What legal protections do students have against being discriminated against on the basis of race, color or national origin?
The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Title VI, of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, each prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin. The Constitution applies to all public school systems and Title VI applies to any school system receiving federal funds. However, the Supreme Court has held that only intentional discrimination violates the Fourteenth Amendment, and intentional discrimination is very difficult to prove. In order to meet the Supreme Court’s determination of intentional discrimination a student must prove that students of color were treated differently than white students and that black students received disciplinary action more often for the same infractions. The problem with proving racial discrimination, according to the Harvard study mentioned above, is that it’s difficult to collect evidence of such discrimination if the discipline of white students goes unreported.
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