Exclusive | University of Southern California and Loyola Marymount University hit with civil rights probe over Hispanic-only student program

The prestigious University of Southern California and Loyola Marymount University are both the subject of a civil rights investigation over a college-access program that’s only available to Hispanic students, the California Post can reveal.A letter from the Office of Civil Rights to William Jacobson, president of the anti-racism Equal Protection Project, on August 13th confirmed both schools are being investigated for discriminating against students on the basis of ”national origin”, allowing the program to exclude students who do not identify as Hispanic.The letter was in response to a June 29 complaint filed by Jacobson organization alleging that USC and LMU may have violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.Jacobson told The Post they were ”very pleased” the Department of Education’s office for civil rights was has taken action “very promptly.” “The fact that they opened it this quickly is a sign to us that while they haven’t reached conclusions, based on the materials we submitted, there appears to be a very strong case here,” he said.The complaint alleged that USC and LMU violated federal civil rights law by sponsoring, promoting and facilitating the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s Youth Leadership Institute, which restricts participation to students who identify as being of “Hispanic heritage.”The Youth Leadership Institute (YLI) is billed as a college-access and leadership-development program for Hispanic high school students.The complaint alleged that the universities go beyond simply allowing an outside organization to use their campuses, instead providing institutional support for the program.The allegations include that USC and LMU host YLI events, provide on-campus housing and other facilities, promote the program, furnish speakers and university personnel, make classroom and meeting space available and provide other university resources, according to the DOE’s letter.The department said both private universities rec...