ACR Project Files Supplemental Administrative Complaint Concerning Arizona State’s Potentially Illegally Discriminatory Policies

On June 3, 2026, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education announced an investigation into Arizona State’s compliance with Title VI.  At that time, DOJ identified the subjects of its investigation as Arizona State’s admissions, recruitment, scholarship, tutoring, and educational support programs that appeared to discriminate based on race, color, or national origin.

Last week, the ACR Project filed a supplemental complaint with these Departments, pointing them toward open-source materials indicating additional Arizona State policies that appear to violate Title VI.  The ACR Project highlighted Arizona State-administered scholarships that deserve scrutiny for their apparent determination of eligibility based on either: (a) race or national origin; or (b) proxies for such covered demography.  We also flagged for federal investigation elements of the strategic plan published by the Arizona State School of Music, Dance and Theatre which called for the school’s deployment of “metrics for faculty in terms of BIPOC admission and recruitment,” dedicated recruitment, and dedicated retention funding. Finally, the ACR Project directed the agencies to partnerships Arizona State maintains with third parties that may deserve closer scrutiny, given how they seem to mirror those elsewhere which major universities have used to disguise discrimination as that of an outsider.

We trust that the agencies will consider expanding their existing investigations to address the matters disclosed by our propounded materials.