The Senators expressed concern that segregated trainings and learning events at these universities stand in conflict with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits racial discrimination in federally funded programs.
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia asked US Attorney General William Barr to investigate racial segregation at American universities.
Citing numerous examples of an âalarming trend of apparent racial segregationâ at American universities, the Senators asked Barr to âinvestigate these and similar cases.â Sen. Cotton and Sen. Loeffler note that the incidents appear to violate Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which âprohibits discrimination on the basis of race in federally funded programs or activities.â
The Senators mentioned the University of Michiganâs âvirtual cafes,â which split participants and moderators on the basis of race. Participants were encouraged to view the world as âmembers of a particular racial group.â The authors compared this phenomenon to instances addressed by the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.
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The authors also mentioned an RA training at the University of Kentucky, which segregated trainees into white and non-white groupings. Campus Reform reported on the incident in October.
One individual who was subjugated to the training told Campus Reform that trainees âwere told how privileged we were and how we needed to do everything we could to make the staff of color feel accepted and welcome.â However, the training ânever mentioned racism towards White people.â
Campus Reform has reported on the incidents at the University of Michigan and the University of Kentucky, as well as several others. The authors referred Barr to a report by the National Association of Scholars, which noted hundreds of similar incidents.
âRacial segregation is antithetical to our nationâs creed, expressed in the Founding documents, that âall men are created equal,ââ concluded the Senators.
Campus Reform has reached out to Sen. Cotton but did not receive a response.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter:@BenZeisloft