Texas A&M faces lawsuit over affirmative action hiring practices

As part of a new initiative to attract "faculty of color," the univsersity designated $2 million in July to be spent on bonuses for "hires from underrepresented minority groups," according to a memo from the university's office of diversity. Eligible minority groups include "African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians." Maximum bonuses are up of $100,000.

According to emails, the university’s Mays Business School reserves faculty slots for minority groups, as well.

These practices were revealed in a class action complaint filed last week by the nonprofit America First Legal on behalf of the plaintiff, a University of Texas at Austin finance professor named Richard Lowery.

The suit argues that the hiring practices violate the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which prohibits race discrimination in contracting; Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits race discrimination at federally funded universities; and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which bars public universities from using racial preferences in nearly all situations.

According to the suit, "University administrators think they can flout these federal statutes with impunity because no one ever sues them over their discriminatory faculty-hiring practices and the Department of Education looks the other way."

Lowery is asking a Texas district court to end the hiring practices and appoint a court monitor to guarantee that the university’s diversity office "does not aid or abet violations of the nation’s civil-rights laws."

The suit stated, "These discriminatory, illegal, and anti-meritocratic practices have been egged on by woke ideologues who populate the so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion offices at public and private universities throughout the United States. The existence of these offices is subverting meritocracy and encouraging wholesale violations of civil-rights laws throughout our nation’s university system."

According to the Washington Free Beacon, public universities are allowed to use race as a "plus factor" in admissions, but it is unclear if they can do so for faculty hiring. The lawsuit argues, that even if they are allowed to do so, Supreme Court precedent would still forbid the type of quotas used by Texas A&M.

Such practices are becoming more common in universities and American corporations. In 2021 George Mason University was called out by law professors over its alleged use of racial quotas, which are illegal under federal law.

Companies such as Google, Pfizer, and Microsoft have capped or flat-out excluded white and Asian applicants from fellowships. Amazon offers "Black, Latinx, and Native American entrepreneurs" a $10,000 stipend to launch their own delivery startups, a program that is now the subject of a lawsuit.