Northwestern Sued for Hiring ‘Mediocre’ Minority Professors Over Highly Qualified White Men

A coalition of white and male professors is suing Northwestern University, accusing it of “consciously discriminating” in favor of women, trans individuals, and racial minorities at the expense of more highly qualified white male professors.

The plaintiff, Faculty, Alumni, and Students Opposed to Racial Preferences (FASORP), is a collective of professors and lawyers seeking to litigate against racial and gender preferences in higher education to help restore meritocracy.

The lawsuit lists three distinguished law professors—Eugene Volokh, Ernie “Ernest” Young, and Ilan Wurman—as white male academics who applied for faculty positions at Northwestern Law but were allegedly overlooked due to their race and sex.

"Faculty hiring at American universities is a cesspool of corruption and lawlessness," FASORP states in its lawsuit. "For decades, left-wing faculty and administrators have been thumbing their noses at federal anti-discrimination statutes and openly discriminating on account of race and sex when appointing professors."

How Northwestern Allegedly Violates Federal Law

FASORP claims Northwestern has engaged in discriminatory hiring practices by prioritizing women and racial minorities with mediocre and undistinguished records over white men who have superior credentials, scholarship, and teaching ability.

"This is prohibited by federal law, which bans universities that accept federal funds from discriminating on account of race or sex," the lawsuit states. "University faculty and administrators think they can flout these anti-discrimination statutes with impunity because they are rarely sued… But now the jig is up."

Volokh Allegedly Denied a Faculty Position for Not Fitting the Preferred Demographic

Eugene Volokh, a law professor for 20 years, is one of the academics cited in the lawsuit as a victim of anti-meritocratic hiring practices favoring women and transgender candidates.

According to the lawsuit, Volokh’s academic and professional achievements exceed those of nearly every professor currently on Northwestern’s law faculty. However, his application was allegedly blocked because he is a white, heterosexual man.

"The idea of appointing Professor Volokh was supported by many of Northwestern’s public-law faculty. But the appointments committee, chaired that year by former dean Dan Rodriguez, repeatedly pushed for race-based hiring and refused to even invite Volokh to interview."

"Because of Rodriguez’s intransigence, Professor Volokh’s candidacy was never even presented to the Northwestern faculty for a vote, while candidates with mediocre and undistinguished records were interviewed and received offers due to their preferred demographic characteristics," the lawsuit alleges.

Lowered Standards for Minority Faculty?

One professor specifically named in the lawsuit as benefiting from affirmative action hiring is Destiny Peery, a black female law professor. The lawsuit (not the only one) claims she graduated from Northwestern Law near the bottom of her class and had a poor academic record.

"Several faculty members expressed concerns that Peery was unqualified for an academic appointment and incapable of producing serious scholarship," the lawsuit states.

However, according to FASORP, former Dean Dan Rodriguez ignored these concerns and allegedly threatened to withhold bonuses from faculty members who opposed her appointment.

"Peery was hired because she is a black female, as numerous faculty members explicitly stated when discussing her candidacy."

"Peery would never even have been considered for a faculty appointment at Northwestern if she had been white or a member of a different race. She was hired over white male candidates who were vastly more capable and qualified."

Suppressing Discussion of Affirmative Action Hiring

The lawsuit also accuses Dean Rodriguez of actively working to silence faculty concerns about the school’s hiring policies.

"Dean Rodriguez knew that this discriminatory hiring edict was illegal and would expose the university to lawsuits. So he ordered the Northwestern faculty never to discuss hiring candidates over the faculty listserv and explicitly mentioned litigation risk as his reason for banning discussions."

The Bigger Picture: Higher Education’s Crisis for Men

With only 42% of college students being male, men are falling behind in academia. Yet, Northwestern seems to still believe that women remain the most oppressed group in society.

As lawsuits like this one continue to emerge, the question remains: Will universities be forced to return to merit-based hiring, or will identity politics continue to define academia?

This report was brought to you by Toni Airaksinen, Senior Editor of Liberty Affair and a journalist based in Delray Beach, Florida. Follow her on Substack and on X @Toni_Airaksinen.