Temple opens DEI event after race discrimination complaint

(The Center Square) – Temple University changed an event for educators who identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color to include white staff as well after a federal civil rights complaint was filed against it by Dr. Mark Perry of Do No Harm.

On Nov. 14, Perry filed a complaint against Temple with the Philadelphia Office for Civil Rights for holding “an event that illegally excludes non-BIPOC teaching assistants and faculty based on their race,” and notified the university’s president, counsel and other offices of his complaint, according to emails obtained by The Center Square.

Perry is a senior fellow at Do No Harm, an association of medical professionals, students, patients, and policymakers who are critical of the incorporation of identity-focused politics into health care approaches. He’s filed nearly 1,000 civil rights complaints and 2,000 Title VI and IX violations at more than 850 colleges and universities.

Temple’s event, “Can We Really Talk? Session 3: An Intergenerational Conversation about Underrepresented Faculty Belonging and Mentoring at Temple,” originally only invited “new faculty and teaching assistants who identify as BIPOC to join senior faculty in a conversation about belonging and mentoring,” according to Perry’s email.

The event’s description has since been updated to read “new faculty and teaching assistants” are invited, with no mention of race.

“Just as you wouldn’t sponsor, promote, and host an illegal Whites-only, no-BIPOCs allowed segregated Event exclusively for non-BIPOC staff, how do you justify a BIPOC-only, no-Whites allowed Event?” Perry asked the school by email.

He pointed to discrimination protections enshrined in Title VI that apply to all races, as well as the university’s own policy, and asked for the event to be cancelled or inclusive of white participants.

Based on the new wording of the event’s description, it appears Temple opted for the latter.

Temple’s event is set for Wednesday, Nov. 20. The session will discuss “how all faculty, and especially faculty from underrepresented groups, such as BIPOC faculty, have access to the kinds of mentorship opportunities that their peers receive,” according to its description.

The event is co-sponsored by Temple’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership. The Center Square was unsuccessful in its attempts to receive comment from both programs.

Requests for comment from Perry, Temple’s office of the president, University Counsel Cameron Etezady, and the Philadelphia Office for Civil Rights were also unreturned.