New York threatened with suit over college program that excludes white, Asian students

New York could face federal legal action over a state-funded college enrichment program that two civil rights groups say discriminates against white and Asian students by imposing additional eligibility hurdles based on race.

Driving the news: The Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) and the Equal Protection Project (EPP) delivered a formal warning to Gov. Kathy Hochul on March 11, arguing that CSTEP, a New York State Education Department grant program designed to direct students toward STEM and health professions, violates the Equal Protection Clause. The groups are pressing Hochul to eliminate race as an eligibility criterion by March 25 or face a potential lawsuit. Under current rules, only “Black, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaskan native” students automatically qualify, and everyone else must demonstrate financial need.

Why this matters: While the organizations’ arguments may have merit, the politics surrounding them are more complicated. In a statement to Fox News, EPP founder and Cornell law professor William Jacobson said it is “shameful that the State of New York requires, funds and defends racially discriminatory programming just because the victims are Asian and White students.”

Still, right-leaning legal organizations have routinely enlisted Asian American families as plaintiffs in challenges to diversity programs, a trend most recently reflected in legal challenges over Philadelphia magnet school admissions and UCLA’s medical school, where the DOJ alleged a “systemically racist approach” that hurt Asian applicants. Rep. Grace Meng cautioned last year that this dynamic turns Asian Americans into “pawns,” effectively pitting them against Black and Latino communities even as surveys show roughly three in four Asian Americans back affirmative action.

What’s next: Should Hochul decline to act by March 25, PLF and EPP are poised to file a federal suit raising the same constitutional claims as their ongoing challenge to STEP, the high school-level counterpart to CSTEP, a case that survived a motion to dismiss in November 2024.

The New York fight is unfolding within a broader national landscape. Since the Supreme Court’s 2023 Students for Fair Admissions decision, Asian enrollment has risen sharply in some institutions. PLF and EPP point to such figures as evidence that race-conscious admissions policies had long limited opportunities for qualified Asian students and argue that New York’s inaction on CSTEP suggests the problem persists.