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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK -----------…
Tags: board of regents, c ross, columbia university in the city of new york, columbia university school, den hollander, education margaret spellings, education richard, federal defendants, higher education services, margaret spellings, new york state higher education services, nominal damages, robert m bennett, school of continuing education, state higher education, state higher education services, states district court, u s constitution, united states district, york state higher education,Pages: 18
Language: english
Created: Sun Aug 17 09:14:50 2008
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------x
Roy Den Hollander,
Docket No.
Plaintiff on behalf of himself
and all others similarly situated, CIVIL RIGHTS
CLASS ACTION
COMPLAINT
-against-
Institute for Research on Women & Gender at Columbia University;
School of Continuing Education at Columbia University;
Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York;
U.S. Department of Education;
Margaret Spellings, U.S. Secretary of Education in her official capacity;
Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, in his
or her official and individual capacity;
Chancellor of the Board of Regents, Robert M. Bennett, in his official
and individual capacity;
New York State Commissioner of the Department of Education,
Richard P. Mills, in his official and individual capacity; and
President of the New York State Higher Education Services Corp.,
James C. Ross, in his official and individual capacity;
Defendants.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------x
I. Introduction
1. This class action seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and nominal damages against the
defendants for the following:
a. The New York State and Federal defendants violate the 1st Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution by aiding the establishment of the religion Feminism at Columbia
University through the University's Women's Studies program.
b. The U.S. Department of Education ("USDOE") and its Secretary violate equal protection
under the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by aiding the intentional
discriminatory impact against men by Columbia University's Women's Studies program;
c. The New York State defendants violate the equal protection clause of the 14th
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (enforced by 42 U.S.C. § 1983), Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), and N.Y. Civil Rights Law §
40-c by fostering, supporting and assisting the intentional discriminatory impact against
men by Columbia University's Women's Studies program;
d. Columbia University, the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and the School
of Continuing Education carry out the intentional discriminatory impact against men of
the Women's Studies program in violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (enforced by 42 U.S.C. § 1983), Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), and N.Y. Civil Rights Law §
40-c.
II. Violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment
2. The N.Y. State and Federal defendants violate the establishment clause of the First
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by aiding and advancing the modern-day religion of
Feminism proselytized through the Women's Studies program by Columbia University's
Institute for Research on Women and Gender ("IRWG"), which also propagates Feminism in
the School of Continuing Education ("Continuing Education").
3. The establishment clause forbids government action that benefits a religion. A belief system
need not be theistic in nature to be a religion but rather can stem from moral, ethical or even
malevolent tenets that are held with the strength of traditional religious convictions.
4. IRWG adopts and propagates the modern-day religion of Feminism through its lectures,
seminars, consciousness indoctrination sessions, publications, career preparations,
counseling, historical revisionism, propagandizing, unanimity of thought labeled "politically
correct," a pantheon of idols such as Mary Wollstonecraft, de facto disciples and apostles,
and three public lecture series.
5. The IRWG website states that the Institute "is the locus of interdisciplinary feminist
scholarship and teaching at Columbia University" and "[t]he [Women's Studies] program is
intended to introduce students to the long arc of feminist discourse about the cultural and
historical representation of nature, power, and the social construction of difference. It
encourages them to engage the debates regarding the ethical and political issues of equality
and justice that emerge in such discussions. And it links the questions of gender and
sexuality to those of racial, ethnic, and other kinds of hierarchical difference."
6. Columbia's Continuing Education furthers the spreading of the religion Feminism by
providing post-baccalaureate and alumni Women's Studies courses established by IRWG.
7. The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, in his or her official and
individual capacity ("Regents"), and the Chancellor of the Board of Regents, in his official
and individual capacity ("Chancellor"), have provided approval and support and continue to
provide approval and support for the modern-day religion of Feminism as practiced at
Columbia.
8. The Regents exercise legislative functions concerning the higher educational system in New
York State, determine higher education policies, and establish the rules for carrying those
policies into effect throughout the higher educational institutions of the State, which includes
Columbia University.
2
9. The Regents established a policy by which Women's Studies programs would advocate and
spread Feminism in New York colleges and universities, such as Columbia.
10. There is no Regent policy to establish Men's Studies programs.
11. Through the Regents power to suspend the charters of higher educational institutions in New
York and its duty to approve or disapprove educational programs and curricula, the Regents
control what is taught in colleges and universities in the State, including Columbia.
