PPT Files Civil Rights Complaint Against Penn State Dickinson Law for DEI Plan

Law school hit with Title VI, VII, and IX violations inquiry for imposing DEI in Strategic Plan.

Watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) has filed a complaint against Penn State Dickinson Law School for violations of Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice.

According to Dickinson Law’s own Strategic Plan, recently uncovered by the Washington Free Beacon, everything it does – from admissions to hiring to curriculum – reflects diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) orthodoxy, in violation of presidential executive orders, the Civil Rights Act, and the Constitution.

For example, a list of visions in its Strategic Plan includes “Promoting diversity in legal education and the profession to achieve equity in society.” Equity is equality of outcome, at the expense of equality of opportunity.

Dickinson Law also lists a goal to “Engage with Institutional Antiracism in support of the Land-Grant Mission.” That means assuming the school is systematically racist and acting accordingly.

“Law schools,” it asserts, “must recruit, retain, teach and research according to antiracist principles.” It couldn’t be clearer that the school means not to teach students to be lawyers but to ensure ideological conformity.

That’s reflected in the law school’s attitude toward its curriculum which seeks to “leverage critical pedagogy [and] antiracism.” Critical pedagogy reduces the educational experience to a zero-sum power equation and forces people into racial categories of “oppressed” and “oppressor.”

The Strategic Plan further states the intention to admit on the basis of race by prioritizing “diverse” and “inclusive” admissions practices. The same with hiring, as Dickinson Law boast of its “first woman and first African American Dean.”

The Washington Free Beacon followed up with the story of David Blackman, a Texas man who left Dickinson Law because he was forced to take a required “anti-racism” class that included lectures calling white people “privileged” and claiming that the justice system is about “keeping black people in their place.” They also called to “eradicate patriarchy,” which is discrimination on the basis of sex. The students were then required to write essays based upon this instruction.

Blackman reportedly was not given exemptions to this compelled speech – in violation of the First Amendment – forcing him to choose between being actively discriminated against and losing his spot at the school. Thus, it appears he was “excluded from participation in” and “denied the benefits of” an education program due to the discrimination at Penn State.

Previously, PPT filed complaints against school districts in Ohio, Vermont, and Wisconsin, and universities in Arizona,Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, and Utah over similar allegations.

“Lady Justice wears a blindfold to symbolize the commitment to impartiality and equal justice under the law. A law school, of all institutions, should understand and honor that aspiration,” said PPT Director Michael Chamberlain. “But to see such violations laid out in a strategic plan for a law school is disturbing, and Mr. Blackman’s account of how Dickinson Law executes that plan is outrageous. We urge the DOJ, the Department of Education and HHS to investigate Penn State.”

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