Cornell University Faces Allegations of Racial Discrimination in Hiring Practices

Evolutionary biologist Colin Wright has accused Cornell University of racial discrimination during the hiring process for a tenure-track position in 2020. In response to his claims, he has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Wright, who identifies as White and describes himself as a liberal, shared his experience in an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal. He detailed his efforts to hold Cornell accountable for practices he alleges hinder the consideration of qualified scientists, including himself, for key positions at the university.

Wright stated, “This isn’t a political stunt or publicity grab. It’s a last resort in response to a gross injustice that destroyed the career I spent more than a decade building. It’s about holding accountable a powerful institution that violated the law, abandoned its principles, and discriminated against me because of my race.”

Background of the Controversy

In 2020, Wright applied for a position within Cornell’s Neurobiology and Behavior department. Unbeknownst to him, Cornell was simultaneously conducting a separate search for a faculty member in evolutionary biology—his area of expertise—but kept this process undisclosed.

Recently, the America First Policy Institute released internal emails from Cornell, revealing the university’s intention to recruit a so-called “diversity hire.” These communications suggested a focus on hiring someone based on race rather than research qualifications.

One committee member candidly noted the hiring approach, stating, “What we should be doing is inviting one person whom we have identified as being somebody that we would like to join our department and not have that person in competition with others.”

Wright claims that this selection process effectively excluded him and other qualified academics from competing for the position. He asserted, “That ‘somebody,’ who is Black, was selected not because of research excellence, but because of race. I was denied the chance to compete—so were other academics who might have been qualified.”

Details of the Hiring Practices

According to Wright, Cornell’s alleged discriminatory hiring practices were coordinated with the Office of the Provost, which was under the direction of current Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff at the time. He contends that these methods violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits race discrimination in employment.

Additionally, he alleged that Cornell established other “racially filtered” hiring pipelines. This includes a $16 million program funded by the National Institutes of Health known as the Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) program. The initiative’s declared purpose is to enhance “compositional diversity” by requiring faculty members to revise applicant pools repeatedly until they meet diversity benchmarks.

Wright posed a provocative hypothetical scenario to illustrate his point, asking, “Imagine if the races were reversed. Suppose a whistleblower uncovered internal emails showing that a university had run a secret search to ensure that qualified Black applicants were excluded from consideration. Suppose the school selected only White candidates to produce a racially predetermined outcome. There would—rightfully—be national outrage. It would be a landmark civil-rights case. That’s exactly what Cornell did—except I’m White.”

Cornell’s Response

In response to inquiries from the Wall Street Journal, Cornell provided a link to a previously released statement from June. This statement asserted that the university “strictly prohibits unlawful bias or discrimination.” The communication came in light of a prior informal complaint filed by the America First Policy Institute with several federal agencies.

Cornell strongly disputes the allegations made in the earlier complaint and declined to comment further on Wright’s formal EEOC complaint.

A Call for Action

Wright concluded his Wall Street Journal piece by urging the Trump administration to recognize his case as indicative of broader discriminatory practices within academia. He emphasized the need for scrutiny of racial bias in hiring at universities and urged consideration of these issues in potential civil rights prosecutions.