Professor is Using Title IX to End Sexist Women Only "Diversity" Programs
Professor Mark J. Perry has filed a complaint against sexist women only "diversity" programs and awards. He says that by only allowing women they are excluding male and non-binary people from these programs and under Title IX it is illegal.In many instance he has won and certain programs and spaces have been closed. Some programs kept their name that said "women's" in the title but opened up to all genders.These programs are typically viewed as fighting for social justice and diversity but when women are the majority of college campuses it is only benefiting those who are already in a position of privilege. Support the show (http://timcast.com/donate)
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Mark J. Perry, a professor of economics and finance at University of Michigan's Flint campus, has filed a complaint with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights over 28 programs and awards that he says are discriminatory and exclusionary by being single gender.
These programs are for women only.
Title IX is a federal regulation that guarantees a person will not face discrimination based on gender.
And Mark J. Perry says that these programs being women only do discriminate against men as well as non-binary persons.
We had an opportunity to sit down and talk with Mark Perry and ask him just why he's filing these complaints with the Department of Education.
But before we get started, let me give a quick shoutout to today's sponsor, Newsvoice.
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Before we jump into the interview, let's get a little context.
In May 17th, Mark Perry wrote, more on my efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion, and end gender discrimination in Michigan.
He says, inspired by the Boy Scouts recent change in gender policy and change in name to reflect its policy change, I am now also asking the University of Michigan to consider name changes for programs that have recently, like the Boy Scouts, transitioned from being gender-exclusionary to gender-inclusionary.
In July of 2016, we saw this story from the Washington Post.
A male professor said this women-only study lounge is sexist and illegal.
The school shut it down.
And most recently, professor demands Title IX investigation after Northeastern professor calls for hatred of men.
According to Wikipedia, Title IX is a federal civil rights law in the United States of America that was passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972.
It reads, Under this law, Mark Perry has filed these complaints.
in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be
denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program
or activity receiving federal financial assistance."
Under this law, Mark Perry has filed these complaints.
We sat down with him and here's what he had to say.
Right now I'm sitting down with Mark Perry of the American Enterprise Institute and I
Yeah, well right now I have several complaints pending.
Two at the university level and one at the Office for Civil Rights level at the Department of Education.
And so the two investigations I've asked for, requested, one is at Wayne State University in Detroit because they use public taxpayer resources and provide space for an organization called Black Girls Code Camp.
And in several weeks from now they'll have their annual summer camp for about two weeks hosted by Wayne State.
And so I've claimed that that's discriminatory against boys and discriminatory against white, Asian, and Hispanic girls.
And also would violate Title IX regulations that require no gender discrimination.
And then in the state of Michigan, there's actually a little bit of a higher legal standard because in 2006 the voters passed Proposal 2 Which prohibits public universities, including Wayne State, from discriminating based on gender and also for providing any special preferences based on gender.
So it would also be in violation of the Michigan Constitution.
So I'm asking them to review that Black Girls Code Camp for compliance with Title IX and the state of Michigan Constitution and then the Wayne State University's own statement of non-discrimination.
Then I've asked the University of Minnesota to investigate three awards that they give out to students.
Two awards and one scholarship for what they now call women-oriented students only.
And so again, it would be discrimination against boys or for men at the University of Minnesota.
And then I also tried to resolve a complaint internally with the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor with about a dozen programs that I identified that they are running that are either only for women or are pro-women in such a way that it would be exclusionary towards men or would be hostile towards men, again, in violation of Title IX and in violation of the Michigan Constitution.
And they rejected my request for a complaint.
And so that now, there's about 28 programs that I've identified, mostly at the Ann Arbor campus, but also some at the Flint campus and Dearborn campus that now has been accepted for review by the Office for Civil Rights at the Cleveland office.
And so I'm claiming in 28 cases again that those programs are either single gender programs that are exclusionary and discriminate against men and boys, Or they are pro-women in such a way that then they are exclusionary and hostile towards the participation of men and boys.
And some are for boys during... I mean girls during summer camps and then some are during the regular program.
So there's a number of fellowships, scholarships, initiatives that are single-gender, women-only programs that I'm saying are discriminatory against men.
And then there's some other programs, like some summer camps that they have.
And it'll be called the Girls Code Camp, or the Girls in Music and Technology Camp.
