FIRST ON FOX: The Equal Protection Project, founded and led by Cornell professor William Jacobson, has released an in-depth report on the prevalence of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training at Ivy League universities.
In his comprehensive report, “Poison Ivies: DEI and the Downfall of the Ivys,” Jacobson examines programs that the eight Ivy League institutions use and need for students.
“Our assessment of Ivy League practices CriticalRace.org The project reflects substantial efforts by Ivy League schools to comply with the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action while maintaining work-arounds and DEI practices that perpetuate the obsession with racial identities,” Jacobson told Fox News Digital.
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Students outside Goldwin Smith Hall on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY (Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In his report, Jacobson shows how Ivy League institutions followed the June 29, 2023 ruling Supreme Court which says that race cannot be used in college admissions decisions.
‘Ivy League universities pretend not to take race into account, but then offer the opportunity to ask essay questions for students to talk about their race,” he said.
“The Supreme Court’s affirmative ruling occurred in the context of college admissions, but it is clear that the court’s opinion was at its core a ruling on the equal protection clause applicable in other college contexts.”
Harkness Tower on the Yale University campus in New Haven, Conn. (Craig Warga/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The findings
In his report, Jacobson found that of the eight Ivy League universities:
- Four require DEI training in student orientation programs (Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale).
- Six require DEI training of faculty or staff in some capacity (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Penn, Princeton and Yale).
- All eight have DEI offices at the institutional and/or department level.
- Five of these have a strategic plan dedicated to DEI or anti-racism (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth and Yale).
- All eight have DEI or CRT (critical race theory) topics in classes and curricula.
- All eight have bias reporting systems.
Students cross the campus of Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
Jacobson said he found that while the universities ‘pretend’ they do not take race into account, but in practice they often do.
“Ivy League universities pretend not to consider race, but then offer students the opportunity to ask open-ended questions about their race,” he said.
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“It is difficult to believe that in environments where DEI is the dominant ideology and adopts a quasi-religious fervor, that race in fact plays no role in admissions decisions, even if there is window dressing to provide potential legal cover.”
The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology on the campus of Brown University in Providence, RI (Getty Images)
Brown University
The report showed that all departments at Bruin DEI requires a multi-year plan.
Columbia University
Students program in their orientation program at Columbia undergo their “Inclusion & Belonging” program, which, Jacobson says, “encompasses concepts of inclusion, diversity, equity, allyship and bias.”
Banners in front of Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)
Cornell University
At Cornell, the student group DoBetterCornell is involved in developing an educational outreach that focuses on themes of systemic racism, prejudice, colonialism and inequality.
Additionally, Jacobson found that the Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures was launched in 2024 to focus on anti-Black racism.
Dartmouth University
All students at Dartmouth University are required to take a culture and identity course.
Harvard University
Harvard has an Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging, which also has the Inclusive Teaching Institute, dedicated to training faculty and staff to integrate inclusive education.
A class at Princeton University claims that black people are de facto handicapped by systemic racism. (Fox News digital)
Princeton University
Princeton, the report notes, requires all employees, student leaders and faculty involved in graduate admissions and hiring to complete a culture and difference class and DEI training.
University of Pennsylvania
Penn has a cultural diversity course requirement for all undergraduate students, as well as an intercultural perspective course for all Wharton School students.
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By 2022, the Ivy League introduced DEI and Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors for Business (ESGB) majors and concentrations for Wharton students as majors and as undergraduate concentrations.
Jacobson noted that Penn also has a program known as Projects for Progress, which offers up to $100,000 grants for projects that focus on topics such as systemic racism.
Yale University
Yale has a provision that requires every school and administrative department to have a five-year plan for DEI, Jacobson reported.
William A. Jacobson, professor at Cornell Law School and chairman of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, founded the Equal Protection Project. (Fox News)
The Equal Protection Project focuses on combating discrimination based on race. The organization has challenged more than 100 scholarships and programs that discriminate against white and Asian students at universities across the country.
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“To enhance the non-discrimination standards of the Supreme Court ruling“The race-obsessed cultures at Ivy League schools need to change,” Jacobson said. “It will be a long process. The Supreme Court ruling was just the first step.”
Fox News Digital has contacted the Department of Education for comment.
