The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights officially opened an investigation on Jan. 27 into the Ithaca City School District over allegations of racial discrimination against white students following a complaint filed by the Equal Protection Project — founded and led by Prof. William Jacobson, law.
The investigation concerns the ICSD’s Students of Color United Summit. Founded in 2021, the event is an annual “closed event ONLY for [students of color] from 6th-12th grade in the Ithaca City School District.” Hosted by ICSD, the event takes place off campus and features musical and spoken word performances, sports, activities, food and social opportunities.
According to the complaint, the goal of the event is to “help students of color have, at the least, one day filled with joy and excitement while being around other minority groups.”
Since its founding in February 2023, The EPP has filed over 50 Civil Rights Complaints against education institutions with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, primarily challenging the legality of the identity-based scholarships, grants and fellowships.
The Equal Protection Project initially filed a complaint against ICSD on Aug. 12, accusing the district of racially discriminating against white students by excluding them from the summit.
Following EPP’s complaint and a letter to the ICSD Superintendent Luvelle Brown and Board of Education President Sean Eversley Bradwell, both received racist and threatening messages, according to The Ithaca Voice. Less than 48 hours later, the ICSD emailed parents and students, apologizing for the use of “exclusionary language,” and opening up the event to all students, Fox News reported.
Jacobson’s complaint alleges that ICSD’s annual SOCU events were a "four-year systematic exclusion of White students” that violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The DOE investigation unfolds amid federal changes to diversity, equity and inclusion policies under the Trump administration. The Department of Education has removed publicly available DEI program materials and has begun investigating schools and organizations accused of having events or policies that consider race as a factor in participation.
As the Office for Civil Rights proceeds with its investigation, it will examine whether ICSD violated Title VI by subjecting students to different treatment based on race.
“The discrimination was deliberate, open and offensive,” Jacobson told Fox News, “going so far as to have a Frequently Asked Question on the event website explaining why white students were not invited.”
The FAQ page, cited in the complaint, includes the question, “Why aren’t white students invited?”
In response, the page reads: “The reason that this event is not open to white students is to protect this safe space for students of color and to be sure that this space truly allows for students of color to express themselves without the perceived pressure to assimilate due to white students being present.”
ICSD maintains that its programs do not exclude and even “welcome[s]” the investigation, according to ICSD Board of Education President Sean Eversley Bradwell’s statement to the Ithaca Times.
“As stated last year, Ithaca City School District programs do not exclude,” Bradwell wrote in a statement to the Ithaca Times. “The 2024 event was created by students to support and affirm Students of Color, and all students, staff and educators were invited to attend.”
Isabella Pazmino-Schell '28 is a Sun staff writer and can be reached at ivs5@cornell.edu.
