SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — A complaint filed with the Department of Education alleges that programs for men of color at at least eight California State University campuses — including Cal Poly — violate federal civil rights law.

The Nov. 19 complaint targets the CSU's "Young Males of Color Consortium" and its affiliated programs, including Cal Poly's Men of Color Success Initiative. It alleges the programs promote race- and sex-based discrimination in violation of the Civil Rights Act and Title IX regulations.

The complaint was filed by the Equal Protection Project, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit that has filed at least 21 similar complaints against programs at colleges and universities this year.

The organization is affiliated with the Legal Insurrection Foundation, a conservative advocacy nonprofit known for opposing critical race theory and diversity initiatives. It was founded by Cornell law professor William Jacobson.

The university programs in question claim to promote racial equity by erasing systemic barriers to education and success for men of color.

Cal Poly's Men of Color Success Initiative "supports and advances the potential of undergraduate men of color by empowering students with integral skills, community, and knowledge to foster success," according to its website.

The initiative focuses on increasing graduation and retention rates and strengthening the sense of community for male students of color.

But the complaint defines these objectives as "patently unconstitutional."

"The CSU YMOC Consortium's explicit racial and sex-based contours are presumptively invalid," the complaint reads. "And since there is no compelling government justification for such invidious discrimination, its creation, sponsorship and promotion of these programs violates state and federal civil rights statutes and constitutional equal protection guarantees."

The complaint requests that the Department of Education's civil rights office open an investigation into the CSU programs.

"The Office for Civil Rights has the power and obligation to investigate the CSU system's role in creating, funding and promoting these programs — and, given how many there are, to discern whether the CSU system is engaging in such discrimination in its other activities — and to impose whatever remedial relief is necessary to hold it accountable for that unlawful conduct," the complaint reads.

"Accordingly, we respectfully ask that the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights prioritize and expedite this complaint given the apparent systemic discrimination at the CSU system, promptly open a formal investigation, impose such remedial relief as the law permits for the benefit of those who have been illegally excluded from the member schools' programs based on discriminatory criteria, and ensure that all ongoing and future programming through the CSU system comports with the Constitution and federal civil rights laws."

The Department of Education will now decide whether or not to open an investigation.

Cal Poly told The Tribune that it is aware of the complaint but directed all questions to the CSU Chancellor's Office.

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