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New ‘Women in Manufacturing and Technology‘ program received $50,000 state grant to get started
Clinton Community College in New York is being accused of discriminating against male students in a federal complaint after it announced a new female manufacturing initiative late last month.
Mark Perry, a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Michigan–Flint, told The College Fix he filed a Title IX complaint on July 8 against the new initiative with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.
“It is my opinion that this female-only, no men-allowed program at Clinton Community College violates Title IX’s prohibition of discrimination based on sex,” Perry said in a recent interview.
The public college revealed the “Women in Manufacturing and Technology” initiative on June 26, funded with $50,000 secured by New York state Assemblyman Michael Cashman, a Democrat.
“The inaugural program will recruit and educate women interested in pursuing careers in advanced manufacturing and technology, encouraging them to see themselves in roles at all levels of the industry,” according to the school’s news release.
The initiative will combine elements of hands-on experience with classroom instruction. The curriculum is still in development, but areas of teaching will include robotics and mechanical systems, as well as professional development and leadership skills, the release states.
The initiative appears to exclusively invite women to participate. “This program will help expand opportunities for women to thrive in manufacturing and technology while strengthening our North Country workforce,” the college’s President Ken Knelly stated in the news release.
Assemblyman Cashman also specifically mentioned women in his statement about the program.
“Our community colleges play a critical role in preparing the workforce of tomorrow, and this program represents an important investment in expanding opportunities for women in manufacturing and technology,” he stated in the news release.
The Fix reached out to the college media relations office and Assemblyman Cashman for comment twice via email over the past two weeks. The Fix also called Cashman’s office and left a message. Neither responded to questions about the details of the initiative, the funding, or the civil rights complaint.
Title IX prohibits sex discrimination by requiring schools that receive federal funding to offer equal opportunities to women and men.
Perry said the real issue does not stem from the state of New York granting money to the initiative.
Rather, the issue is that because the college receives federal money, it “is legally obligated to actively enforce federal civil rights laws, including Title IX and Title VI,” he told The Fix.
“By restricting eligibility for the female-only, no-men-allowed Women in Manufacturing and Technology Initiative on the basis of sex, I believe CCC is in violation of Title IX,” Perry said.
Perry has filed more than 1,000 civil rights complaints, with half of them resulting in investigations. He said 400 of these investigations were decided in favor of his claims.
The Office for Civil Rights docketed his complaint against the New York community college as Case #02-26-2416 on July 9.
A legal organization run by Cornell Law Professor William Jacobson expressed similar concerns about the program when contacted by The Fix.
While noting that its attorneys have not investigated Clinton’s program in particular, Legal Insurrection told The Fix via email, “There certainly is a red flag if a school receiving federal funding has academic and career programs segregated by sex without any legitimate basis for distinguishing between the sexes.”
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