One of the most often heard quotes from Dr Martin Luther King is the following: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”. Sadly, the dream has not yet come true for Blacks/African Americans like me when it comes to the access to PhD programs. In fact, even before U.S. Supreme Court in June 2023 outlawed Affirmative Action, racism against Blacks/African Americans was alive and well among U.S. universities’ admissions staff and in the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of U.S. Department of Education, and PhD programs have become virtually inaccessible by qualified Blacks/African Americans. We know from lived experience, after 20-year struggle during which we sought participation but denied admission to more than 60 PhD programs, whereas our non-underrepresented peers got admission offers from top 5 PhD programs of their choices. So, on behalf of thousands of my Black fellows that have been unlawfully excluded from participation in PhD programs, on behalf of my kids/nieces/nephews that have been deprived access to PhD programs, and on behalf of myself that have been unlawfully excluded from participation in PhD programs by OCR investigators, I, Randall Phillips, African American, have filed a criminal complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice against OCR investigators of US Department of Education for:
(i) making false statements (18 U.S. Code §1001(a)) in government matter (43 CFR §20.510);
(ii) conspiracy against civil rights of Blacks/African Americans (18 U.S. Code §241 ) and/or deprivation of civil rights under color of law (18 U.S. Code §242 ); and retaliation against me for my federally protected activities (18 U.S. Code § 245 );
(iii) conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States (18 U.S. Code § 371 ).
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False statements (18 U.S. Code §1001(a)) in government matter (43 CFR §20.510); and conspiracy against civil rights of Blacks/African Americans (18 U.S. Code §241) and/or deprivation of civil rights under color of law (18 U.S. Code §242); and retaliation against me for my federally protected activities (18 U.S. Code §245)
The stated mission of the OCR of U.S. Department of Education is to seek to ensure equal access to education and promote educational excellence through vigorous enforcement of civil rights ( see here). However, OCR investigators do the opposite: they directly and/or indirectly back PhD admission staff depriving Blacks/African Americans of access to PhD programs in Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Finance, and Actuarial Science; and these PhD programs have become almost impossible to access by Blacks/African Americans. i.e. American taxpayers like me pay OCR investigators to enforce the laws; but rather than enforcing the laws, the involved OCR investigators transform their agency into an office of support of racism and discrimination against Blacks/African Americans. They make false statement in order to protect admission staff from responding to our discrimination complaints; and they seemingly make conspiracy against civil rights of Blacks/African Americans (18 U.S. Code §241) and/or deprivation of civil rights under color of law (18 U.S. Code §242); both are federal crime punishable by jail time and fines.
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Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States (18 U.S. Code § 371)
Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Finance, and Actuarial Science are part of STEM fields. African Americans like me are very underrepresented in these fields: according to the statistics of National Science Foundation, only 1.5% of new PhD graduates in Mathematics and Statistics are African Americans, and only 2% of new PhD graduates in Economics and Finance are African Americans. According to 42 U.S. Code §1885 and 42 U.S. Code §1862s–5, it is in the national interest of the USA to encourage the full participation of individuals from underrepresented populations in STEM. Unfortunately, instead of working for that national interest of the USA, OCR investigators prefer working for foreign interests: not only do OCR investigators falsely back universities’ admission staff preferring admitting less qualified non-underrepresented foreign PhD applicants rather than admitting qualified African Americans, but OCR investigators do also indirectly back universities preferring importing non-underrepresented foreign Professors graduates of our schools instead of training qualified African Americans like us to become College Professor. In doing so, OCR investigators are accomplices of universities in defrauding National Science Foundation funds supposed to boost underrepresented African American participation in College Professors in STEM. This conspiracy to defraud United States (18 U.S. Code § 371) is also a federal crime punishable by jail time and fines.