LINCOLN- A legal nonprofit that has targeted colleges and universities offering preferential treatment based on race, and that was most recently involved in the U.S. Supreme Court case pivotal in overturning affirmative action, accused the University of Nebraska-Lincoln of racial discrimination for creating and supporting a residency program for Black filmmakers. The Equal Protection Project, the nonprofit in question, filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights on Sunday.

In its complaint, the Equal Protection Project alleges that a partnership between UNL's Johnny Carson School of Emerging Media Arts and the New York-based non-profit Black Public Media, which was used to establish the residency program, violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, as well as the Civil Rights Act. UNL's partnership with Black Public Media was a partnership meant to serve "Black filmmakers, artists, and creative technologists" by offering them access to and training on emerging technology equipment and software.

William Jacobson, a Cornell University Professor, founder of the conservative blog 'Legal Insurrection,' and backer of the Equal Protection Project, claimed that requiring at least one person on the team of creatives to be Black diminished opportunity for others. Jacobson argued that the NU system should "appoint a special investigator" to look for other programs which allegedly provide preferential treatment on the basis of race. The University of Nebraska responded to these allegations, saying that they have not yet received the complaint from the Office of Civil Rights, but that they "will respond appropriately" when they do.

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