Latest news with #UC2030CapacityPlan
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump administration announces yet another investigation into the UC system
Once again, the Trump administration is targeting California's renowned higher-education system with an investigation — this time, into whether the University of California is considering the race and sex of applicants for teaching positions. It's the latest of a series of attacks on states' policies that hamper President Donald Trump's war on diversity, equity and inclusion. Among other things, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday that the university is ordering its campuses 'to hire 'diverse' faculty members to meet race- and sex-based employment quotas.' 'We have reason to believe the University of California's UC 2030 Capacity Plan precipitated unlawful action by the University,' Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department's chief civil rights lawyer, said in a letter to UC President Michael Drake. She was referring to the university's plan to add 23,000 students and 1,100 faculty members in the next five years. But UC hasn't used hiring or enrollment quotas since 1978, when they were outlawed by the Supreme Court in the case of Allan Bakke, a white student who sued UC Davis medical school for denying him admission. California voters banned affirmative action for racial minorities at public institutions in 1996, and the Supreme Court imposed the same ban for all schools and colleges in 2023. But in March, the Trump administration announced an investigation into whether UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Irvine and Stanford University were complying with the court ruling. Also in March, UC said it would halt policies at some of its 10 campuses that have required applicants for teaching positions to describe how they would promote diversity in race and other categories. EdSource reported that Drake told members of the UC Academic Council that the university 'needed to show signs it was listening to the Trump administration.' In February, the Justice Department said it was investigating 'widespread antisemitic harassment' at UC Berkeley and four schools in other states, without providing specific details. In March, the department said it was expanding its investigation to cover all 10 UC campuses. As for the investigation announced Thursday, its conclusion seems inevitable: The university will be found in violation of the law, as interpreted by the Trump administration, and face financial penalties that will most likely be contested in court. That would be similar to the outcome of an investigation announced by the administration's Department of Education into California for allowing transgender girls to compete on girls' sports teams. After a brief inquiry, the department announced Wednesday that state schools and athletic officials had violated sex-discrimination laws and had 10 days to change their practices or face punishment. The Department of Education has also announced an investigation into San Jose State University for allowing a transgender player on its women's volleyball team, after Trump claimed — falsely — to have seen the player injure an opponent with a spike shot that traveled 80 mph. Federal education officials said in April that they would withdraw billions of dollars in funding for states whose schools had programs promoting racial and gender diversity, programs the administration describes as discriminatory. California and 18 other states have filed suit, saying the defunding would be both illegal and 'catastrophic.' Later in April, the Department of Education announced an investigation into UC Berkeley for allegedly failing to disclose funding from a foreign government, citing what the department called 'credible news media reports.' The university has denied receiving any such funding but says it will cooperate with the investigation. Thursday's announcement of an investigation into UC's hiring practices 'reads more as a policy announcement to further the federal government's reinterpretation of the Civil Rights Act to be inconsistent with minority protections and to require policies that favor privileged majorities,' said Ming Chen, a professor at UC College of the Law in San Francisco, where she directs its Race, Immigration, Citizenship and Equality Program. Legal commentator Ian Millheiser said a likely goal of the Trump administration is to persuade the Supreme Court to prohibit 'diversity-based hiring in universities and trans participation in sports,' after the court's recent rulings against affirmative action and medical care for transgender youths. He said the Justice Department's 'internal procedures require them to start with an 'investigation' before they file a lawsuit.' Catherine Fisk, a labor law professor at UC Berkeley, said it wasn't clear what evidence was the basis for the government's investigation. 'Under current law, employers are allowed to engage in outreach to ensure that they have a diverse pool' of applicants and consider them fairly, Fisk told the Chronicle. 'The law does not require complete blindness to race or gender. It just prohibits hiring based on race or gender.' The more often universities are targeted, she said, 'the more they are forced to hire lawyers rather than providing scholarships for students or hiring faculty.' In response to the announcement, UC spokesperson Rachel Zaentz said the university 'aims to foster a campus environment where everyone is welcomed and supported. We will work in good faith with the Department of Justice as it conducts its investigation.' Asked about the purpose of the investigation, Justice Department spokesperson Pierson Furnish said, 'No comment.'
