Conservative group files lawsuit claiming MIT group for women of color is discriminating

A Rhode Island-based nonprofit is arguing that excluding white students is unlawful.

A conservative legal organization lodged a federal civil rights complaint against MIT on Monday, contending that a program tailored for women students of color unlawfully keeps white students from participating.

The MIT program, “The Creative Regal Women of kNowledge,” or CRWN, is at the center of the civil rights complaint, filed against the university with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights.

The Equal Protection Project, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit, argues in the seven-page complaint that the MIT program, which is only for women of color, is discriminating based on race, color, and sex, in violation of Title VI and Title IX.

“We bring this civil rights complaint against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for creating, supporting and promoting a program for undergraduate students — called the Creative Regal Women of Knowledge, or ‘The CRWN’ — that engages in invidious discrimination on the basis of race, color and sex,” foundation President William A. Jacobson wrote in the complaint.

The complaint said that “only undergraduate ‘women of color’ can participate in the program. Applicants who fall outside of those race- and sex-based categories are ineligible.”

Jacobson asks for “remedial relief” to benefit those illegally excluded from the program and ensure that MIT’s ongoing and future programming meets federal civil rights laws.

According to its website, CRWN serves undergraduate women of color and minoritized ethnicities. Students in their second year and above can participate and remain until graduation.

The group advertises access to financial assistance for academic and professional development, participation in group mentoring, and access to social outings, retreats, dinners, and events.

MIT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement sent to Boston.com, Jacobson said the program’s eligibility requirements “are openly racially and sexually discriminatory. Regardless of the purpose of the discrimination, it is wrong and unlawful.”

He added, “It does society no good to inject more racism and sexism into the educational system through discriminatory university programs.”

In addition, Jacobson notes that the country recently celebrated the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, which ended racial segregation in public education.

“It is sad and disheartening to see that institutions like MIT that receive federal funding are re-segregating the student body through exclusionary programs,” he said in a statement.

The Equal Protection Project, launched last year, is part of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, which advertises itself as being devoted to the fair treatment of all persons regardless of race or ethnicity.

Legal Insurrection Foundation was launched in 2019 and is an outgrowth of the Legal Insurrection blog, founded by Jacobson, a Cornell Law School professor, in 2008.

The Equal Protection Project has challenged dozens of “exclusionary fellowship programs, many of which are open only to non-whites,” according to its website. There are also several ongoing investigations “that will result in more actions in the near future, including litigation.”