Complaint Alleges Cornell Violated Civil Rights Law With DEI Practices

Originally published by the Wall Street Journal

A conservative think tank with deep ties to the Trump administration has targeted Cornell University with a civil rights complaint, alleging the Ivy League school has used DEI practices that the group says are discriminatory in its faculty hiring and student scholarships.

The complaint alleges that Cornell placed “an illegal identity-based ideology above equal opportunity and merit” that discriminated against job candidates and created a hostile environment for people who disagreed with that ideology.

The complaint comes as the Trump administration ramps up its battle against diversity, equity and inclusion practices at schools, including at the University of Virginia, whose president resigned last week amid tension with the government.

The Cornell complaint was brought by the America First Policy Institute, a research group that was chaired by Linda McMahon before she became President Trump’s education secretary. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins is a former chief executive of the organization. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi also held a post there.

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