The Trump administration is considering suing U.S. colleges and universities that have used Affirmative Action as as basis to promote the admission of Black and minority students in to their institutions.
The New York Times reports that it has obtained documents showing that the U.S. Justice Department is looking to hire new lawyers who are interested in taking on the new project for “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions.”
The announcement is reportedly raising eyebrows since the project will be run out of the Civil Rights Division that is staffed by Trump’s political appointees rather than its Educational Opportunities Section, which is run by career civil servants who normally handle work involving schools and universities.
While many have described the wording of the Department’s memo as vague, there are realistic fears that the Trump administration is seeking to scrap the Affirmative Action program that is designed to bring more minority students to university campuses.
In the United States, the affirmative action program in colleges and universities provides opportunities to historically disadvantaged persons within society, including women and ethnic minorities, so they can achieve their full academic potential.
Critics of affirmative action say it discriminates against Whites and even Asian Americans and is no longer needed in today’s multiracial America.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected admission quotas based on race but ruled that race and affirmative action could be one of the factors universities use in evaluating and accepting prospective applicants.
Supporters of affirmative action say the program is necessary to help compensate for centuries of racial, social, and economic oppression in the United States. They add that the program promotes the much-needed cultural diversity on university campuses and the larger society.
In May, President Donald Trump sparked controversy, after he suggested that a funding program for Historically Black colleges and Universities (HBCU) may be unconstitutional.
A statement initially released by the White House, suggested that the $20 million fund set aside to enable to HBCUs finance their construction projects could amount to the unconstitutional allocation of money on the basis of race and ethnicity.
