Goal ‘potentially violates a number of employment nondiscrimination laws,’ lawyer says
A goal in the University of Rhode Island’s “Strategic Plan 2023-2033” to “prioritize” hiring people “of color” is raising concerns about equal protection violations among civil rights experts.
The multi-part plan describes various priorities for the university over the decade-long period. Specifically, “Priority 3: Foster an Inclusive Culture” outlines ways the university intends to advance “anti-racist” and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” efforts in faculty and leadership positions, according to the university website.
One of the goals of “Priority 3” expresses the university’s intentions to “enhance search and hiring processes to prioritize the recruitment, hiring, and retention of faculty and staff of color.”
Two outside civil rights and legal advocates told The College Fix that this practice could be a violation of the law.
“Prioritizing color over merit and qualifications sets a bad precedent that on its face can be discriminatory,” Linda Lee Tarver said as an ambassador of Project 21, an African-American civil rights initiative at the National Center for Public Policy Research.
Tarver, a former Michigan civil rights commissioner, told The Fix in a recent email that such practices undermine merit-based hiring.
“The key concern for URI is the word, ‘prioritize.’ There is no problem with schools of higher education seeking out a more diverse group of educators, administrators, and students. There is value to bringing in more cultural diversity,” Tarver said.
“The hiring practices at URI, however, fall under civil rights and should not discriminate against anyone. Rejecting an applicant based on their race is the same as hiring them based on their race. In the case of URI, they appear to pursue extra rights rather than equal rights,” she said.
Another civil rights expert who spoke with The Fix said such practices could have legal consequences.
“[This goal] raises serious questions about whether URI is using racial preferences in hiring, which potentially violates a number of employment nondiscrimination laws, as well as the terms under which URI receives federal funding,” Cornell law Professor William Jacobson of the Equal Protection Project said.
The university, as a public institution, is “bound by the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, in addition to the civil rights laws,” Jacobson told The Fix in a recent email.
“Treating applicants differently based on race and color arguably violates the Constitution,” he said.
Additionally, the university is currently under investigation by the federal Office of Civil Rights for “offering, promoting, and administering fifty-one student scholarships that discriminate based on race and/or sex,” according to the December 2024 complaint.
“URI’s obsession with race appears to be systemic at the university, a result of a very aggressive DEI agenda,” Jacobson said. “URI may end up paying a legal and financial price for such obsession.”
The Fix contacted the university media relations office four times by email and phone within the past month, asking about the Strategic Plan hiring priorities, but did not receive a response. The Fix also asked how long these hiring priorities have been in effect, the specific hiring goals the university aimed to achieve, and which minority groups URI intended to prioritize through these initiatives.
The employment priorities in URI’s “Strategic Plan 2023-2033” date back to a series of initiatives implemented by the university in 2020 as a response to the events of the Black Lives Matter movement.
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The Diversity Think Tank, headed by a student coalition and URI Professor Louis Kwame Fosu, published its “Declaration of Diversity” in 2020, condemning the university’s history of white individuals in executive leadership positions as “an abysmal state of de facto Jim Crow laws.”
Since 2020, university leadership has mobilized various initiatives to prioritize and expand diverse representation in faculty hiring and retention.
Similar diversity-oriented recruitment and hiring practices were outlined in the university’s 2022 “Affirmative Action Plan” as well as the College of Pharmacy’s 2021 “Diversity & Globalization Committee DEI Plan.” Both documents summarize initiatives to expand faculty diversity through prioritized recruitment and referrals for minority candidates.
Tarver with Project 21 told The Fix the university’s hiring goals “deviate from a meritocracy that allows for ‘all’ qualified individuals to be considered rather than ‘some’ based on the color of their skin. Black and Brown is not a skill set, a qualification, a degree, a license, or an indicator that the individual can perform the duties of the job.”
She said such practices “presume Black or Brown applicants would not otherwise qualify based on merit.”
Professor Jacobson also noted the legal implications of these hiring priorities.
“There is a big difference between taking steps, such as expanding the applicant pool, that are lawful, and using racial preferences in hiring. With very few exceptions, racial preferences in hiring are not lawful,” Jacobson said.
The two experts suggested that URI’s initiatives are focused on promoting “equity,” or equal outcomes, over “equality,” or equal access and opportunity.
“The best way to ensure equality is to ensure a strong pool of candidates. Black students in Rhode Island are alarmingly and significantly less literate than their White counterparts” Tarver said, referring to 2023 research by Rhode Island Kids Count on racial and ethnic disparities.
“The state of Rhode Island and the University of Rhode Island should consider the 5.3 percent of black citizens in the state and their current educational foundation. Investing in quality education, high literacy rates will achieve equal opportunity and possibly equity,” she said.
MORE: U. Rhode Island hit with civil rights complaint over 51 race, sex-based scholarships
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: A sign displays the name of the University of Rhode Island above one of the priorities of the university’s ten-year strategic plan. University of Rhode Island/Facebook, University of Rhode Island ‘Strategic Plan 2023-2033’
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