U. California academic program ‘designed for one ethnic group’: complaint

The University of California is allegedly running a taxpayer-funded program designed exclusively for Latino students, according to a recent federal complaint filed by a legal advocacy group.

The Equal Protection Project brought the complaint against the “Puente Project” for allegedly violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as the Constitution through racial discrimination.

Founded in 1981, the Puente Project is present in 65 California community colleges and aims to give Mexican-American and Latino students an academic boost and “increase the number of ‘underrepresented’ students who transfer from a community college to a four-year institution,” according to the complaint.

Additionally, the program receives $13 million in state funds annually.

The College Fix reached out to the Puente Project and the University of California several times via email for more information about the program and its participants, but neither has responded.

“The Puente Program is designed for one ethnic group, Hispanics,” William Jacobson, founder and President of the EPP, told The College Fix. “Through the way in which it is promoted, it signals that other groups are not welcome.”

Jacobson added that the program’s state funding “shows how deep the problem is.”

“This is not a rogue professor or administrator, it’s system designed around group-identities and openly favoring some groups over others,” he said.

He further noted that the state is doing nothing to fix the problem.

“There is no desire at the state level to enforce the civil rights laws in this context, so hopefully the federal government will step in,” Jacobson told The Fix.

The Puente Project’s website, which includes middle and high schools as well as community colleges, states that it is “open to all students.”

However, Jacobson said the complaint points to “language from numerous specific community college pages reflecting … racial signaling,” he told The Fix.

He also said that whether or not the program physically bars other students is “irrelevant,” as California schools promote the program in “such a way it is unlikely that other groups will apply.”

Available data indicate that participants are nearly all Hispanic, suggesting both the program’s promotion and its outcomes were exclusionary, he said.

Jacobson also said that programs centered around race and ethnicity “are one of the reasons the nation has lost confidence in higher education.”

“Rather than focusing on academics and equality, many universities are conducting a social experiment to see how much discrimination they can get away with before they face legal consequences. The American people see exactly what is happening, and don’t like it,” Jacobson said.

Linda Tarver, a Project 21 ambassador at the National Center for Public Policy Research, agrees that the program is “exclusive and discriminatory.” Project 21 aims to “promote the views of African-Americans” with a dedication to family and individual responsibility, according to its website.

She told The College Fix via email that her concern lies in the fact that the Puente Project is funded by taxpayers.

“If this were privately funded, it would be a different conversation,” she told The Fix. “But when $13 million in public tax dollars are used to support a program designed for and promoted toward one ethnic group, that crosses a clear civil rights line. Taxpayer funds should never be used to exclude or preference based on race or ethnicity.”

Tarver said this issue is indicative of a more widespread problem in higher education.

“For years, universities have operated without meaningful accountability, acting more like freelance indoctrination centers than institutions preparing students for the workforce. Only now are they being challenged,” she said.

Tarver noted that programs like the Puente Project ought to be funded privately.

“If there is a demonstrated need to support a particular ethnic group, that effort should be funded privately—not by the public,” she said.

She also said higher education should focus on equipping students for jobs that strengthen the U.S. economy, national security, and global leadership, rather than pushing an ideological agenda with no return on public investment.

“California has become notorious for advancing ideological extremes while misusing taxpayer dollars. This is exactly why President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) approach must extend beyond federal agencies to all publicly funded institutions. Public money demands public accountability—especially when civil rights are at stake,” Tarver said.