“To fully achieve the nondiscrimination standards of the Supreme Court ruling, the race-obsessed cultures at the Ivy League schools need to change,” Jacobson said. “It will be a long process. The Supreme Court ruling was just the first step.”
Summary of new report by @wajacobson on DEI at the Ivies: https://t.co/y8NDC3sxzK pic.twitter.com/6TS5gx1j59
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) December 22, 2024
As you consider year-end charitable donations, please remember 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.
=======================
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
” discriminating against White and Asian students at universities across the country”
That’s IQ discrimination with race as a marker, confirming its marker status for IQ in their minds, which is not incorrect but is the opposite of what they claim to believe.
This is racism and that is how it should be stopped. Just outlaw all forms of racism and allow its victims to sue for compensation. Class action lawsuits should bankrupt them and put a stop to this form of racism.
If we don’t stop DEI it will spread through the workforce, then to the military and the next thing you know the Navy will be shooting down their own airplanes.
It has already spread through the workforce and military.
Whoosh!
What was that?
That was Paula’s comment going over your head.
Can the incoming Trump Administration withhold grants from schools that covertly discriminate on the basis of race?
Stop grants entirely. Stop requiring colleges to enroll a certain quantity of students who don’t belong in college in the first place. Then, stop government guaranteed student loans. Let the colleges themselves loan the money to the students that they feel belong. There. You’ll see all of the dei courses, dei departments, and studies majors dry up overnight.
The point of “covertly” is that they deny they’re doing it, and you can’t prove it.
So if they’re successful at being covert then you can’t cut off their funding, because you don’t know they’re doing it, other than in a general way that “they’re all doing it”.
It’s doable; just takes the will to do so:
(1) DoEd declares that any program that discriminates for or against any person is a violation of the law (statutory and constitutional), and therefore the annual non-discrimination certification must include a representation that the school does not take race into account in admissions. In short, to get federal funds, you must swear you do not have *any* affirmative action programs, practices, etc. (My sources say this is going to happen.)
(2) The feds further warn schools that submitting a false certification in order to obtain federal funding will be considered fraud on the government; and that under the False Claims Act the recovery is three times the amounts obtained from the government by fraud.
(3) DoJ and DoEd also announce that they will not intervene or interfere with any qui tam actions brought by whistleblowers against universities to recover all federal funds obtained by fraudulent nondiscrimination certifications.
(4) Seeing the chance to hit some very, very deep pockets for big bucks, the plaintiffs’ bar will take it from there. They will contract with litigation finance funds (typically hedge-fund bases) to bankroll the litigation for a cut. They will actively recruit whistleblowers from inside the universities — insiders who know what is going on and where the bodies are buried, and would like to be able to have a life of leisure from their share of the 25%-30% qui tam “finders fee.” (And because whistleblowers are protected under federal law, they probably are protected from being fired, demoted, etc. . . . which would mean insiders who are worried about being fired have an even bigger incentive to drop a dime on their school.)
(5) When the first school gets nuked from orbit like this (i.e., having to repay 300% of federal funds received post-false-certification — funds the school will already have spent!), the others will realize that continuing affirmative action in admission is literally an existential hazard.
Turn the ingenuity, tenaciousness, and avarice of the US plaintiffs’ bar loose on academia, and the problem will be solved in short order.
(Item 1 should be “discriminates for or against any person *based on race*)
Look closely at the eight Ivy League logos at the start of the article. Is “Princeton” misspelled?
Where is the downfall part?
The Ivies intend on destroying themselves and have the resources to do so. Let them.
The alumni donors need to kill this efforts. See Bill Ackman for advice.
Why not make all discrimination based on race illegal and encourage the victims to file huge class action lawsuits against the racist institutions?
It already is illegal. So why aren’t there lawsuits?
You have to look at what’s actually involved in litigating a class action. It’s not just “they are bad and so a class action is warranted” — you have to have class plaintiff representatives with standing, someone who will fund the litigation, and a winnable case. Easier said than done, especially given that you’ll have to sue most of the big targets in very unfavorable venues.
(1) WRT claims based on discrimination in admissions, what monetary relief can a spurned student applicant get? Leaving aside the difficultity of proving that he would have been admitted but for the discrimination (individualized proof that probably nukes the commonality element for a class action), what’s the damages model? Remember, a plaintiff has to demonstrate concrete, non speculative economic damages, and for a student who wasn’t admitted that’s gonna be very difficult (and probably modest at the end of the day). About the best you can hope for is injunctive relief — which Ed Blum has been getting, but it’s still not stopping the schools.
(2) WRT claims based on discrimination in employment / promotions: Anyone filing the lawsuit will immediately be rendered radioactive and unemployable in academia, which makes it VERY hard to find a suitable class rep. Plus you have the same proof issues as in (1). Damages model here is easier, but again the proof is individualized, making class certification harder (but not impossible). Additionally, given the relatively small number of “equivalent” faculty positions that such a claim would apply to (i.e., the typicality element of class certification), you run into a probable failure of the numerosity element for class certification.
Believe me, many of us have been looking for ways to use the legal process to drag academia into reality. The Trump 2.0 admin will probably create a lot of opportunities here, but it’s not as easy as people assume.
Someone forgot the “E” in Princeton, in the lead-off chart.