“We are calling on Gov. Hochul to change the program to forbid these schools from discriminating”

“We are calling on Gov. Hochul to change the program to forbid these schools from discriminating”

The Equal Protection Project has demanded that NY Governor Kathy Hochul remove racial criteria from student eligibility for the New York Collegiate Science Technology Entry program, which is state-funded at 56 colleges and universities. All the details and the demand letter were laid out in my prior post, Our Demand Letter To NY Gov. Kathy Hochul: “Eliminate Race as an Eligibility Criterion” in State-Funded STEM Program.

I had a chance to speak with Stuart Varney on Fox Business Network about it:

(Transcript auto-generated, may contain transcription errors, lightly edited for transcript clarity.)

Varney:

[Statement from U. Albany about future non-discrimination.]

Cornell University Law Professor William Jacobson joins me now. Professor, are you satisfied with that or are you gonna have to take her to court?

WAJ:

No. Well, this is a statewide program involving 56 colleges and universities in New York State, not just the University of Albany.

And it is a discriminatory program based on the state regulations. If you are a Black, Hispanic, or Native American, you’re automatically eligible. If you are Asian or White, you have to show family economic hardship. And that is what we have sued on a similar program for high school students in New York State. And that case is progressing and we’re looking to sue the State because the fact that one school here or there may decide not to enforce those rules is not a constitutional answer.

We are calling on Governor Hochul to change the program to forbid these schools from discriminating, not to leave it up to each school, whether they’re going to follow the discriminatory rules.

And we’d love to hear from any college students or parents of college students who have faced this discrimination, and you can contact us at the Equal Protection Project because we want to eliminate it, just like we’re seeking to eliminate the discrimination at the high school level.

Varney:

Why do you think colleges are so reluctant to abandon what you call and what is discrimination?

WAJ:

Because it’s become part of the culture. This has been 30 years in developing, but it’s become particularly bad post George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. There’s a culture on campuses that thinks discrimination on the basis of race is okay, as long as it’s against certain races. That’s contrary to our constitution. It’s contrary to our morals and our ethics, and it’s got to be addressed.

We’ve got to change the culture on campuses which embraces targeted discrimination.

Varney:

Next one. Professor Virginia’s Governor, Abigail Spanberger, went after the Pentagon for cutting ties and funding relationships with many collegiate institutions because of woke ideologies. Professor, it seems like the Pentagon doesn’t want anything woke at all, does it?

WAJ:

Well, it sounds not, and they’ve got to make their own decision as to what’s best for the military and the military culture.

I can tell you that sometimes having these programs on so-called woke campuses improves the atmosphere a little bit. But I think the concerns that have been expressed is that you send these military members to the woke campuses, and that’s how they come back, and that’s at least the concern that’s been expressed. So I I totally understand that. They’re cutting the ties for that reason. They think it’s best for their  management of their military members.

But it will be a sad thing for the colleges who have become so bad that the military wants nothing to do with them.

Varney:

Professor William Jacobson, thank you very much for being part of our program. We appreciate it.

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