Group suing VCU over race faces criticism
Controversy surrounds the organization suing VCU for alleged “reverse discrimination” because of reports showing a donation to the group from the Pioneer Fund, which is known for its unorthodox views about genetics and race.
The Center for Individual Rights (CIR) made headlines last September when it agreed to represent a white Monacan High School student who said she unfairly was denied participation in a minority journalism workshop at VCU.
Controversy surrounds the organization suing VCU for alleged “reverse discrimination” because of reports showing a donation to the group from the Pioneer Fund, which is known for its unorthodox views about genetics and race.
The Center for Individual Rights (CIR) made headlines last September when it agreed to represent a white Monacan High School student who said she unfairly was denied participation in a minority journalism workshop at VCU.
CIR President Terrence Pell said the Pioneer Fund’s donation does not reflect CIR or its politics.
“Our objective is to eliminate the use of racial preferences,” Pell said. “We treat individuals as individuals, regardless of their race.”
In November, Pell said CIR accepted an unsolicited, one-time donation in the early 1990s from the Pioneer Fund – a nonprofit organization supporting research in eugenics, a controversial field of scientific research focused on genetics’ relationship to intelligence, behavior and social class.
Mark Potok, one of Southern Poverty Law Center’s directors, said the Pioneer Fund is a racist organization.
“The Pioneer Fund seeks to extend the genetic stocks of its founders – white people, basically,” Potok said.
According to Ferris State University Professor Barry Mehler, quoted in an article on the United Auto Workers Web site, the Pioneer Fund and CIR are similar organizations.
“Their agendas are the same,” Mehler said. “You don’t just come across the Pioneer Fund. It’s a birds-of-a-feather kind of association.”
Mehler also said CIR “masks itself as a civil rights organization,” although its real aim is to attack the “civil rights agenda.”
CIR once employed Anne Coulter, an outspoken conservative commentator. Pell said Coulter was a part-time attorney for CIR in the late 1990s after graduating from law school.
According to Pell, critics’ attempts to link the Pioneer Fund and its positions to CIR are part of a smear campaign. Pell said CIR’s agenda is separate from its funders’ agendas, and CIR’s purpose is to prevent the government from interfering in individual affairs.
“I can’t tell you the Pioneer Fund’s agenda,” Pell said. “It’s of no interest to us . . . we are a conservative, libertarian foundation.”
