UC Berkeley was slapped with a formal civil rights complaint on Tuesday that accuses the public university of promoting several racially exclusionary programs that favor minorities.
The Equal Protection Project, a conservative nonprofit, urged the US Department of Education to launch an investigation into the school over its allegedly discriminatory programs.
“The programs no[t] only are explicit in their discrimination, they also signal that discrimination,” the complaint reads. “While the intent behind a given message can be relevant, the primary question is whether an ordinary reader would be discouraged from participating.”
In a nearly 4,000-word federal complaint, the Equal Protection Project mentions five specific programs at UC Berkeley that it claims are racially exclusionary.
The filing accuses the university of “adopting and promoting the following five (5) discriminatory programs in violation of federal law,” specifically citing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The targeted programs identified in the complaint include:
- African American Student Development Office (AASD): This campus hub allegedly uses “strong racial signaling” to suggest it is for Black students, which the group argues is “likely to dissuade students” who do not meet that racial category from participating.
- The Black Resource Center: The filing claims this space is discriminatory because it is described by the university as a place “for Black students to safely gather” and is “dedicated to enhancing the Black student experience”.
- The Latinx Student Resource Center (LSRC): The nonprofit argues this center has an exclusionary purpose because it is “dedicated to the academic, social, emotional, cultural, and professional development of Chicanx/Latinx students”.
- The African American Initiative (AAI) Scholarship: This $8,000 annual award is targeted because it requires applicants to “Identify as Black/African American/African” and makes living on the “Afro floor” a requirement once the scholarship is accepted.
- The Lloyd A. Edwards Scholarship: The complaint alleges this $5,000 annual scholarship “discriminates against all non-black and non-Native American students” by being open only to those specific groups.
The group asserts that a school’s “benign” intentions are no defense against civil rights claims, writing that “it does not matter if the recipient of federal funding discriminates in order to advance a benign ‘intention’ or ‘motivation.’”
“Because Berkeley is a public university, the Programs also violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee,” the complaint states.
The DOE told The Post it does not confirm complaints or comment on whether an investigation is underway.
This is not Berkeley’s first rodeo with the education department.
In March 2024, the university faced a federal complaint alleging it banned its white students from the Gill Tract Community, prompting an investigation. Critics blasted the move as racial segregation.
Separately, students in February 2025 sued the UC Regents over alleged racial preferences in hiring and admissions.
In May of the same year, the Trump administration also opened Title VI probes into dozens of universities — including Berkeley — over potential civil rights violations tied to diversity programs.
A spokesperson for Berkeley said the school has no comment about the most recent allegations.
“UC Berkeley has an unwavering commitment to abide by state and federal law,” the spokesperson told The Post.