AAUP and AFT Urge the Treasury to Withdraw Proposed Regulation

On Tuesday, the AAUP and the AFT submitted comments to the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service urging the withdrawal of proposed regulation on racial nondiscrimination in private schools along with a request to testify.

"Both organizations strongly support the longstanding rule that schools that maintain policies of racial exclusion do not benefit from the tax preferences associated with charitable status," the comments prefaced. "However, rather than advancing this principle, the proposed regulations would substantially alter the established rule by declaring that any conduct the Department of the Treasury characterizes as racial discrimination would result in the loss of tax-exempt status 'regardless of the intent behind or the legality of such discrimination.'"

The organizations recommended the narrowing of the rule's scope to a "legally cognizable standard," due to the "impermissibly vague" scope of discrimination that could endanger research and leave universities "in a position where lawful educational work and practices that address historical and existing racial inequality could be considered 'discrimination.'"

Read the full comments here.