Marshall University: Racially Restricted Orientation Classes

Case Materials

• "Marshall University Dissolves Racially Restricted Orientation Classes," FIRE Press Release, August 9, 2006: Marshall University has taken the advice of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and removed racial restrictions from an orientation course for first-year students. Last year’s listing for University Studies 101 (UNI 101) stated that certain sections were limited to “African American Students Only.” Thanks to FIRE’s intervention, several sections of UNI 101 this coming fall will focus on “African American Student Issues,” but will not exclude any student based upon race or ancestry.
• "Marshall University Class Schedule: Fall 2005," July 31, 2006
• "FIRE Letter to Marshall University President Stephen J. Kopp, December 9, 2005," December 9, 2005
• "Letter from Marshall University President Stephen J. Kopp to FIRE, November 15, 2005, and New Course Descriptions for Fall 2006," November 15, 2005
• "FIRE Letter to Marshall University President Stephen J. Kopp, November 4, 2005," November 4, 2005

Media Coverage

• "FIRE lauds Marshall's dropping of race-based course restrictions," Jim Brown, Agape Press, August 17, 2006: A campus watchdog has convinced Marshall University in West Virginia to stop offering racially segregated classes. The school had been limiting several freshman orientation classes to "African American students only."
• "Marshall-Race Orientation," WVVA-TV (NBC Affiliate, Bluefield, W. Va.), August 10, 2006: Marshall University has dropped the words African-American students only from a listing on its fall schedule, following an educational foundation's warning that it could be violating state and federal law.
• "Marshall drops 'African-American students only' from course list," Shaya Tayefe Mohajer, Wilkes Barre Times-Leader, August 9, 2006: Marshall University has dropped the words "African-American students only" from an orientation class listing on its fall schedule, following a warning from an educational foundation that it could be violating state and federal law.