Conservative group objects to Slippery Rock University STEM program's minority recruitment

A conservative nonprofit is asking the U.S. Department of Education to investigate Slippery Rock University and three other state schools, alleging that their participation in a national program to recruit minority students into science majors is discriminatory against white and Asian students.

The Equal Protection Project, an offshoot of the Rhode Island-based Legal Insurrection Foundation, filed a complaint on Tuesday with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights in Philadelphia.

It is asking for an investigation into its claims and seeks relief up to and including fines, suspension or termination of federal financial assistance for those schools.

The other three universities named are East Stroudsburg, Millersville and West Chester.

A spokesman for Slippery Rock said the school was aware of the letter and has no further comment.

The four schools make up the Keystone Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, a National Science Foundation program that aims to increase the number of underrepresented minorities earning Science, Technology, Engineering and Math degrees.

Slippery Rock announced in September 2023 that more than $3 million would go toward the program for incoming first-year students.

But the complaint on Tuesday alleges that the program discriminates based on race and is in violation of federal law.

The underrepresented minorities that qualify for the program include Black, Latino, American Indian, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

“The ineligibility of white, Asian, and other students from the Keystone (Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation) program makes the program underinclusive, since the racial restriction is arbitrary and excludes swaths of candidates who could benefit from the programs but who are not permitted to apply due to their race and skin color,” the complaint said.

At Slippery Rock, the qualifying STEM majors include biology, math, physics and engineering.

A message left with the National Science Foundation on Tuesday afternoon was not immediately returned.

The Legal Insurrection Foundation bills itself as a nonprofit “that seeks to ensure equal protection under the law and non-discrimination by the government and that opposes racial discrimination in any form.”