A conservative group filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Northwestern University Law School, arguing that the school's efforts to hire more women and people of color as faculty violate federal laws banning discrimination on the basis of race and sex.
The suit, filed just a year after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, is expected to be the first in a series of new lawsuits challenging the way American universities hire and promote professors.
The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Chicago, alleges that the professor hiring process at American universities is a “hotbed of corruption and lawlessness,” alleging that Northwestern University deliberately excludes white, male candidates for professorships in favor of candidates of other races and gender identities.
Representatives for the law school did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The complaint, filed by a group calling itself “Faculty, Alumni and Students Against Racial Preferential Treatment,” names several candidates for teaching positions at Northwestern, including a prominent legal scholar, who allegedly were denied interviews or blocked from promotion.
“For decades, left-leaning faculty and administrators have ignored federal anti-discrimination laws and openly discriminated on the basis of race and sex in appointing professors,” the lawsuit states. “They do this by hiring women and racial minorities with mediocre and unremarkable records over white men with better qualifications, better scholarship, and greater teaching ability.”
The group's members are not named in the complaint, but its lead lawyer, Jonathan F. Mitchell, a former Texas attorney general and current conservative activist, is joined by Jean P. Hamilton, general counsel for the America First Legal Foundation, which describes itself as a conservative answer to the much better-funded ACLU.
The lawsuit's comprehensive approach suggests the group is explicitly positioning itself as a successor to Students for Fair Admissions, a group that sued colleges on behalf of Asian American students who say they were discriminated against during their college admissions process.
A year ago, in response to these complaints, the Supreme Court banned affirmative action in college admissions.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.