Civil rights group accuses UC Irvine engineering school of unlawful race-based quotas

A civil rights organization has filed a complaint alleging that the University of California, Irvine (UCI) is using racial quotas in its engineering school by setting goals to have the number of Black faculty, students and staff "match or exceed" the Black population in California.

The Equal Protection Project (EPP), founded by Cornell Law School Professor William Jacobson, claims the Samueli School of Engineering is engaging in unlawful race-based practices that violate federal civil rights law and the U.S. Constitution.

"These racial minimum quota goals are particularly troubling since UC Irvine already is under investigation by the Department of Justice for use of racial quotas in employment and admissions," Jacobson told Fox News Digital in a statement.

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A section of UCI’s Samueli School of Engineering website, which now appears to be offline, read, "We acknowledge the existence of anti-Black racism and prioritizes the campus commitment to create a university culture where Black people thrive. We aim to reflect California’s demographics in our SSoE community by growing our population of Black faculty, students, staff, researchers, and partners to match or exceed the state’s current Black population of 6%."

The statement appears to set a race-based benchmark for recruitment and hiring, which the EPP argues constitutes a racial quota prohibited under federal law.

The EPP maintains the quota campaign violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits educational institutions that receive federal funding from discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin, as well as Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex or gender for entities that receive federal funding.

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The complaint also states that because University of California Irvine is a public school, the offering and promoting of the racial quoting initiative violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The group is asking the federal government to investigate.

"The Departments of Education and Justice should examine practices throughout UC Irvine and its Samueli School of Engineering," Jacobson said. Where the institution sets racial minimum quota goals, it is likely there are discriminatory policies and practices throughout the institution. Such systemic discrimination must be addressed by federal authorities, since university officials seem not to care."

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In a statement, a UC Irvine spokesperson said the university "strives to create a learning and working environment where students and employees from all backgrounds are welcome to pursue their academic and professional goals." 

The school added it is reviewing the complaint.