The University of Kentucky received a letter from the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) regarding racial discrimination, according to UK spokesperson Jay Blanton. 

The document from the U.S. Department of Education Acting Assistant Secretary Craig Trainor, dated Feb. 14, was received by UK late that same day, according to Blanton.

Angela Cooper, the communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky (ACLU), said the ACLU is fighting against anti-diversity, equity and inclusion policies within Kentucky for years now. 

“We don’t normally address federal issues, but obviously this is going to impact Kentuckians and universities in Kentucky,” Cooper said. “This is basically an extension of what the Trump administration did the first time around and is continuing to do this time around. It’s attacks on so-called divisive concepts, attempts to ban books or classroom discussion that addresses race, racism, gender and sexuality.”

Cooper said the Department of Defense governs a school in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, that’s on a military base. This school received a memo saying they should remove books from the shelves that talked about slavery and civil rights. 

“This is a blatant attempt to rewrite history. It’s a blatant attempt to erase the truth of this nation’s history of how we were founded, how we were built. All of the things that were done to people in the name of freedom for white males,” Cooper said. 

Throughout Cooper’s career, she said she has never seen anything like this. 

“The only reason to fight against initiatives that include diversity is because you want to continue to allow mediocre or subpar people to fail upward, as they say,” Cooper said. “This is clearly a grasp, a really terrifying one, a total ‘Christo-fascist’ white supremacy.”

Cooper said during Matt Bevin’s term as Kentucky governor, he tried to do a lot of what Trump wants to do now, but Trump will do what Bevin did not. 

A lot of what the letter addressed Cooper thinks will end up in court. The ACLU is going to continue to challenge these federal antidiscrimination protections through litigation, regulatory and legislative advocacy. 

“We certainly aren’t backing down,” Cooper said. “I expect there’s a time when he’ll try to come for us too, but we’re gonna put up all the fight.”

Cooper said assaults on academic freedom violate the First Amendment and 14th Amendment.  

“This one (the letter) actually calls it a falsehood that this country was built on systemic racism,” Cooper said. “It’s beyond the pale for rewriting history and denying what is absolutely true.”

John Karman III, University of Louisville’s Interim vice president of communications and marketing, said “every K-12 and postsecondary institution in the country that receives federal funding received the letter.” 

“As with any guidance, we are carefully reviewing. However, given the changes that President Capilouto made in response to Students for Fair Admissions— and his subsequent decisions on policies and practices that have reinforced and strengthened our focus on being a place that supports many people, one community— our initial assessment is we comply with the guidance,” Blanton said. 

The letter explains and reiterates the legal requirements that already exist under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

It also cites the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA).

“As the court explained in SFFA, ‘an individual’s race may never be used against him’ and ‘may not operate as a stereotype’ in governmental decision-making,” Trainor said in the letter. 

Trainor said educational institutions cannot treat a person of one race differently than the way they treat a person of another race because it violates the law. 

According to Trainor, federal law prohibits institutions from using race to make decisions about admissions, hiring, promotions, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, housing, discipline, graduation ceremonies, as well as all other aspects regarding student, academic and campus life. 

“Discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is illegal and morally reprehensible,” Trainor said in the letter. “Accordingly, I write to clarify and reaffirm the nondiscrimination obligations of schools and other entities that receive federal financial assistance from the United States Department of Education.” 

According to Trainor, these institutions embrace “pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of racial discrimination” and have emerged in every aspect of these academic communities. 

Race-based decision-making remains “impermissible,” Trainor said in the letter. 

These institutions educate all ages and have been using race to consider admissions, hiring, financial aid and training, Trainor said. 

“In recent years, American educational institutions have discriminated against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families,” he said in the letter. 

Trainor mentioned DEI and said educational institutions have “toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism’ and advanced discriminatory policies and practices.”

These “practices” have been “under the banner” of DEI over the last four years, according to Trainor. DEI has been “smuggling” this “race-consciousness” into programming, he said. 

Racial discrimination has been and will continue to be illegal, according to Trainor.  

“Anyone who believes that a covered entity has unlawfully discriminated may file a complaint with OCR,” Trainor said in the letter. 

14 days from Feb. 14, the department plans to take measures to assess compliance with these statutes and regulations. If institutions do not comply with these federal civil rights laws, they could face the potential loss of federal funding, according to the letter from Trainor. 

The full letter can be read below.

Gallery • 4 Photos

This is a copy of the letter from the United States Department of Education that local universities such as the University of Kentucky and Centre College received.