And then, so just by the title of the program, it's obviously intended for girls, high school or middle school girls.
So then they'll have this kind of weak disclaimer, and they say, they even say that while these programs are, you know, kind of technically open to all students of all genders, they're really intended to help promote girls and women.
And so based on that language even, they're providing special preferences for girls and for women that I'm claiming should be considered a violation of either Title IX and or the Michigan State Constitution or again University of Michigan's own statement of non-discrimination based on gender.
What, well, some background is that a year ago at the Flint campus where I'm a professor, full professor with tenure, I asked for an investigation for five faculty awards that include cash benefits and teaching time release that I was not eligible to apply for because three faculty awards were for female faculty only and two faculty awards were for minority faculty only.
So of the twelve awards that are available, Um, five of those I'm not eligible for, and so I asked for a review, and the Title IX office in Ann Arbor agreed that those were illegal and discriminatory against men and non-minorities, and they had to then change those five faculty awards and have them be open to all faculty and not restricted anymore, not discriminatory and exclusionary.
So that was, you know, I worked through, internally through the Title IX office in Ann Arbor and got those programs changed.
And then last summer there was a new program on the Flint campus called GEMS, the Girls in Engineering, Math and Science Camp.
And the original promotional materials on the website said this is for girls only, middle school girls only.
And so again, I asked for an internal complaint through the Title IX office in Ann Arbor, which has jurisdiction over all three campuses, Dearborn, Flint, and Ann Arbor.
And so they also agreed with me that that was illegal, violated Title IX, violated the Michigan Constitution, violated Michigan's own statement of non-discrimination.
And so then they opened that program to students of all genders.
But again, they still call it the Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science Camp.
So I had asked them, just like the Boy Scouts, once they're now not single gender anymore and they're allowing all genders to participate in the Boy Scouts, they changed the name.
So I was unsuccessful at getting them to change the names of these programs, because now they're technically open to students of all genders.
So anyway, so a year ago I had some success working through the University of Michigan Title IX office and got the five faculty awards changed and got that summer program in Flint changed to make sure that it was in compliance with Title IX and Michigan Constitution and they opened that program, at least in name, maybe not in practice, but that summer program now is open to students of all Genders, and so now this year I thought I would kind of continue to pursue my, I guess, my civil rights advocacy and found a number of programs at the Ann Arbor campus that were single gender exclusionary programs for various fellowships, scholarships, initiatives, and programs, and then asked for a review, assuming that they would take that as seriously as they took the ones last year.
But they reviewed these 12 different programs and then sent a very short email and said we don't find anything wrong with these and kind of just don't bother us and go away.
And so that also, that response I think was also a violation of Title IX because in Title IX legislation When you file or ask for an investigation or file a complaint, well first of all, you don't have to be a personal victim of any kind of sexual discrimination.
You can just say, this university is running this program.
I think it violates Title IX.
Please investigate.
So I didn't need to have any kind of legal standing as a personal victim of that discrimination, so I was on legal ground there, strong standing there.
And then also, if they do a Title IX investigation, then they're required by federal law to provide a detailed rationale for their findings.
Whether it's for sexual assault or sexual discrimination, which in this case was sexual discrimination, gender discrimination.
And then they're also supposed to advise you of any legal remedies you might have for an appeal beyond their office.
And they didn't do that.
And so then I thought, well, they're obviously not going to work with me on this situation.
So then I took it kind of to the federal level.
And, you know, since they obviously, you know, receive almost a billion dollars in federal funding at the University of Michigan, then, you know, this should be a serious issue.
And so now I've taken it to the Office for Civil Rights at the national level and filed a Title IX complaint against the University of Michigan now for about 28 different programs that I've identified that I think are discriminatory and exclusionary.
I have not received really any feedback yet like that.
Actually, the complaint at the federal level against the University of Michigan hasn't really been publicized yet.
But, you know, I've been kind of doing this for a couple years and really the only Negative feedback that I've gotten is two years ago when I was partly responsible at least for having Michigan State University in Lansing and their hundred-year tradition of providing a prime space in the Michigan Union, the Michigan Student Union, where they had a female-only student lounge on the first floor of the Student Union for going back for maybe a hundred years.
And so I objected to that.
It was kind of like my first victory, I guess, or success as a civil rights advocate, where I filed a complaint against Michigan State.
