The investigation into the University of Connecticut alleging race-based discrimination concerning housing and the school’s learning communities is still underway.
In July, the Equal Protection Project, a conservative civil rights organization under the Legal Insurrection Foundation, filed a civil rights complaint against three UConn learning communities — the BSOUL House, ScHOLA²RS House and La Comunidad Intelectual — through the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. The department opened an investigation shortly after.
A learning community is a group of students who share a major or other interests, according to UConn’s learning community website. The university has a total of 20 residential learning communities.
“Students benefit by being part of a community, receiving layers of mentoring, learning how to navigate campus resources and opportunities and engaging with a topic of interest that will help round out their educational experience,” according to the university’s website.
The ScHOLA²RS House is advertised towards Black male students, the BSOUL House is advertised towards Black female students and La Comunidad Intelectual is advertised towards Hispanic and Latino students.
Students can apply to a learning community before their freshman year through the UConn housing application or by requesting to be in one before their sophomore year, according to the university. Students are only eligible to live in a learning community for their first two years at UConn, unless they get a leadership position within the community.
The complaint alleges that the learning communities violate various civil rights laws including the Fair Housing Act, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The Fair Housing Act protects people from discrimination when doing any housing activity such as buying a home, getting a mortgage or participating in other housing situations such as college dorms, according to the U.S. Department of Housing website.
The act prohibits people from facing discrimination in housing arrangements based on their race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability.
Title VI “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice website.
The complaint alleges that since UConn receives federal financial assistance, the learning communities violate Title VI.
The complaint cites specific examples of the learning communities’ social media posts and promotional materials, which it claims “would cause a reasonable non-member of a given group to conclude that a given program is not intended for them, likely causing them to forgo applying.”
Nicole Gelston, general counsel and executive secretary to the UConn board of trustees, responded to the complaint on July 27.
“Notably, the EPP does not identify a single person, nor is UConn aware of one, who was or claims to have been denied housing, denied participation in or otherwise ‘steered’ from or to a learning community,” Gelston wrote in her response.
Gelston said that students only “indicate their interest” in a specific community. Ethnicity and nationality aren’t taken into account when admitting students into a learning community.
“The EPP’s allegations appear to rest entirely on assumptions made after review of publicly available on-line material, some of it long outdated and no longer current,” according to Gelston.
UConn’s office for campus housing does not have students’ information on their race or ethnicity, so it does not play a factor in their housing, according to Gelston.
Gelston outlined what the learning communities’ aims are in her response.
“UConn’s Learning Communities Program is not housing, per se, but rather a programmatic tool within on-campus housing, managed by the Institute for Student Success, designed to further support student success by providing opportunities for students with certain interests or majors to live and learn together under the mentorship of faculty and peer mentors,” Gelston wrote.
UConn does not consider learning communities as “housing.”
“Whether students apply to a learning community or not, whether they are accepted into a learning community or not, has no impact or effect on a student’s ability to obtain housing,” according Gelston.
Gelston also discussed the process through which students are selected to be a part of a learning community. Students who apply are randomly picked to be part of the community.
“In the event there is more student interest than availability in a given learning community, student ID numbers are put into a computer program that generates a random selection of students and waitlist assignments,” she wrote.
In 2016, the university had the Connecticut Fair Housing Center perform an independent analysis of the learning communities to make sure they were in compliance with the Fair Housing Act and other laws.
The university passed for both ScHOLA²RS House and La Comunidad Intelectual. BSOUL was not yet created at the time of the analysis.
“The Center also concluded that there were ‘no violations regarding discriminatory marketing based on race’ and that UConn’s then-recent publications made clear that ScHOLA²RS House is open to all male undergraduate students,” according to UConn.
UConn’s letter also said that the Equal Protection Program claims argue that learning communities are illegal.
“However, the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, has itself recognized that schools with programs focused on interests in particular cultures, heritages and areas of the world would not in and of themselves violate Title VI, assuming they are open to all students regardless of race,” Gelston said.
UConn said that many of the examples given by the EPP are outdated and don’t reflect changes the university made in 2016.
In an email to The Daily Campus, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said the investigation into the communities is proceeding.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated as of Oct. 2 to clarify that the U.S. Department of Housing is investigating the complaint against UConn’s learning communities.