The Legal Insurrection Foundation, sometimes abbreviated LIF, is an American

not-for-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

founded in 2008 and based in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...

. The foundation is a conservative advocacy organization which focuses on free-speech and academic freedom issues. It has been

tax-exempt Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...

since March 2018, and as of 2023 its president is

William A. Jacobson William A. Jacobson is an American lawyer, Cornell Law School professor, and conservative blogger. Education Jacobson is a 1981 ''summa cum laude'' graduate of Hamilton College. He received his J.D. degree in 1984 from Harvard Law School. During ...

. The foundation has participated in

2020s controversies around critical race theory Since 2020, efforts have been made by conservatives and others to challenge critical race theory (CRT) being taught in schools in the United States. Following the 2020 protests of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, ...

and has criticized diversity initiatives which it alleges have discriminated against white people.

Initiatives

The foundation maintains the website Critical Race Training in Education at the domain CriticalRace.org. The website compiles a list of U.S. universities that teach

critical race theory Critical race theory (CRT) is a cross-disciplinary examination, by social and civil-rights scholars and activists, of how laws, social and political movements, and media shape, and are shaped by, social conceptions of race and ethnicity. Goal ...

and their

diversity and inclusion The business case for diversity stems from the progression of the models of diversity within the workplace since the 1960s. In the United States, the original model for diversity was situated around affirmative action drawing from equal opportunit ...

initiatives. The project, which has been featured on ''

Tucker Carlson Tonight ''Tucker Carlson Tonight'' is an American talk show and current affairs program hosted by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson on the television network Fox News. The show premiered in November 2016 and includes political commentary, monol ...

'', included as of 2021 over 300 colleges and universities in the United States. In 2022 LIF criticized a 2022

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

mandate that requires "education to law students on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism" from its accredited schools, In 2023 it sent a cease-and-desist letter to

Albany Public Library Albany Public Library (APL) is a public library system serving the city of Albany, New York. APL also operates as the Central Library for the Upper Hudson Library System, a resource sharing consortium which unites public library services across tw ...

for its two-month privately-funded internship program offered to black-only library school graduates. The library also had several unfilled positions open to any applicant.

Equal Protection Project

In February 2023 the Foundation started the "Equal Protection Project" (EPP), which the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' later described as "a legal organization that opposes race-based affirmative action." The Project accused Missouri State University of discriminating against white males for hosting a privately-funded a boot camp program for minority or women small business owners. The University responded that it would implement changes to the program in the future in response to the allegation. In July 2023, the EPP filed a complaint with the

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

regarding a whites-only anti-racism seminary offered by New York University. Over a dozen of these complaints were filed in 2023. In 2024,

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

responded to a federal discrimination complaint filed by EPP regarding a program run by MIT's “Office of Minority Education” exclusively for women of color by altering its website the following day. The following month, following an EPP complaint, the

Ithaca City School District The Ithaca City School District (ICSD) is a public school district centered in Ithaca, New York, Ithaca, Caroline, New York, Caroline, Danby, New York, Danby, and Enfield, New York, Enfield. Approximately 600 teachers work in the district, along ...

apologized for organizing a "students of color"-only event.https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ny-school-district-apologizes-for-exclusionary-language-to-promote-event-for-non-white-students/ar-BB1nEZhv

References

External links

Equal Protection Project
Anti-racism Legal advocacy organizations in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Rhode Island Organizations established in 2008 2008 establishments in Rhode Island {{US-org-stub