Harmeet Dhillon, the Californian who now leads the Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division, opened an investigation Thursday into “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) practices at the University of California (UC).
This investigation is separate from the ongoing investigation of the University of California’s Los Angeles and Berkeley campuses by the DOJ’s antisemitism task force, which is being run by Leo Terrell.
Dhillon’s letter cites Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, saying that there is suspicion that the UC system is discriminating against “employees, job applicants, and training program applicants” by race and gender.
Notably, Dhillon does not cite California’s own constitution, which prevents the use of race in government hiring and college admissions, thanks to Proposition 209, which voters passed in 1996 and affirmed in 2020.
Fox News reported that UC responded to the letter by offering to cooperate with Dhillon’s 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,” a UC statement provided to Fox News Digital reads. “The University also aims to foster a campus environment where everyone is welcomed and supported.”
The university’s UC 2030 Capacity Plan lays out a goal of becoming a national model as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) system. The plan outlines a pipeline strategy to diversify faculty and researchers through expanded graduate enrollment and outreach to institutions that serve underrepresented students. The DOJ, however, claims these initiatives may violate Title VII by functioning as de facto employment quotas.
In March, UC dropped diversity statements from its hiring practices amid President Donald Trump’s threats that schools could lose federal funding.
Unlike her predecessor, Kristen Clarke, who was silent about antisemitism, Dhillon has been vocal about that and other issues, and has cast DEI policies as a form of discrimination, rather than as a form of social justice.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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