12. The Regents preside over the N.Y. State Department of Education, which functions as the
Regents' administrative arm in carrying out the Regents' mandates and policies. The N.Y.
State Department of Education's regulations for effecting the mandates and policies of the
Regents must be approved or authorized by the Regents.
13. The N.Y. State Department of Education, headed by the Commissioner, formulates plans,
provides funds, monitors, and coordinates higher educational programs, such as Women's
Studies programs, in New York colleges and universities, including Columbia.
14. The New York State Commissioner for the Department of Education, in his official and
individual capacity ("Commissioner"), under a grant of authority from the Regents, approved
the initial registration and subsequent re-registrations of the Women's Studies program
carried out by IRWG and provided to Continuing Education.
15. Registration and re-registration of the Women's Studies program required the program to be
consistent with the Regents' Statewide Plan for Higher Education, the Regents' rules, and the
N.Y. State Department of Education's regulations. Without conforming to such, the
Commissioner could not approve the program, and without approval the IRWG Women's
Studies program would not be credited toward a degree or a graduate certification.
16. In order to approve the Women's Studies program, the Commissioner reviewed for
compliance with the Regents' standards the program's curriculum, faculty, library, academic
advising, administrative oversight, financial resources, and physical facilities as provided by
IRWG and Continuing Education.
17. The Commissioner, acting under authority from the Regents, administers Federal and State
grants and scholarships to promote higher educational programs, such as, on information and
belief, the Women's Studies program at Columbia University.
18. On information and belief, the Commissioner provides direct financial aid to Columbia
University, IRWG and Continuing Education that go into promoting Feminism of the
Women's Studies program.
19. The President of the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation, in his official
and individual capacity ("President of HESC"), approves and provides financial assistance to
Columbia University that benefits the Women's Studies program.
3
20. HESC provides loan guarantees, grants, and scholarships that enable students to fund their
education at Columbia in the Women's Studies program provided by IRWG.
21. The U.S. Department of Education, with the approval of its Secretary, in her official
capacity, provides financial assistance to Columbia University that benefits the Women's
Studies program provided by IRWG.
22. USDOE, with the approval of its Secretary, provides grants, direct loans of federal funds,
guarantees for loans from private lenders, and work-study programs that enable students to
fund their education at Columbia and in the Women's Studies program at IRWG.
23. USDOE, with the approval of its Secretary, makes Federal Stafford Loans available to post-
baccalaureate students in Continuing Education who can prepare for graduate school or
academic advancement in Feminism through Women's Studies provided by IRWG.
24. In fiscal year 2007, USDOE provided $14.9 million in Perkins' Loans to students at
Columbia of which, on information and belief, a proportion went to students in the Women's
Studies program provided by IRWG.
25. In fiscal year 2007, USDOE made available to Columbia students $192.2 million from the
Stafford Loan and Federal Plus Loan programs of which, on information and belief, a
proportion went to students in the Women's Studies program at IRWG and post-
baccalaureate students in Continuing Education taking IRWG courses.
26. Federal tuition aid grants, federal supplemental educational opportunity grants, and Pell
grants were awarded to Columbia Students in the amount of $9.3 million in 2007 of which,
on information and belief, a proportion went to students training in Feminism in the
Women's Studies program at IRWG.
27. Total Federal awards to Columbia, as opposed to Columbia students, in 2007 were
$601,300,000. Columbia's total operating budget was $2.83 billion. Of the total federal
awards to Columbia, $15.9 million originated with USDOE.
28. Neither Federal nor State government may favor any sect; they may not adopt programs or
practices which aid any religion, but both have done that in providing support and approval,
directly and indirectly, for the propagating of the modern-day religion of Feminism through
Women's Studies at Columbia University.
III. Violation of Equal Protection under the 5th and 14th Amendments
29. Columbia University, IRWG and Continuing Education discriminate on the basis of sex
against men by advocating, teaching and providing training in Feminist doctrine and the
application of that doctrine in order to impose a unitary belief system of Feminist orthodoxy
that dictates the speech and conduct of members of the University and society at large.
4
30. The Feminist agenda, curriculum and practices at Columbia, IRWG and Continuing
Education are motivated by prejudice toward men that leads to sex-based stereotyping of
males by depicting them as the primary cause for most, if not all, the world's ills throughout
history. Females, on the other hand are credited with inherent goodness who were oppressed
and colonized by men.
31. Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education advocate that the civil rights of today's males be
minimized or eliminated not just as punishment for the alleged past wrongs of their
forefathers but to assure the preferential treatment of modern-day females in determining the
occupants of the prestigious and influential positions in current American society and into the
indefinite future.
32. As a bastion of bigotry toward men, IRWG teaches, trains and advocates strategy and tactics
for abridging the rights of men--rights that are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and
advocated by the Declaration of Independence and the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
33. Simply put: the IRWG Women's Studies program demonizes men and exalts women in
order to justify discrimination against men based on collective guilt.
34. Columbia University, IRWG and Continuing Education do not balance the Feminist doctrine
and dogma with a masculine curriculum or program.
35. The IRWG Women's Studies program benefits Columbia female students, female alumni and
females in general without any equivalent Columbia program for providing similar benefits
to male students, male alumni or males in general.
36. According to the IRWG course guide, "[p]rimary courses focus on women, gender, and/or
feminist or [lesbian] perspectives." IRWG has 71 members on its faculty but only four are
males.
37. Since one of the greatest powers over human beings is the power of belief, Columbia, IRWG
and Continuing Education's propagation of the one-sided and fundamentally false belief
system of Feminism has a disproportionately adverse impact on men and the plaintiffs.
38. The negative stereotyping of men and lack of balance at Columbia, IRWG and Continuing
Education reveal a discriminatory intent motivated by bigotry and fail to serve the acquisition
of knowledge for men that tends to develop and train the individual both mentally and
morally.
39. Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education's ill-will discrimination has the effect of
predominantly depriving male students and male alumni of an equal educational opportunity
as compared with females.
5
40. Men, the ones most likely to take courses providing contrary perspectives to the Feminist
Women's Studies program, have no opportunity to do so whether current students, alumni or
post-baccalaureate students, who take courses through Continuing Education.
41. The class represented by Roy Den Hollander consists of Columbia University's alumni men,
post-baccalaureate men, and male students who would take advantage of a Men's Studies
program and all the attendant benefits if offered.
42. The class members, because of their sex, are being denied an opportunity for education,
knowledge, career opportunities, and acquiring skills for defending against fraudulent
Feminist attacks as a result of Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education's failure to offer a
Men's Studies program.
43. Female alumni and female students, the ones most likely to take Women's Studies courses,
are treated preferentially based on sex, since IRWG offers numerous Feminist courses that
may lead to an undergraduate degree or a graduate certification and Continuing Education
provides a post-baccalaureate Feminist program and auditing of Feminist courses.
44. Since the policies and practices of the Regents, Chancellor, Commissioner, Columbia, IRWG
and Continuing Education created or approved the anti-male Feminist Women's Studies at
Columbia but no countervailing Men's Studies, these defendants have shutout a substantial
number of men from educational opportunities needed to counter the dissembling Feminist
dogma prevalent in the governmental, social, business, political, media, and domestic spheres
of modern-day life in America.
45. Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education teach females to compete unfairly with men
without providing any programs for men on how to individually defeat such unfair and
discriminatory practices against them whether in college, the work force or before
governmental bodies.
46. Female students and alumni of Columbia receive a public benefit without any comparable
benefit provided to male students and alumni.
47. The Regents, Chancellor, Commissioner, Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education's
polices and practices effectively ban Men's Studies from Columbia with the effect of
institutionalizing anti-male prejudice at the University and propagating such in the society as
a whole.
48. Knowing that their actions created and perpetuate the institutionalization of prejudice toward
men and the attendant harm that follows, the Regents, Chancellor, Commissioner, Columbia,
IRWG and Continuing Education intentionally continue their polices and practices of
ensconcing anti-male bigotry and denying males the same educational opportunity as
provided females.
49. The Regents, Chancellor, Commissioner, Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education's
actions are arbitrary and completely unrelated to the goal of providing higher education.
6
50. The purposes of education to enlighten, elucidate, provide the practical means for furthering
oneself in society, and to defend oneself against unjust attacks are thwarted when doctrines
favorable to one group, even that of the majority, advocate discrimination against the
minority and administrators fail to provide programs helpful to the minority in countering
such discrimination.
51. While the Regents, Chancellor, Commissioner, Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education
will claim that their policies and practices are to remove obstacles to women's access to
educational and career opportunities, there exists behind the public relations an invidiously
discriminatory purpose as a motivating factor.
