IU program may violate civil rights

The U.S. Office for Civil Rights has written letters to several colleges, including IU, accusing them of violating federal civil rights laws by operating certain race-exclusive programs.\nDorothy Frapwell, legal representative for IU, will make a formal response today to accusations that IU's Summer Minority Research Fellowship, offered through the IU Cancer Center, violates these civil rights laws. \n"Generally, programs that use race or national origin as sole eligibility criteria are extremely difficult to defend," according to an Office for Civil Rights statement.\nMore than 12 colleges have received letters, asking for a legal response by March 7 or formal complaints will be filed and legal actions taken. \nFor IU, the program in question is a summer fellowship only available for minority students at the IU Cancer Center in Indianapolis, which according to the application, "strives to increase the number of students from underrepresented populations who are pursuing careers in biomedical and behavioral sciences."\nDirector of the IU Cancer Center Steve Williams said he has heard few concerns regarding the program given that last summer was its inaugural year. Still, he said whatever complaints the Office for Civil Rights has regarding the program are not the fault of the University, but rather the federal government that funds these programs. \n"If there is any question about the requirements of the program, then they should contact the National Cancer Institute, not complain to the University," Williams said.\nWilliams said the NCI and the National Institutes of Health fund the program and decided the qualifications for the program. IU spokesperson Jane Jankowski said the University is currently conversing with these organizations to develop an appropriate response. Both organizations could not be reached for comment. \nIU spokesperson Bill Stephan said the University's main concern when developing a response is examining the legalities of the program in question. \n"Our position foremost is that we intend to follow the law," Stephan said. "We will investigate to see if our programs are lawful and we certainly don't want to do anything illegal, but that is yet to be determined."\nStephan said although the University has not decided on the legality of this issue, the principle of promoting diversity is one IU must keep in mind. \n"We cannot compromise our commitment to diversity," Stephan said. "We feel it is an important value of IU and we must provide equal opportunity to all students, which includes minorities."\nVice President for Diversity Charlie Nelms said although he is not informed on the specific issue at hand, the University should continue to support its minority programs.\n"I just don't understand why there are so many people who want to deprive underrepresented minorities of opportunities," Nelms said.\nDiversity educator Mark Bryson echoed these sentiments, saying affirmative action and many other special programs take gender into account as often as race. \nThe Summer Minority Fellowship was the only program mentioned in the letter to IU. Stephan said it was unknown whether other programs could fall under the same scrutiny, but would be taken care of on an individual basis. \n"We would look at other programs on a case-by-case basis," Stephan said. "Some of these programs are unique in certain aspects and we cannot make a blanket judgement for all minority programs."\nFrapwell said the University's response, which she will author, will be made public upon its completion.\nOther colleges such as Carnegie Mellon have already responded by saying their programs are perfectly legal. The Office for Civil Rights would not release all of the colleges in question, but other universities mentioned include Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Iowa State and St. Louis Universities, and the University of Missouri at Columbia.