Within hours of being slapped with a federal civil rights complaint, administrators overseeing curriculum at Evanston Township High School appear to have rewritten course descriptions for high-level math courses that initially had been designed to be set aside for Black or Latino students, and in at least one instance, solely for Black males.
Over the weekend of April 29-30, conservative activist and radio host Dan Proft posted tweets drawing attention to Advanced Placement calculus and other advanced mathematics courses at ETHS, which were described in the school’s class catalog as being “restricted” to students of certain races and genders.
Those tweets caught the attention of Mark Perry, an economist, scholar and blogger with the American Enterprise Institute and other organizations. Perry is also described as a longstanding civil rights activist, who has filed more than 800 complaints with the Office of Civil Rights against colleges and public school districts.
Perry then immediately filed a complaint against ETHS with the Chicago OCR on April 30.
Perry’s complaint centers on course descriptions published by Evanston Township High School District 202 for at least five math courses.
Those course descriptions had indicated the courses were to be “restricted” to students who “identify” as particular races and genders.
For instance, a course listed as MA0512 Precalculus was listed as being restricted for 10th, 11th and 12th grade students “who identify as Black male.”
MA0515 AP Calculus AB was also listed as restricted to 11th and 12th grade ETHS “students who identify as Black, all genders.”
And another AP Calculus class, identified as MA0565, was restricted to 11th and 12th grade “students who identify as Latinx, all genders.” The course description uses the term “Latinx” as a purported more gender inclusive term than the descriptor “Latino,” which is rooted in the traditional masculine-feminine conjugation of Spanish and Portuguese.
According to the course catalog, the race-restricted classes existed alongside other, similar advanced math classes, which were open to all races and genders, but which appeared to follow the traditional selective admission practices.
Prior to April 30, the courses were not a closely guarded secret. The Daily Northwestern, the student newspaper at Northwestern University in Evanston, for instance, reported on the creation of the classes in an article published January 2023. In that article, administrators at ETHS reportedly indicated the classes were created specifically to increase the number of Black and Latino juniors and seniors at ETHS who enrolled in the AP math courses.
According to that article, a District 202 board member defended the creation of the restricted classes by noting that “at least 77% of the white student body” took an AP-level course, while 22% of Black students and 38% of Latino students did the same.
ETHS board members reportedly said at that board meeting that the creation of the classes was only a part of a larger effort to address racial “inequity” at ETHS and to “kind of level up … a little bolder.”
In his complaint, Perry said ETHS’ actions to create the parallel, racially-restricted and gender-restricted classes amounted to violations of Title VI of the federal civil rights law, which forbids discrimination on the basis of race; and Title IX, which forbids discrimination on the basis of sex and gender.
In filing the complaint, Perry also forwarded a copy directly to ETHS board members, with a cover letter.
“I speak with some authority as someone who has filed more Title VI and Title IX complaints than any individual in the history of US civil rights enforcement when I suggest that your race-based and sex-based discrimination is legally indefensible and I fully expect the Chicago OCR to rule in my favor, as they have more than 300 times before for violations similar or identical to ETHA’s (sic) sex-based and race-based discrimination,” Perry wrote in his email to District 202 board members.
He also warned of potential future actions, indicating he intended to continue combing through their catalog and other sources to locate other discriminatory actions.
“To quote US Civil Rights Commissioner Peter Kirsanow, there are no ‘unless you have good intentions’ exceptions to Title VI and Title IX,” Perry wrote. “Race-based and sex-based discrimination is still unlawful even if it advantages the ‘right’ race or sex for the ‘right’ reasons. It is a clear violation of Titles VI and IX that your school district intends to illegally segregate five math classes on the basis of race, color, national origin, and/or sex.”
However, on Monday, May 1, course descriptions for the classes at the heart of the complaint appear to have been changed online.
In the new descriptions, for instance, the course descriptions were revised to now state the classes are “open to all” but is still “intended to support students who identify as” Black or Latinx.
The course descriptions appear to have dropped all references to gender.
Spokespeople for ETHS did not immediately reply to a request for comment from The Cook County Record.
However, in a report published by Newsweek, a statement attributed to an ETHS spokesperson said:
"ETHS District 202 is a nationally renowned leader in increasing access to Advanced Placement (AP) classes for all students, including students of color. We do not have (and never have had) a process that restricts students from taking AP classes based on race. No ETHS student is restricted from taking an AP class based on identity or is required to take any class based on identity.
"ETHS course offerings provide additional opportunities for students to take designated AP classes. This aligns with our goal to increase access to AP-level coursework at ETHS and is supported by the research on how to effectively increase access and success in AP classes for all students.
"As a result, access to AP classes for all students, including Black and Latinx students, has dramatically increased over the past decade. We are proud of our work. The language in the ETHS Course Request Guide has been updated to accurately reflect our goal and practice."
In response to questions from The Cook County Record about how the changes may affect his complaint, Perry said ETHS' changes likely will make it more difficult for him to prevail, despite what he said was the apparent intent of the school to still operate racially segregated math classes.
Further, Perry said the changes actually serve to "implicate ETHS with illegal racial segregation and discrimination."
"They got caught and have now attempted to proactively correct their Title VI/IX violations to avoid an inevitable federal civil rights investigation by OCR and a ruling in my favor," Perry said.
He added such quick revisions are a part of a “typical strategy” employed by public schools, colleges and universities when hit with such civil rights complaints.
“The mindset is often ‘We’ll just violate the civil rights of certain un-preferred student groups (whites, Asians, males) unlawfully in the pursuit of social/racial/gender justice for preferred groups (BIPOCs) and we can do some good until/if we get caught and are forced to follow the law.”
BIPOC is a sociological and racial studies term used as an acronym for “Black Indigenous People of Color.”