A professor sued Texas A&M University, alleging that a faculty fellowship program aimed at boosting diversity discriminates against white and Asian men.
“These discriminatory, illegal, and anti-meritocratic practices have been egged on by woke ideologues who populate the so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion offices at public and private universities,” the lawsuit reads.
Richard Lowery, who teaches finance at the University of Texas, filed the federal lawsuit on Saturday against Texas A&M University System and its board of regents; Annie S. McGowan, Texas A&M vice president and associate provost for diversity; and N.K. Anand, Texas A&M vice president for faculty affairs.
Lowery wants relief as well as for a court to appoint monitors to oversee Texas A&M’s hiring and diversity office. The professor is being represented by lawyers at America First Legal, a conservative nonprofit organization committed to “combating the left’s radical and lawless agenda” and is led by several former Trump administration officials.
The lawsuit notes that Lowery is “able and ready” to apply for a faculty appointment at Texas A&M, but that the university’s “racial preferences and set-asides” prevent him “from competing with other applicants for these faculty positions on an equal basis.”
Texas A&M system spokesperson Laylan Copelin said in a statement that “it’s an unusual job application when Mr. Lowery says in the lawsuit he is ‘able and ready’ to apply for a faculty appointment at Texas A&M. But our lawyers will review the lawsuit, confer with Texas A&M and take appropriate action as warranted.”
Shortly after the Department of Education recognized the university as a Hispanic Serving Institution in July last year, McGowan sent out an email to Texas A&M deans announcing a new faculty hiring program under its Accountability, Climate, Equity, and Scholarship (ACES) Faculty Fellows Program called ACES Plus — which exclusively targets “new mid-career and senior tenure-track hires from underrepresented minority groups, that contribute to moving the structural composition of our faculty towards parity with that of the State of Texas.”
University officials dedicated $2 million over the next two fiscal years to help match fellows’ base salary and benefits, up to a maximum of $100,000.
Texas A&M defines underrepresented minority groups as African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiians, according to the email.
In the lawsuit, Lowery claims the new faculty hiring program violates Title VI and Title IX — which prohibit all forms of race and sex discrimination at universities that receive federal funds — as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
On Texas A&M’s website for ACES, the university states that it’s “committed to building a culturally diverse educational environment” and encourages “women, minorities, and members of other underrepresented groups” to apply.
During the fall semester of 2021, about 60% of Texas A&M’s faculty was white. Nearly 14% was international, only about 10% was Asian or Pacific Islander, about 6% was Latino and just under 4% was Black.
That same semester, more than 53% of students were white, 22% were Latino, nearly 10% was Asian and about 3% was Black.