The Equal Protection Project (EqualProtect.org) has challenged over 550 discriminatory programs and scholarships at over 120 colleges and universities. While most of the programs challenged involve violations of Title VI (race, color, and national origin discrimination), increasingly we are challenging violations of Title IX (sex discrimination).On September 26, 2025, we filed a Civil Rights Complaint against Fordham University regarding its “Girl Boss” undergraduate and graduate programs that discriminate against male students. From the Complaint:
We bring this civil rights complaint against Fordham University regarding two of its officially sponsored student organizations and programs — Girl Boss (Fordham Undergraduate Women in Business) (“Undergraduate Girl Boss”) and Fordham Women in Business (“Graduate Girl Boss”), for sex-based discrimination in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”) and its implementing regulations.2
We then break down and document the undergraduate and graduate versions, including the valuable educational and career benefits:
1. UNDERGRADUATE GIRL BOSSFordham’s Undergraduate Girl Boss seeks to “empower enterprising Fordham women of all majors by providing an inspiring space for them to envision how they can become future leaders.”3 The program provides academic and career benefits. “Through panels with industry experts, professional development activities, and networking events, club members have the opportunity to gain firsthand business experience and network with successful women across a wide array of careers.” ….The Undergraduate Girl Boss makes clear—both explicitly and through its signaling— that it is a program for women. Undergraduate Girl Boss’s founding mission statement reinforces this exclusivity, stating: “Girl Boss: Fordham Undergraduate Women in Business Club seeks to empower ambitious Fordham women by providing an inspiring and supportive community.”4 ….Undergraduate Girl Boss hosts professional and educational opportunities that are targeted for female undergraduate students.8 Undergraduate Girl Boss hosts exclusive networking events, leadership panels, and professional-development workshops designed to help members envision and achieve future leadership roles.9Moreover, Undergraduate Girl Boss advertises exclusive partnerships with major companies that provide valuable career opportunities….2. GRADUATE GIRL BOSSGraduate Girl Boss is a graduate-level student organization operating primarily within Fordham’s graduate business programs and largely mirrors Undergraduate Girl Boss. 13 According to Fordham’s GradLink directory and GabelliConnect materials, Graduate Girl Boss’s mission is to “nurture and empower female-identifying students to become successful leaders by cultivating a positive, supportive, and well-informed community.” ….Based on information we have obtained, it appears that male students are excluded from certain aspects of Graduate Girl Boss membership, including membership on the Junior Board.14 This is confirmed by the club’s publicly available information, which states on Fordham’s official website that its mission is “to nurture and empower female-identifying students…”15
14 The Graduate Girl Boss “female-identifying” verbiage does not change the sex discrimination, since the title of the program and promotion focus on females signaling that males are not welcome as full and equal participants, and would preclude the vast majority of males (who identify as male) from participating.
We then brief the law demonstrating why the program violates Title IX, particularly on the issue of “signaling”:
The Fordham Girl Boss programs also “signal” sex-based preferences. As the Second Circuit recognized in Ragin v. New York Times Co., 923 F.2d 995, 999–1000 (2d Cir. 1991), even subtle messaging can convey discriminatory preferences: “Ordinary readers may reasonablyinfer a racial message from advertisements that are more subtle than the hypothetical swastika or burning cross, and we read the word ‘preference’ to describe any ad that would discourage an ordinary reader of a particular race from answering it.” This signaling is actionable because the law looks to how an ordinary reader or applicant would perceive the program. See United States v. Hunter, 459 F.2d 205, 215–16 (4th Cir. 1972) (advertisements judged by effect on the ordinary reader, regardless of intent). When Fordham highlights helping one sex as the defining goal of a program, an ordinary reader reasonably assumes that that trait governs eligibility. That deterrenteffect is itself unlawful discrimination.
The NY Post picked up the story:
A civil rights discrimination complaint has been filed against Fordham University for creating a girls-only business club that excludes male students.Fordham has “Girl Boss” groups for undergraduate and graduate female business students, but boys need not apply, said the bombshell complaint filed with the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights by the Equal Protection Project.The girls-only programs at the New York City Jesuit school violate Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, EPP said in its complaint obtained by The Post.“The programs, by design and promotion, are intended for women and signal that men are not welcome as full and equal participants,” said William Jacobson, a Cornell law professor and founder of the Equal Protection Project.He said “affinity groups” cannot be used to advantage one sex over another when it comes to access to educational opportunities and career advancement.When a university accepts federal funding, it is obligated to provide equal access to education, and affinity or professional-focused groups are not a way around that obligation, Jacobson said.“Sex discrimination in education is wrong and unlawful no matter which sex benefits or is harmed. The law requires a culture of equality and equal access to educational opportunities,” he said.Undergraduate Girl Boss also advertises exclusive partnerships with major companies that provide “valuable career opportunities,” including: The New York Times, Chanel, MTV, Condé Nast, L’Oréal, Marvel, Viacom and Sony, the group says.All of the officers of “Girl Boss” are women.“Fordham’s own nondiscrimination rules prohibit discrimination in educational access based on sex, so we are only asking Fordham to live up to its own set of rules and to honor the promise of nondiscrimination it made to the community,” EPP’s Jacobson said.
Reminder: 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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