Grand Rapids news agencies cite far right organization that doesn’t like BIPOC students benefiting from scholarships

Several local news agencies reported that Grand Valley State University (GVSU) is being challenged over who is benefiting from scholarships.

WOODTV8 reported:

The Equal Protection Project filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education after it received a tip about the school’s practices. The EPP alleges GVSU is violating Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In both the WOODTV8 and the WZZM 13 stories, it appears that they used part of a Media Release from the group known as The Equal Protection Project. However, in the WOODTV8 story, they provide a fair amount of airtime to the founder of The Equal Protection Project and current President, William A. Jacobson. 

There are no other sources cited in either local TV news station, especially no sources from GVSU. Equally important is the fact that the local news stories don’t provide proper context on the group The Equal Protection Project. The Equal Protection Project is part of the effort to undermine and undo years of efforts from the Civil Rights Movement, especially in the area of higher education. This has been a wide-spread practice since the late 1970s, to attack the gains of the Civil Right Movement and turn back whatever gains were made to address racial inequality and racial injustice.

In addition, The Equal Protection Project is only part of the work that William A. Jacobson is behind. Jacobson also created the Critical Race Training in Education, which tracks school that teach Critical Race Theory and provides resources to people who want to attack those education systems.

However, both the Critical Race Training in Education and The Equal Protection Project are offshoots of Legal Insurrection, a group that practices and promotes Far Right politics. Check out their website and their Facebook page and you will see what kind of information, who they feature and what kind of far right ideas they promote. In many ways, it appears that what Legal Insurrection is all about, is providing a platform to promote and amplify the Trump Administration and the ideologues that are in the Trump camp. 

This is all just another example of how Grand Rapids-based commercial news agencies don’t question or verify their sources, nor do they provide background information on the sources they cite. Just because an organization calls itself the Equal Protection Project, doesn’t mean they believe in or practice equality.