Introduction
When the government attacks your rights, Mountain States steps into the breach to defend your liberties. Generally, we do that by filing lawsuits in federal court—but not always. Federal court proceedings can be time-consuming, labor-intensive, and painfully slow. So, as one part of a comprehensive legal strategy, we also file administrative complaints with executive branch agencies. This way, we can pit the government against itself by having one entity investigate another. Mountain States recently filed several complaints with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
The OCR is charged with the responsibility of enforcing certain civil rights statutes against schools that receive federal funding—which is basically every public K-12 school, and nearly every college in the country. Those statutes include Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars race discrimination; and Title IX, which prohibits sexual harassment, sex discrimination in sports, and other forms of sex discrimination.
When Mountain States files a complaint, the OCR has the duty to evaluate it, potentially open it for investigation, and then find out if the school violated the law. This is a process that we are experts in using.
Filing an OCR complaint means submitting a detailed account of alleged race or sex discrimination so that even the Biden Administration’s political appointees cannot ignore the gross civil rights violations occurring in academia today. Whether that’s Berkeley’s segregated graduation, DEI efforts gone awry at Denver Public Schools, or even the racially discriminatory government contracting processes of a school district, OCR complaints are one useful tool in the fight for equality under the law.
OCR complaints are just one of the ways we are taking the Constitution on the offense and championing one of the key principles of American liberty: that all men are created equal.
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Filed Complaints
Durango School District—Racial Equity Committee
On July 9, 2025, Mountain States Legal Foundation filed a complaint with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights against Durango School District, for its discriminatory practices in violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Specifically, Durango maintains a “Racial Equity Committee” that imposes racial quotas on members and its leaders. And separately, it offers racial preferences in hiring employees like teachers. Non-Caucasian applicants are given a preference over Caucasian ones, and even the Superintendent’s performance review is based on his ability to hire non-Caucasian employees. MSLF is taking action to ensure that all applicants, regardless of race, are considered fairly, and that federal anti-discrimination laws are upheld in Durango School District.
Durango School District—Flags and Symbols Policy
On June 20, 2025, MSLF filed a complaint with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. That complaint alleges that Durango School District’s flag policies violate Title VI by imposing restrictions on displaying certain flags in classrooms. The district’s own DEI policy states that:
The Board of Education supports the rights of District employees to post in their classrooms, offices, or anywhere in our schools all Black Lives Matter and Brown Lives Matter flags, signs, or other symbols of support for Black, Brown, and other non-white racial and ethnic identities, because these are symbols consistent with the Board’s DEI Resolution, ongoing inclusivity efforts, and Results Policies, including inclusive curriculum.
Of course, schools may consider whether certain speech is disruptive to the learning environment, but a blanket policy like this against all non-white flags and symbols is inappropriate as it singles out and suppresses expression tied to racial and ethnic identities. By allowing only certain messages that align with the district’s preferred viewpoint while excluding others, this policy creates an uneven and discriminatory standard. This not only chills free expression but also violates Title VI which is designed to ensure all employees are treated equally, regardless of race or ethnicity.
We filed the OCR complaint to hold Durango Schools accountable with their flags and symbols policy. All expression should be welcomed and encouraged in the District so long as it is not disruptive to the learning environment.
Durango School District—Native American Only Graduation
On June 6, 2025, MSLF filed a complaint with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Based on its own public statements and documents, it is clear that Durango School District 9-R discriminates based on race, in violation of federal civil rights law. For instance, it hosts a graduation ceremony exclusively for Native American students. It sponsors a parent committee consisting of membership only by Native American parents. And it maintains a college readiness program, along with a listing of numerous scholarships, only for Native American students. While enrolled tribal members are entitled to certain federal benefits based on their status as members of recognized tribes, none of them involve being the beneficiary of discriminatory and exclusionary programs hosted by Durango School District. Instead, these programs and activities constitute race-based classifications, and overtly violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We filed an OCR complaint to end discrimination in Durango schools against Non-Native American students. Durango has a duty to make programming available on equal terms, without regard to race, to every student in their district.
Denver Public Schools—District Accountability Committee
Denver Public Schools (DPS) maintains various committees made up of members of the public. One of those committees is the “District Accountability Committee,” or DAC, which has a role addressing the School Board and advising whether it ought to take up certain issues. But DPS’s selection process for the DAC is inherently discriminatory, because race and skin color are used as factors in selecting the members of the DAC. That’s a violation of Title VI, which is a federal civil rights law that applies to every program and activity run by the school district, even if it relates to community members and not students.
