AAUW Warns DOJ ‘Merit’ Rule Undermines Civil Rights Safeguards

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Association of University Women (AAUW) strongly objects to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) new rule eliminating disparate-impact protections from its Title VI regulations. This major change limits enforcement to only blatant, intentional discrimination. The new policy was adopted without a public comment period.

For more than fifty years, disparate-impact standards have revealed when “neutral” rules — a test score cutoff, a discipline policy, or a siting decision — systematically push people of color to the margins. This is even when no one explicitly says race is the reason. Without these protections, it will be more difficult to challenge policies that consistently harm communities of color, women and girls of color, immigrants, and people with disabilities.

Statement from Gloria L. Blackwell, AAUW CEO

The Justice Department is trying to sell this rule as a return to ‘equal protection’ and ‘merit’. Yet, merit has too often been a smokescreen to keep women out of classrooms, labs, boardrooms, and leadership. 

Biased entrance exams, arbitrary credentials, and coded expectations about who looks and sounds ‘professional enough’ have all been defended in the name of merit. Disparate-impact protections are what allow us to ask the real question: Who is being shut out, and is there a fairer way to measure talent and potential? Ending this enforcement doesn’t end discrimination – it will just make it easier to ignore.

Because DOJ coordinates federal Title VI enforcement, this rule is a dangerous model for other agencies, including the Department of Education. It threatens progress toward educational and economic equity. AAUW urges Congress to conduct robust oversight of this rollback and to pursue every appropriate avenue to restore strong protections against systemic discrimination.

###

AAUW (American Association of University Women) is the nation’s leading organization for equity in higher education and women’s economic empowerment. Founded in 1881 by women who defied society’s conventions by earning college degrees, AAUW has since worked to increase women’s access, opportunity, and equity in higher education through research, advocacy, and philanthropy of over $146 million, supporting thousands of women scholars. Learn more at aauw.org.