California Higher Ed Hispanic Only “Puente Project” Challenged by Equal Protection Project

California Higher Ed Hispanic Only “Puente Project” Challenged by Equal Protection Project

The Equal Protection Project (EPP) filed a Civil Rights Complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against the University of California’s Office of the President, and California Community College Chancellor’s Office.

The allegations in the Complaint concern’s California’s “Puente Project,” which claims to foster academic success and increase the number of “disadvantaged” and “underrepresented” students who transfer from a community college to a four-year institution. The program runs at 65 community colleges.

But as discussed in EPP’s Complaint, the Puente Project’s was founded in 1981 as a grassroots initiative specifically to address the low rate of academic achievement among Mexican American and Latino students.

This remains the Program’s goal to this day.

The University of California’s Office of the President and California Community College Chancellor’s , who administrator the Puente Project, and “signal” racial preferences for Hispanic/Latinx students, as well as the college administrators on individual community college campuses, know exactly who the intended beneficiaries are.

Cerritos College’s description of the Puente Project is reflective of the overall system: the goal of the Puente Project is to increase retention of “Latinx” students, increase degree completion for “Latinx” students, and increase transfer rates for “Latinx” students.

The demographics of admission to the Program reflect this unlawful discriminatory purpose. For example, as openly admitted by Golden West College, “most PUENTE students [are] Hispanic/Latinx.” From 2019 to 2020, this number at Golden West was 100%.

By discriminating against non-Hispanic/Latinx students, both overtly and through strong racial signaling, the Puente Project violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. As such, EPP’s Complaint requests that OCR promptly open a formal investigation and impose all appropriate remedial measures.

EPP’s Complaint received coverage in the NY Post:

“The University of California is operating a massive discriminatory taxpayer-funded academic program that caters to Latinos while excluding non-Latinos, according to a bombshell civil-rights complaint.

The Puente Project is currently at 65 community colleges, even though it violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the constitution, said the Equal Protection Project, a conservative legal advocacy group, in documents filed Sunday with the US Education Department.

“The Puente Project reflects what has gone wrong in higher education, where group identity drives educational opportunity, in this case programming designed for and promoted as for one ethnic group,” said Equal Projection Project President William Jacobson.

Founded in 1981, the Puente Project was launched as a project to aid academically struggling Mexican-American and Latino students.

The program receives $13 million in state funding.

The goal of Puente — the Spanish word for `”bridge” — is to boost the number of “disadvantaged” and “underrepresented” students who transfer from a community college to a four-year institution.

Puente Project students get a “second chance” at admission at California state universities as opposed to other students, the complaint said.

Enrollment figures over the years show the overwhelming majority or nearly all students in the Puente Project program at some campuses are Latino.

At Narco College, Golden West College and Napa Valley Community, 100% of students were Latino or “other” during some years, while none were white, black or Asian, the complaint said.

The complaint alleged that the Puente Project uses “strong exclusionary racial signaling,” indicating that the program and benefits are intended for Hispanic/Latinx students.

“Such racial signaling itself is a violation of law, as it likely would cause a reasonable non-Hispanic/Latinx reader to conclude that the program is not intended for non-Hispanic/Latinx students, causing them to forego from applying,” the complaint said.

Puente Project is administered through the University of California President’s Office and the California Community College’s Chancellor’s Office.

“These senior administrators should be ensuring equality for all students regardless of race or ethnicity, not promoting one group over others,” Jacobson told The Post.

“At EPP, our guiding principle is that the remedy for racism never is more racism. To the extent California community colleges seek greater diversity, there are many lawful means of achieving that goal, but discrimination is not one of them.”

Neither the University of California’s president’s office nor the Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office responded to Post requests for comment.

The US Education Department also had no immediate comment….

The EPP has filed similar discrimination complaints or lawsuits against the New York state Education Department, State University of New York campuses including SUNY-Albany and SUNY-Buffalo Law; and Fordham University and Alfred University.

The group has challenged more than 100 colleges and universities nationwide for 500 alleged discriminatory scholarships and programs.”

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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Timothy R. Snowball is a Senior Attorney at the Equal Protection Project.

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