Denver Public Schools—Discipline Matrix Committee
Like the DAC, DPS also maintains other committees. One of those is the Discipline Matrix Committee, which reviews and adopts policies related to how severely students should be disciplined for various types of misconduct. Once again, DPS uses race to decide who should sit on the committee. And we have a smoking gun—one former School Board director, Scott Baldermann, acknowledged the use of race for selecting Discipline Matrix Committee members in a text to a constituent. The text message essentially acknowledged that DPS maintains a strict quota of about 25% Caucasian members, and not more.
Denver Public Schools—Math Extension Programs
Some schools with Denver Public Schools run Math Extension programs, for students who excel at math and who are selected for additional instruction. But DPS maintains lower expectations for some students than others, depending on their race. For instance, Caucasian students (and likely Asian students) must be at the 95th percentile in math to qualify for one math extension program. By contrast, non-white students need only achieve the 90th percentile for eligibility. While that may seem small, any discriminatory treatment is illegal under federal civil rights laws.
Denver Public Schools—CPAC Committee
DPS wants to raise taxes. As part of that process, it selected community members who will be part of a core group that supports and promotes tax increases. Its selections, however, use race as a factor. Called the “Community Planning and Advisory Committee,” or CPAC, DPS engages in race discrimination at multiple steps of steps of the selection process. Both an initial “small group” phase and a subsequent “whole group” phase consider that at least 50 percent of the CPAC members must be “members of color” and/or representative of District demographics (which is around 75 percent non-white).
Denver Public Schools—Equitable & Inclusive Contracting Policy
DPS admits that it maintains a preference program for “minority and women owned businesses.” It describes its policy as “Equitable & Inclusive Contracting.” It solicits regular feedback on the program, and regardless of the results, always announces that it can do more to use race. But all of DPS’s programs and activities are covered by Title VI, including its contracting. After SFFA, its race preferences clearly violate Title VI. (“Eliminating race discrimination means eliminating all of it.”)
UC Berkeley—Segregated Graduation
Cal Berkeley is the flagship public university in the State of California. The university accepts federal funds, and is therefore bound by Title VI, which bars race discrimination in education. Unfortunately, the African American Studies Department hosts an annual “Black Graduation,” which specifically caters exclusively to African American students and faculty. And while there is an ambiguous disclaimer suggesting that technically it might be open to all, every portion of the event and its materials indicate that the ceremony is exclusively for African Americans.
National Speech and Debate Association—Discriminatory Judging Standards
The National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) subjects middle and high school student debaters to discrimination by (1) allowing them to be treated differently based on race, color, sex, and perceived shared ancestry; and (2) being deliberately indifferent to severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment based on these protected statuses. We filed an OCR complaint, along with our partner Incubate Debate, to stop discrimination against high school debaters who lose rounds, competitions, and even scholarships due to officially sanctioned racism by judges working with the National Speech and Debate Association.
UC Berkeley—BIPOC-Only Days at Gill Tract
UC Berkeley Gill Tract Community Farm is an urban agricultural plot in Albany, California. It is overseen by UC Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources and is thus subject to the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause and federal civil rights laws. It is supposed to be open to the public for harvesting, weeding, planting, and other food-growing activities. While the farm purports to be a welcoming place, the staff running the farm seem to think that racial segregation should make a comeback. As we point out in our complaint, the farm reserves Saturdays exclusively for “BIPOC” individuals—by which they mean non-Caucasians. (BIPOC stands for black, indigenous, and other people of color.) But neither the Constitution nor federal law permit public institutions like UC Berkeley to engage in racial segregation. It’s a shame that 70 years after Brown v. Board of Education, schools still need to learn that lesson.
Denver Public Schools-Racially Charged Programs and Activities
Mountain States Legal Foundation filed a comprehensive complaint against Denver Public Schools (DPS), drawing from alarming reports by multiple whistleblowers, including a member of DPS’s Central Administration. This complaint aims to spark a thorough investigation by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights into DPS’s racially charged programs and activities.
The allegations are serious: DPS has been segregating employees by race for training sessions, instructing Caucasian employees not to disagree with African-American colleagues, treating students differently based on their race, and allocating resources like reading programs and mentoring based on students’ race. These actions are clear violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in schools.
