Education Department investigates Princeton for admitting ‘systemic racism’ on campus – Politico
Education Department officials will be examining whether the university’s “admitted racism” means that the school made false claims when it said it doesn’t discriminate on race.
The Trump administration has opened an investigation into Princeton University over the school president’s recent statement that students there face “systematic racism” and that racism is “embedded” in the structures of the university.
Education Department officials notified Princeton this week that they are examining whether the university’s “admitted racism” means that it made materially false statements when it for years assured the public and the federal government that it doesn’t discriminate based on race.
At issue is a message Princeton’s president, Christopher Eisgruber, wrote to the university earlier this month discussing efforts to combat “systemic racism” at the school, as well as examine decisions and policies that have excluded students of color and other marginalized groups.
“Racism and the damage it does to people of color nevertheless persist at Princeton as in our society, sometimes by conscious intention but more often through unexamined assumptions and stereotypes, ignorance or insensitivity, and the systemic legacy of past decisions and policies,” Eisgruber wrote. “Racist assumptions from the past also remain embedded in structures of the University itself.”