52. The following are just a few of the anti-male practices driven by prejudice that have been
taken by directors of IRWG:
a. Carolyn Heilbrun, who committed suicide in 2003, used "theory and scholarship at the
expense of the lives of [men]."
b. Jean Howard developed a $15 million hiring program at Columbia that discriminates
against male teachers and stifles the freedom of thought of men. Any male applicant for
a teaching position must demonstrate a rigid conformity of thought and speech to
Feminism.
c. Marianne Hirsch and Elizabeth Povinelli, the current heads of IRWG, maintain IRWG as
a center for the National Council for Research on Women, which uses IRWG work and
that of other higher educational tax-exempt institutions to influence legislation through
Congressional briefings that result in the discrimination of men, such as with the passage
of the Violence Against Women Act.
53. Even minimizing Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education's negative stereotyping of
men, the existence of a permissible purpose cannot sustain conduct that has an impermissible
effect when ill will is present.
54. The Federal and State defendants provide assistance and tangible financial aid that facilitates,
reinforces, and supports discrimination motivated by malice against men at Columbia, IRWG
and Continuing Education.
55. Federal and State governmental benefits also directly result in disparate treatment of men at
Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education because no comparable public assistance is
provided to further the interests of male students and male alumni and no equivalent
governmental largess is provided to counter anti-male discrimination.
56. The U.S. Department of Education, its Secretary, and the President of HESC knowingly
assist the discrimination against men by providing financial funds to Columbia, IRWG and
Continuing Education either directly or indirectly.
7
57. The U.S. Department of Education and its Secretary's aiding of discriminatory practices at
Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education violates the equal protection clause of the 5th
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
58. The Regents, Chancellor, Commissioner, President of HESC, Columbia, IRWG and
Continuing Education's aiding, furthering or conducting of discriminatory practices at
Columbia University violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution.
59. The Regents, Chancellor, Commissioner and President of HESC have a duty to conform
educational assistance and programs to 14th Amendment standards to assure against the
deprivation of rights to equal protection. They have not done so with respect to the IRWG
Women's Studies program at Columbia.
IV. 42 U.S.C. 1983
60. A suit to enforce individual rights protected by the 14th Amendment requires an action
pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983: "Every person who, under color of [state law] ... subjects
[another] ... to the deprivation of any rights ... secured by the Constitution and [federal]
laws, shall be liable to the party injured ...."
61. Columbia University, IRWG and Continuing Education are "persons" under 42 U.S.C. 1983
and operate under the color of state law.
62. Columbia University is classified as an independent private institution, but unlike most
others in New York, Columbia received its charter directly from the Legislature of the State
of New York.
63. The Regents, Chancellor and Commissioner are arms of the State of New York.
64. Through the Regents, Chancellor and Commissioner, New York State has undertaken a
policy to actively control not only the curricula of private universities, such as Columbia, but
also the faculty, library, academic advising, administrative oversight, financial resources, and
physical facilities.
65. Registration of higher educational institutions and programs is the basis for determining
educational program eligibility for State student aid programs and for professional licensure
or teacher certification.
66. The Commissioner visits and inspects Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education for
compliance with the Regents' rules and the Commissioner's regulations.
67. Through the registration and re-registration of programs by the Regents, Chancellor and
Commissioner, the three authorized and continue to authorize the Women's Studies program
provided by IRWG at Columbia University. If the Regents, Chancellor and Commissioner
wanted the program changed or eliminated, a mere order from them would suffice.
8
68. Without State authorization, the Women's Studies program and IRWG would not exist at
Columbia because no credit toward an undergraduate degree, graduate certification or a post-
baccalaureate course could be offered.
69. Without State authorization, Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education and students would
not receive Federal and State aid that contributes to supporting the Women's Studies
program.
70. The Regents, Chancellor and Commissioner are therefore involved not simply with some
activity at Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education but with the very activity that violates
the equal protection rights of the plaintiffs: the Women's Studies program.
71. The Regents and the Chancellor are a quasi-legislative body that rules over Columbia, IRWG
and Continuing Education in order to implement State education law and policy through the
Commissioner.
72. The Regents, Chancellor and Commissioner's involvement is therefore not ministerial but
substantive.
