If you’re outraged, sign YOUR NAME to our letter below by filling out this form!
Dr. Connie Ledoux Book
President
Elon University
presidentsoffice@elon.edu
Dear President Book,
I am writing to express my disappointment and outrage that Elon University was recently named to the list of the Top Ten Most Racist Colleges & Universities released by the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
As the report notes, the School of Education at Elon, which is dedicated to training our nation’s future teachers, sent an email invitation in February 2021 urging “white-identifying” students to join a weekly “White Caucus” Zoom meeting. As the text of the email made clear, no minority students were welcomed or invited.
This email was sent by Jennifer Strange, the school’s coordinator of graduate programs, to all students enrolled in the School of Education. It was also signed by a number of undergraduate students.
When questioned about the program’s legality by the conservative organization, Young America’s Foundation, Elon initially deflected the questions, responding that the school “has many different initiatives to promote racial understanding.”
Following the program’s exposure, Elon cancelled the racially segregated caucus, claiming that it had only just learned of the program. But Elon News Network uncovered that this was in fact the second semester for the whites-only program. Elon School of Education Dean Ann Bullock actually sent an email promoting the same White Caucus in September 2020, five months before the university claimed to have just discovered the exclusionary program’s existence. In that email, Bullock described the caucus “as part of the School of Education’s diversity, equity, inclusion initiatives.”
I respectfully ask that you immediately apologize to the entire Elon community for promoting unconstitutional segregation in university programming and investigate whether disciplinary sanctions should be taken against the administrators involved with promoting this program.
Sign our Letter to Cornell