A Northern Virginia-based group known for criticizing affirmative action policies yesterday asked the U.S. Department of Education to investigate "racially discriminatory" programs at Virginia Tech.
The Center for Equal Opportunity, which filed the complaint with the Department's Office of Civil Rights, contends various hiring, admissions and scholarship policies and programs at the Blacksburg campus violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
This section of the landmark 1964 civil rights legislation prohibits discrimination in federally funded programs on the basis of race, color or national origin.
"It is baffling that Virginia Tech insists on continuing to run racially-exclusive programs when the state's own lawyers have pointed out that this violates the law," Center President Linda Chavez stated in a press release.
U.S. Education Department Spokesperson Jane Glickman said the agency now will review the Center's request and determine if a full investigation is warranted.
"It could take a while," Glickman cautioned.
Tech officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Enclosed in the complaint letter to the Education Department were two letters from Attorney General Jerry Kilgore's office sent to university administrators over the past year.
In one letter dated Nov. 27 to Tech Rector John Rocovich, State Solicitor William Hurd expressed concern over the legality of many Tech race-conscious programs and the potential legal liability of Board of Visitors members.
On April 3, in a 10-page confidential attorney-client communication obtained by The Cavalier Daily, Hurd told school administrators an investigation by the Attorney General's office found some university programs were indeed "constitutionally problematic."
The questionable programs, according to the attorney general's office, include an admissions policy to the school's MBA program designed to correct the "underrepresentation" of minorities, and other scholarship and internship opportunities heavily dependent on race.
"Our review of the information submitted to us reveals an array of racial preferences that likely -- and, in some cases, clearly -- violate applicable legal standards," Hurd wrote.
Many university scholarships, and hiring and admissions policies, authored in hopes of achieving "diversity," also fail to meet the federal and state criteria set forth in federal legal precedents of serving a compelling government interest, Hurd wrote.
Center General Counsel Roger Clegg maintained the Center did not target the Blacksburg campus because of the recent media frenzy following the Tech Board's March 10 ban on giving any consideration to race in admissions or hiring and the subsequent repeal of the ban at a special April 6 meeting.
"We didn't single out Tech," Clegg said. "We just acted on information in the same way that we have about other schools."
The Center applauded the Board's original decision and bemoaned its reversal as a setback in a wider effort to bring educational institutions into compliance with federal non-discriminatory laws.
"They got it right the first time," Chavez said. "It was a giant step forward when they banned racial and ethnic discrimination at Virginia Tech, but now they've taken a giant step backwards."
The Center has threatened other schools with filings and recently submitted a complaint to the Office of Civil Rights concerning Saint Louis University programs the group concluded to be racially and ethnically exclusive programs.
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