University STEM program excludes white and Asian males, complaint alleges

The U.S. Department of Education continues to allow the University of Cincinnati to discriminate against white and Asian males in its newly worded “Undergraduates Pursuing Research and Science Program,” according to a longtime economics scholar.

Mark Perry, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Michigan-Flint, told The College Fix that the university responded to a federal inquiry into its discrimination against male applicants by making the program discriminatory against white and Asian male students instead.

The public university in Ohio did this by changing the language of a STEM program to advertise it as open to applicants from “from under-represented groups pursuing degrees and careers in STEM fields.” Previously, UC advertised it as a “Research Experience for Women Undergraduates.”

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights first opened an inquiry in November 2020. In May 2022, OCR informed Perry that it had closed its investigation into the university’s Women in Science and Engineering program because it is no longer limited by sex.

This resolution did not satisfy Perry, who said the change makes the situation worse, not better. He said he has filed a new complaint (below) against the program.