Feds investigate Title IX complaint against Boise State

A Michigan educator has filed a Title IX discrimination complaint against Boise State University, over a scholarship designed to encourage women to enter the STEM disciplines of science, technology, engineering and math.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating the January complaint from Mark Perry, a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Michigan-Flint, Becca Savransky of the Idaho Statesman reported Monday.

Perry has filed more than 400 other discrimination complaints against universities, the Statesman reported.

The complaint centers on a Women in STEM, Medicine, and Law scholarship launched late last year by a Boise State student. The scholarship was a response to an Oct. 31 speech delivered by Boise State political science professor Scott Yenor. At a conservative conference, Yenor said career-oriented women are “more medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome than women need to be,” and said college should be de-emphasized in favor of traditional family values.

The scholarship has received more than $169,000 in donations.

Boise State spokesman Mike Sharp told the Statesman that the university’s scholarships comply with state and federal law.

More about the complaint from the Idaho Dispatch, which first reported the story.

Kevin Richert

Kevin Richert

Senior reporter and blogger Kevin Richert specializes in education politics and education policy. He has more than 35 years of experience in Idaho journalism. He is a frequent guest on "Idaho Reports" on Idaho Public Television and "Idaho Matters" on Boise State Public Radio. He can be reached at [email protected]

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