New York Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Trump's DOJ probing racial and sex-based discrimination in hiring at University of California school system
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department launched an investigation Thursday into the University of California system to determine if it ran afoul of federal law by engaging in racial or sex-based discrimination when hiring faculty. President Trump's DOJ said that it was taking particular issue with the 'UC 2030 Capacity Plan,' which seeks to 'diversify its faculty,' specifically identifying 'underrepresented minorities' and 'female faculty' as two areas of special emphasis. The 10-campus UC system, which takes more than $17 billion in federal funding, launched the program in 2022 as part of its efforts to increase racial and gender diversity on campus. Included in the UC 2030 Capacity Plan's roadmap to 'grow and diversify its faculty' are two programs designed to expedite the entry of women and minorities into the faculty: the UC President's Pre-Professoriate Fellowship Program and the UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship. 4 President Trump's DOJ said that it was taking particular issue with the 'UC 2030 Capacity Plan,' which seeks to 'diversify its faculty,' specifically identifying 'underrepresented minorities' and 'female faculty' as two areas of special emphasis. AFP via Getty Images According to the Pre-Professoriate Fellowship's info page, the program 'aims to enhance faculty diversity and pathways to the professoriate for historically underrepresented students from California Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs).' The webpage also specifies the demographic groups the fellowship 'particularly' seeks to aid, listing the following categories: 'Chicanx/Latinx, African Americans, American Indians/Native Americans, Filipinx, and Pacific Islanders in all disciplines; women in STEM; and Asian Americans in the humanities and social sciences.' Recipients of the fellowship are allotted a $37,000 stipend, California resident tuition and fees, and a $10,000 'professional development grant.' 4 The 10-campus UC system, which takes more than $17 billion in federal funding, launched the program in 2022 as part of its efforts to increase racial and gender diversity on campus. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images The goal of the President's Postdoctoral Fellowship, per its website, is 'to provide research opportunity and career development for scholars whose work will enhance the diversity of the academic community at the University of California,' specifically women and minorities. The Trump administration, without immediately disclosing any incriminating information, implied the larger Capacity Plan, which includes the fellowship programs, was violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The postdoctoral program also creates a 'massive incentive' to hire recipients of the fellowship, including when departments are already overstaffed, a UCLA professor who wished to remain anonymous revealed to The Post. 4 Trump's DOJ, without immediately disclosing any incriminating information, implied the larger Capacity Plan comprised of the fellowship programs, was violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Getty Images 'You have units that are hiring people who they wouldn't otherwise hire, because they basically get them for free,' said the professor. According to the UCLA faculty member, when the fellowship was first created, there were many 'conventional, completely rigorous, completely scholarly' fellowship participants engaged with the program. Over the years, however, the professor began to notice that the number of 'good scholars' coming through the fellowship was dwindling. 4 The University of California, Berkeley, was also hit with a DOE investigation in April for allegedly failing to disclose hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign funding from China, Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced. Bloomberg via Getty Images 'I've also seen some f–king crazy people come through the Presidential Post-Doc, and it's increasingly a program, not just for the focus on diverse populations, but for CRT [critical race theory] psychos,' the professor added. Another factor that could be under consideration by the DOJ is that some UC campuses are designated as 'Hispanic Serving Institutions,' which the UCLA professor said entails many 'cluster hires specifically for Latino faculty,' among other things. The UC system said in a statement it was 'committed to fair and lawful processes in all of our programs and activities, consistent with federal and state anti-discrimination laws. The University also aims to foster a campus environment where everyone is welcomed and supported. We will work in good faith with the Department of Justice as it conducts its investigation.' The investigation is only the latest Trump admin probe to target US higher education institutions, with DOJ and Department of Education probes of antisemitic discrimination within the UC system, at Columbia University and other schools still ongoing. The University of California, Berkeley, was also hit with an ED investigation in April for allegedly failing to disclose hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign funding from China, which may lead to subsequent 'enforcement' actions, according to Education Secretary Linda McMahon. Trump's administration has also yanked federal funds from Columbia and other schools for failing to address anti-semitism on campus. Separately, the UC system was slammed with a lawsuit earlier this year by the group Students Against Racial Discrimination, which accused the California schools of secretly continuing race-conscious admissions despite the practice's illegality.
