State Attorney General threatens to sue Notre Dame over DEI efforts
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has sent the University of Notre Dame a letter threatening a lawsuit if it doesn’t stop its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Rokita on Thursday announced he’s sent the university a four-page letter demanding it answer 10 questions related to what he says are DEI-based initiatives.
Rokita’s letter references the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling that colleges can’t use race as a factor in admissions. Rokita called it a “watershed moment” for civil rights because he says racial diversity goals amount to racial discrimination.
But Rokita writes, “it seems the University of Notre Dame may have met that moment and the Court’s decision with evasion, circumvention, and obstruction, rather than a good faith desire to respect the civil rights of students and faculty.”
A Notre Dame spokesman declined WVPE’s interview request. The university issued a statement saying, “Notre Dame is a premier Catholic research university, and as such, seeks to serve and reflect the broader Catholic church, which is the world’s most global, multicultural and multilingual institution.”
Rokita’s move comes two months after President Trump’s Department of Education publicly called on Notre Dame to defend the legality of recruiting non-white students to apply for doctoral studies.
