News

This section includes press releases and statements about education and racial justice issues.

CRP Report Says Time Has Come for MA to Deal with its Diversity and Segregated Schools

The Civil Rights Project releases a new study today, the first of its kind to thoroughly explore school segregation trends in Massachusetts since the peak of desegregation in the 1980s. The study shows student enrollment in the Commonwealth’s public schools growing more diverse, while the state’s public schools become increasingly segregated along race and class lines.

Report Finds Over Half of Maryland’s Black Students Attend Intensely Segregated Schools

Maryland’s public school students are increasingly segregated by race and class, in spite of growing diversity in student enrollment statewide. The report is the first of its kind to thoroughly explore the status of school segregation trends in Maryland since the peak of desegregation in the 1980s.

Complaint Filed with OCR against Durham Public Schools

The Advocates for Children's Services project of Legal Aid of North Carolina ("ACS") and the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project of UCLA ("CRP") filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, against the Durham Public Schools ("DPS"). The complaint exposes DPS’s overreliance on out-of-school suspension, which disproportionately harms Black students and students with disabilities, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The complaint is filed on behalf of all DPS students who are unjustly harmed by the district's suspension policies, including two Black students with disabilities whose experiences are described in the complaint.

"Out of School and Off Track" Reports Detail Disturbing and Increased Use of Suspensions

Two first-of-their-kind reports shed light on the growing use of punitive disciplinary measures and provides research-based alternatives. The reports were presented at a Congressional briefing by researchers with responses from the legislative staffers and civil and disability rights advocates on Capitol Hill earlier today.

UCLA Report Finds Virginia’s African American Students Face Increasing Racial Segregation and Poverty in School

Despite Virginia’s long history with school desegregation, little political attention has been paid to the growing multi-racial diversity of the state’s enrollment and rising levels of isolation for its African American and Latino students. This report, which covers the past two decades, is the first to thoroughly explore trends in the state, its major metro areas and largest school divisions in the years since many of its districts were released from court order to desegregate.

Call for Papers: Segregation, Immigration, and Educational Inequality: A Multinational Examination of New Research

The Civil Rights Project, University of Ghent, Université Libre de Bruxelles and the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies invite proposals for papers an upcoming conference called "Segregation, Immigration, and Educational Inequality: A Multinational Examination of New Research."

Civil Rights Project Report Shows Bans on Affirmative Action Hinder University Recruitment Efforts & Harm Campus Racial Climate

The Civil Rights Project today published important new data on the way in which California’s ban on affirmative action harms the University of California in comparison to the University of Texas -- which still has affirmative action -- in terms of both the climate on campus for nonwhite students and the lack of success in recruiting top-ranked applicants of color.

Civil Rights Project Reports Deepening Segregation and Challenges Educators and Political Leaders to Develop Positive Policies

E Pluribus… Separation suggests a number of ways to reverse the trends toward deepening resegregation.

Project SOL Teacher Honored by Presidential Commission

Octavio Alvarez is one of 10 exceptional teachers of Latino students from across the nation to receive honors today at a White House ceremony sponsored by President Obama’s Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.

Hundreds of U.S. Researchers File Brief with U.S. Supreme Court Supporting University of Texas Diversity Policies

Scholars from 172 universities and research centers in 42 states have joined together in a brief summarizing key research on affirmative action for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Civil Rights Project Issues Policy Brief, California: A Case Study in the Loss of Affirmative Action

This brief reviews the various efforts undertaken by the University of California to maintain diversity in the institution, and especially at its highly competitive flagship campuses, UCLA and Berkeley, in the face of the loss of affirmative action during the mid-1990s.

Millions of Children Find the Schoolhouse Door Locked

UCLA Center for Civil Rights Remedies Finds Shocking Suspension Rates in thousands of districts across the nation.

Bans on Affirmative Action Shown to Reduce Enrollment of Graduate Students of Color at Universities in CA, FL, TX, WA

This study examines the impact of affirmative action bans, across a number of years in several states, on the enrollment of underrepresented students of color. These latest data show that the bans have led to marked declines in key areas of graduate studies.

Fall River Public Schools Suspend Black and Latino Students, and Students with Disabilities, at Unusually High Rates

Civil Rights Project at UCLA and ACLU of Massachusetts file complaint with U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, alleging violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

UCLA Report Links School Integration with Positive Leadership and Better Community Relations

Teachers’ perceptions differ widely by the racial and socioeconomic makeup of their school

Out-of-School Suspensions in California’s School Districts Reveal Hidden Crisis

A new report from the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project estimates that more than 400,000 students were suspended and removed from classrooms at least one time during the 2009-10 school year in California.

CRP Mourns Loss of Dedicated Civil Rights Attorney John Payton

John Payton, the superb leader of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a preeminent force in the battle for civil rights, passed away on March 22, 2012.

CRP Response to Release of the 2009-10 Civil Rights Data

The Civil Rights Project commends the U.S. Department of Education for recent changes to the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) and public release of the 2009-10 school year data but also highlights the need for additional changes.

Project SOL Teachers Receive "Courage to Act" Awards

Eight Project SOL teachers received “Courage to Act, Bilingual Teacher Awards” from the California Association of Bilingual Educators and were also recognized by the California Legislature and the Secretary of Foreign Relations of Mexico for their exceptional dedication and talent in bringing college preparatory curriculum to immigrant students in high school.

CRP Calls for Fundamental Changes in California's Community Colleges

Almost 75% of all Latino and two-thirds of all Black students who go on to higher education in California go to a community college, yet in 2010 only 20% of all transfers to four-year institutions were Latino or African American. Pathways to the baccalaureate are segregated; students attending low-performing high schools usually go directly into community colleges that transfer few students to 4-year colleges. Conversely, a handful of community colleges serving high percentages of white, Asian and middle class students are responsible for the majority of all transfers in the state. California ranks last among the states in the proportion of its college students who attend a 4-year institution, which is a key factor in the state’s abysmal record on BA attainment. In a state in which half of all high school graduates are Black and Latino, this situation spells economic disaster for the future of the state.