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
UC sees the good in faculty diversity. Trump's DOJ says it ‘may be' illegal discrimination
The Trump administration said Thursday that it is opening an investigation into UC, alleging that university goals to increase faculty diversity 'may be' illegal sex- and race-based hiring discrimination. In a brief, 419-word letter to UC President Michael V. Drake, the Justice Department's top civil rights lawyer said it had 'reasonable cause' to believe that UC has 'certain employment practices that discriminate against employees, job applicants, and training program participants based on race and sex.' The letter pointed to an ambitious UC plan to add at least 20,000 students by 2030 — while increasing graduation rates, the share of students who receive undergraduate diplomas within four years, and access to UC campuses for racial minorities and other minority groups that have historically been underrepresented in higher education. UC announced the plan in 2021 and later increased the enrollment goal to up to 33,000 if enough resources, such as funding, became available. The Justice Department appeared to zero in on small sections of the extensive 'UC 2030 Capacity Plan' that chart out desires to increase diversity among graduate students and faculty, including adding 1,100 tenure-track faculty. Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, wrote that the plan may have 'precipitated unlawful action by the University of California and some or all its constituent campuses.' In a statement, the Justice Department added that UC 'directs its campuses to hire 'diverse' faculty members to meet race- and sex-based employment quotas,' alleging a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Dhillon added: 'It is important to note that we have not reached any conclusions about the subject matter.' Although the UC goals make clear the university's ambition to increase diversity, they do not stipulate hiring quotas. Since 2020, UC Regents — the governor-appointed board of directors — have also formally banned using quotas based on race and gender. That move came as Californians debated Proposition 16, which would have reversed the state's affirmative action prohibition but failed to pass. In a statement Thursday, a UC spokesperson said the university abides by the law and would cooperate with the investigation. 'The University of California is committed to fair and lawful processes in all of our programs and activities, consistent with federal and state anti-discrimination laws,' said Senior Director of Strategic and Critical Communications Rachel Zaentz. 'The university also aims to foster a campus environment where everyone is welcomed and supported,' she said. 'We will work in good faith with the Department of Justice as it conducts its investigation.' The investigation is the second UC hiring probe launched by the Trump administration, part of its aggressive drive to take action against universities it alleges are giving preference to Black, Latino and other racial, ethnic or religious groups over Asian, white and Jewish students, staff and employees. Trump has also ordered an end to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in education institutions that receive federal funds, resulting in court challenges. In March, the Justice Department launched an investigation into whether UC 'engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race, religion and national origin against its professors, staff and other employees by allowing an antisemitic hostile work environment to exist on its campuses.' It was based upon faculty petitions and complaints that accused the university of abetting alleged antisemitism last year during pro-Palestinian encampments calling on UC to divest from financial ties to Israel's war in Gaza. Both investigations employ a 'pattern or practice' probe of campuses based on federal anti-discrimination law, a method of civil rights enforcement used during Democratic administrations to respond to racism allegations against police departments. Also in March, the Justice Department accused UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC Irvine of using 'illegal DEI' in admissions, likely referring to affirmative action. The Department of Health and Human Services is also investigating UCLA's medical school over alleged discrimination in admissions. The university has denied such actions. Zaentz has said UC stopped using race in admissions when Proposition 209 — which bans consideration of race in public education, hiring and contracting — went into effect in 1997. Since then, 'UC has implemented admissions practices to comply with the law,' she said in March. Two UC campuses — Los Angeles and Berkeley — are on a list of 10 campuses that a federal task force to combat antisemitism has said it is researching. The task force has played a significant role in pulling billions in federal funding from Harvard and Columbia universities over allegations that they promoted antisemitism.
The Hill
2 days ago
- The Hill
DOJ investigating University of California over ‘potential race- and sex-based' hiring discrimination
The Department of Justice announced Thursday it is investigating the University of California over alleged civil rights violations in its employment practices. The department is investigating the university's 'UC 2030 Capacity Plan' that allegedly has 'race- and sex-based employment quotas' as the plan aims for a diverse faculty. 'Public employers are bound by federal laws that prohibit racial and other employment discrimination,' said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. 'Institutional directives that use race- and sex-based hiring practices expose employers to legal risk under federal law.' The school's 2030 Capacity Plan has two goals for increasing diversity among faculty. The university said it wants to recruit at least 40 percent of its graduate students from its undergraduate programs and other Hispanic Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges and Universities. The university also wants to hire 1,100 ladder-rank faculty, which are full-time professors with a tenure track The university says the increase in hiring will 'diversify the faculty because new hires are more diverse than existing faculty.' The Justice Department investigation will determine if the university has 'engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race, sex, and other protected characteristics, pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.' If found guilty, the university could face a fine and pay damages to affected individuals. The Hill has reached out to the University of California for comment.
