A conservative group has filed a lawsuit against Northwestern University’s law school, alleging that its efforts to hire more women and people of color violate federal anti-discrimination laws. This legal challenge, filed in Federal District Court in Chicago, follows the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action in college admissions and could herald a wave of similar lawsuits against university hiring practices.
The complaint, brought by the group Faculty, Alumni and Students Opposed to Racial Preferences, accuses Northwestern of sidelining white male candidates in favor of others based on race and gender. It describes the hiring process as “a cesspool of corruption and lawlessness” and claims that out of 21 job offers made in the past three years, only three were extended to white men.
Jon Yates, a spokesman for Northwestern, defended the university’s hiring practices, emphasizing the law school’s standing as one of the nation’s top institutions and its commitment to maintaining a distinguished faculty.
The lawsuit names several prominent legal scholars who were allegedly overlooked for positions at Northwestern. Among them are Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment scholar and legal blogger from UCLA, and Ernest A. Young, a constitutional law professor at Duke University. Both scholars, however, expressed no hard feelings about not being hired and distanced themselves from the lawsuit.
Volokh, now a senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, commented that hiring decisions are made for various reasons and that he harbors no grievances. Young similarly remarked on his satisfaction with his current position at Duke and noted that his political views and demographic characteristics might have influenced hiring decisions.
The group behind the lawsuit aims to position itself as a successor to Students for Fair Admissions, which successfully challenged affirmative action in college admissions on behalf of Asian American students. The complaint criticizes what it describes as “leftist ideologues” in university diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, and argues for the restoration of meritocracy in academia.
Jonathan F. Mitchell, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs and a former Texas solicitor general known for his conservative activism, declared that this lawsuit is just the beginning. He previously played a key role in crafting Texas’ restrictive abortion law, S.B. 8, and has defended various conservative causes.
The lawsuit provides detailed accounts of faculty hires at Northwestern, relying on what appear to be insider accounts. It claims some candidates lacked sufficient scholarship or understanding of material and alleges discriminatory practices during the hiring process.
One specific allegation involves a purported deal during the 2019-2020 hiring cycle, where the then-dean allegedly struck a bargain with Steven Calabresi, a Northwestern professor and co-founder of the conservative Federalist Society.
According to the suit, the dean agreed to support hiring a Federalist Society member in exchange for backing a Black professor from the University of Iowa, Paul Gowder, and another professor’s wife. Calabresi and Gowder, however, have denied knowledge of any such deal, with Gowder emphasizing his qualifications for the position.