The Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) is calling on President Donald Trump and the Department of Education to take action on a pending civil rights complaint against Evanston/Skokie School District 65 in Illinois, citing an opportunity to reinforce the administration’s commitment to ending policies tied to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
The appeal, filed with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), seeks to reinstate a 2020 finding that the school district violated federal civil rights laws by implementing racially segregative practices.
The case originated when a teacher in District 65 filed a complaint with OCR, alleging that the district was engaging in racial segregation of students and teachers through practices such as “affinity groups” and “privilege walks.”
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Following an 18-month investigation, OCR issued a formal decision in 2020, ruling that the district had violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by deliberately singling out individuals based on race.
In its decision, OCR stated that the district’s practices, including instructing teachers to ask students what it means “to be white without signing on to whiteness,” reduced individuals to racial stereotypes and constituted discriminatory conduct. The ruling required the district to cease these practices. However, shortly after the Biden Administration took office in 2021, the complaint was suspended, effectively halting enforcement of the OCR decision.
Since then, SLF has filed an appeal to reinstate the 2020 ruling, arguing that the suspension has allowed discriminatory practices to continue and worsen. According to SLF, nearly every lesson in District 65 now reflects principles of critical race theory and rejects the concept of colorblindness.
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“We are well aware that School District 65 violated the rights of ALL teachers and students by forcing them to racially segregate, and the Office for Civil Rights correctly made a decision against the school district for this discrimination,” said Kim Hermann, Executive Director of the Southeastern Legal Foundation. “However, ignoring the rights of Americans, this decision was suspended by the Biden Administration. We appreciate President Trump’s statements in support of stopping all actions of this kind and are looking forward to seeing what his administration may do in response to this pending OCR complaint and appeal.”
The case has drawn attention to broader debates over the role of race in education and the implementation of DEI initiatives in public schools. Critics argue that such policies often lead to division and discrimination, while proponents contend they are necessary to address systemic inequities.
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