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Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has launched an inquiry into the University of Notre Dame’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies and claims in a letter addressed to Notre Dame’s president Rev. Robert Dowd that the university may not be in compliance with federal and state civil rights laws.
The attorney general is also questioning whether Notre Dame is complying with terms of the university’s nonprofit status under Indiana Code § 23-17-24-1, according to the letter.
Rokita is requesting the university produce all documents and communications concerning any changes the university made to its hiring or admissions processes following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admission, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College decision on affirmative action in 2023.
“Indiana will not tolerate racial discrimination in education under the guise of DEI,” Rokita said in a news release. “Fairness demands that every individual be judged on their merits, not the color of their skin. Notre Dame’s DEI policies raise troubling questions about whether, in its pursuit of DEI goals, the university may be crossing the clear line that Indiana law draws against racial discrimination. I am seeking answers.”
The university denies it is in violation of any federal laws.
“Notre Dame is a premier Catholic research university, and as such, seeks to serve and reflect the broader Catholic Church, which is the world’s most global, multicultural, and multilingual institution. We do not engage in unlawful discrimination in our hiring or admissions processes and look to attract the best and brightest to our campus,” a University of Notre Dame spokesperson said in an email to The Indiana Lawyer.
The inquiry follows what President Donald Trump’s administration has been doing with Harvard University in taking billions of dollars in federal funding for its DEI programs.
Additionally, Rokita has requested the university produce all documents and communications discussing ways in which the affirmative action decision “complicated” the university’s efforts to increase the representation in its student body of “underrepresented groups”, all documents and communications concerning whether and how race is considered, either directly or indirectly, in faculty hiring and student admission decisions, all guidance provided to faculty and admissions staff concerning the university’s diversity and inclusion goals, all drafts of and other materials the university relied upon in preparing the section of the 2023 Strategic Framework concerning diversity and inclusion.
The letter questioned how the university determines who counts as a member of an underrepresented group for purposes of implementing the 2023 Strategic Framework and how the university tracks the number of students from underrepresented groups that it admits.
Rokita’s letter asked what actions the university took to increase the number of “Latino faculty” it employs that is discussed in the 2023 Strategic Framework, and other specific actions it is taking to enhance diversity of its faculty, and the actions to recruit more “underrepresented students.”
The attorney general is also inquiring as to how the university tracks and evaluates whether and how frequently students enroll in classes taught by faculty who “look like” them and how the university determines who is invited to attend or be recognized at its multicultural recognition ceremonies for graduating students.
Rokita has asked the university to provide all the information to his office within 30 days by June 9.
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