A lawsuit filed last week alleged Cornell University allowed diversity, equity and inclusion administrators to create an interview list consisting only of “underrepresented minority scholars” for a faculty hire, violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Wright v. Cornell University).
“[I]t intentionally discriminated against qualified candidates by brazenly refusing to consider white candidates,” according to the plaintiff, who filed the lawsuit alongside attorneys for the America First Policy Institute, a think tank founded by Trump advisors to advance the eponymous policy of putting Americans first.
Emails allegedly show the school kept the job opening private, in violation of its own policy that required vacancies to be posted on its website for at least five business days, according to the complaint. The individual alleged he was “highly qualified” and would have applied for the job had he known about it. Cornell declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The complaint follows similar, recent objections to DEI programs that allegedly run afoul of Title VII — including challenges from other private plaintiffs, advocacy organizations and the Trump administration itself.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, for example, has specifically invited White men to file bias claims with the agency. Early results show mixed success with such claims.
In response, employment law attorneys have recommended that HR professionals review DEI policies and practices for compliance with federal law. Jonathan Segal, a partner with Duane Morris and managing principal of the Duane Morris Institute, recommended in an August 2025 op-ed for HR Dive that employers look for, among other things, any initiatives that provide preferential treatment based on protected characteristics