Justice organizations call on U of M Law School to uphold diversity policies
The University of Michigan | Susan J. Demas
A group of justice-focused civil rights groups have called on the University of Michigan to maintain commitments to diversity and inclusion as students pursue their careers.
The Legal Defense Fund, or LDF, announced it sent the university's administration a letter Tuesday, alongside the National Women's Law Center, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and Latino Justice, in an effort to push back against federal pressures to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, policies.
The push comes in response to emails LDF says in a news release students at the University of Michigan's law school received recently from a conservative group asserting the university unfairly expresses preferences for certain students under DEI policies, amid Trump's executive order to withhold federal funding for organizations and programs with DEI policies.
Late last month U of M announced it would be closing its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with university officials saying that the school would pivot their efforts to 'core responsibilities'.
According to LDF, students are already seeing the consequences of divestment into diversity with a mass email that was sent out to students at the law school from conservative group Faculty, Alumni, and Students Opposed to Racial Preferences or FASORP.
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The group is represented by prominent conservative attorneys Jonathan Mitchell, regarded as the legal mind behind anti-abortion heartbeat laws and Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff.
According to LDF, the letter that was sent to students in the law school on March 31 alleged that the Michigan Law Review, the university's law journal, shows discriminatory preference towards women, students of color and LGBTQ+ students, with the implication that students of those demographics are not deserving of being published by the journal.
'We strongly condemn these threats as an unjust attack on students' abilities and an attempt to perpetuate harmful stereotypes and discrimination,' LDF said in a news release. 'No student should be told that their identity makes them undeserving of their accomplishments. We hope the University of Michigan Law School will further affirm its commitment to diversity, equal opportunity, and excellence, ensuring that the hard work and talents of students from all backgrounds are valued and respected.'
FASORP and the University of Michigan did not respond to requests for comment from Michigan Advance.
FASORP has raised legal challenges towards other higher education institutions including a similar case to U of M's with New York University's law journal and Northwestern University, alleging that the university's law school discriminates against white men seeking faculty positions.
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