And as they were investigating it, I was able to kind of generate some national publicity around it.
There was some media attention, including in the Washington Post and the Daily Caller,
and the Lansing paper there, the Lansing State Journal.
And so, two years ago, around this time during the summer, they closed the female-only student lounge down and then
reopened it in the fall as an all-study, all-student lounge.
And then the women on campus there, even though they were the beneficiaries
of blatant gender discrimination against about half the campus,
they had been receiving those benefits of discrimination for so long
that they didn't even see this discrimination and they felt they were entitled to this space,
even though it's a clear violation of Title IX, Michigan law, federal law,
unidentified
Michigan's own, Michigan State's own statement of non-discrimination.
Well, there's a saying that people on the left say, from a point of privilege, equality looks like, you know, you're losing, you're being discriminated against.
Yeah, yeah, so women would never tolerate any favorable programs towards men, so that's what I see as the double standard.
So anyway, in that case, then I got a lot of blowback, because the women on campus were just outraged that some professor from another university would get involved with their, you know, comfortable little female-only student lounge, and they had a petition, they had protests, And it's just, you know, Michigan State legally couldn't maintain that discriminatory exclusionary space anymore.
And so, but then I got calls and emails and that's the most, the strongest feedback I've gotten in terms of negative feedback.
But recently over the last, the efforts at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan and my more recent efforts, I really haven't received, you know, hate mail or hate calls or anything really.
Beyond these complaints you're going through now, after this resolves, do you plan on continuing to file Title IX complaints against other universities or any kind of program?
Yeah, I mean, I'm just kind of an independent civil rights advocate, if I could use that term, and I don't have any staff or research assistants or interns or anything.
I mean, really, all it requires, and anybody could do this if anybody else wants to get involved, is that you just go on the website of any public university, or any private university, since all the private universities receive public funds as well, so they're held to the same legal standards as public universities.
But especially in the case of a public university, where they're clearly receiving taxpayer money, If you just go on their website and then just do a search for women scholarships, women fellowship, women program, then often it's pretty easy to identify any programs or scholarships or fellowships or initiatives or clubs that they're running that appear to be discriminatory and exclusionary against men.
And then every major university has a Title IX office, and so it's very easy just to send an email and say, I'm concerned about this program.
Can you check this for compliance?
They're obligated to respond, and then if that doesn't work at the university level, then you can always file a Title IX complaint with the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education.
And again, you don't have to be personally a victim of that discrimination.
You can just file it as a concerned citizen and say this university receives federal funds that are under Title IX guidelines.
I mean, I know that there's men's rights advocacy groups and some of them are doing similar types of, you know, legal efforts like I'm doing.
So, I mean, I guess I would be sympathetic to them and I would think they would be sympathetic to me, but in terms of being officially part of any group, I'm not.
I'm just acting completely independently as just an independent civil rights activist.
I mean, I've had several victories in the past at Michigan State, and then faculty awards in Flint, and then the GEMS girls-only camp at Flint.
So, I mean, I've had a pretty good track record so far.
You know, I'm assuming that if the Office for Civil Rights is going to enforce the legislation that they're required to do, that then these should result in changes because it's not like there's any ambiguity about this or uncertainty.
If they say this program is for women only, that just seems to be such a clear Title IX violation that it doesn't even seem like there should be any, you know, discussion about it.
They should just say, yeah, that's correct.
We're going to change this program.
Here's how we're going to change it.
So I'm hoping for, you know, just application of the existing law.
It's important to note that not every program he has filed a complaint against is federally funded.
Some of these are privately funded, but the argument stands that the university, by simply offering them, is allocating some of its resources for gender-exclusionary programs, which is a violation of Title IX.
Additionally, while women are the majority of those attending college, they are still not equally represented in every single field.
Finance, for instance, is still dominated by men, and some of these programs seek to bring about equality of representation in areas such as finance.
But regardless of the intention, the law is clear that you cannot have a program or you cannot deny someone access based on their gender, in which case it seems the logic does stand and the programs would be considered discriminatory.
But, tomorrow, we have a much longer, more in-depth conversation about diversity programs, about economics, and about Title IX.
That'll be up on the Subverse YouTube channel, which I will link to in the description below.
So let me know what you think in the comments, and we'll keep the conversation going.
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I will have some videos up on my second channel as well.