73. The President of HESC is also an arm of the State of New York.
74. HESC provides tuition funding for Columbia students and, on information and belief,
students at IRWG, through various loan, scholarship and grant programs, including the
nations' largest grant program: Tuition Assistance Program.
75. The operating revenue of Columbia University relies on tuition much more heavily than
endowment on which Columbia's peers largely rely.
76. The tuition funding provided by the President of HESC to Columbia, on information and
belief, provides crucial financing for the anti-male discriminatory Women's Studies program.
77. The President of HESC is therefore involved in the very practice that discriminates against
male students and male alumni: the plaintiff class.
78. Additional involvement of the State in the discriminatory Women's Studies program include:
a. On information and belief, the Commissioner grants Columbia a monetary sum for every
degree awarded under N.Y. Education Law § 6401, which includes degrees in Women's
Studies that are the product of discrimination against men.
b. A variety of State programs are administered by Columbia that provide financial aid to
students in the form of direct grants and loans that are paid over to Columbia and, on
information and belief, contribute to Continuing Education and IRWG's operations.
c. Columbia received direct State aid in the amount of $3,447,000 for its fiscal year 2007.
On information and belief, an amount of the State aid was provided to Continuing
Education and IRWG.
9
d. New York State helps finance the construction of facilities at Columbia, which, on
information and belief, frees up financing for Continuing Education and IRWG.
79. In its early years, Columbia received real estate from the State that subsequently proved
lucrative, which may be sufficient to establish state action.
V. Discrimination under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
80. "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be ... denied the benefits of, or be
subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal
financial assistance." 20 U.S.C. § 1681.
81. 45 C.F.R. 86.31 states that "education program or activity" includes any academic, ...
research, occupational training, or other education program or activity operated by a recipient
which receives Federal financial assistance."
82. Columbia University receives federal financial assistance; therefore, Title IX requirements
apply to all of the University's operations, which include the Women's Studies program
provided by IRWG.
83. Even if no federal funds are earmarked for Columbia's Women's Studies program or IRWG
or Continuing Education, Title IX still prohibits their discriminatory treatment of men.
84. Columbia, IRWG, and Continuing Education knowingly made decisions to provide
preferential treatment for females by offering Women's Studies and not to provide equal
educational opportunities to males by offering Men's Studies.
85. Columbia, IRWG, and Continuing Education based their decisions on stereotypical
assumptions of males as oppressors and females as innocent victims, of males as reaping the
rewards of society and females the burdens, of America as a patriarchy as opposed to what it
is--a de facto matriarchy.
86. Columbia, IRWG, and Continuing Education provide different benefits, based on sex, to its
students and alumni by offering a Women's Studies program but not a Men's Studies
program.
87. Columbia, IRWG, and Continuing Education deny its male students and male alumni similar
benefits that female students and female alumni receive from their Women's Studies
program.
88. Columbia, IRWG, and Continuing Education not only limit but actively work against
providing male students and male alumni the same advantages and opportunities that the
Women's Studies program gives to female students and female alumni.
89. At Columbia University the deleterious impact of its policies and practices in favoring
Women's Studies falls disproportionately on men:
10
a. Male students have no opportunity to earn an undergraduate degree or a graduate
certification in Men's Studies, which would "testif[y] to mastery of a body of cross-
disciplinary literature and enhance employability, especially in" academia.1
b. Male alumni have no opportunity to gain knowledge in a field of Men's Studies by taking
continuing education courses or post-baccalaureate studies to prepare for graduate school.
c. Male students and alumni have no opportunity to participate in or inter-react with "a
vibrant interdisciplinary community of scholars, researchers and students" in the field of
Men's Studies.
d. Male students and alumni do not have the advantage of a "thoroughly interdisciplinary
framework, methodological training and substantive guidance in specialized areas of
research" into men's issues.
e. The lack of a Men's Studies program denies male students and alumni the opportunity for
"an education that is both comprehensive and tailored to individual needs."
f. Male students and alumni are denied the opportunity to "undertake original research and
produce advanced scholarship" in Men's Studies.
g. Male students and alumni cannot prepare "for future scholarly work" in Men's Studies or
"for careers and future training in law, public policy, social work, community organizing,
journalism, medicine, and all those professions in which there is a need for critical and
creative interdisciplinary thought" from the male perspective.
h. Male students and alumni who enroll in doctoral programs and professional schools
cannot take graduate courses in contra "feminist theory, inquiry, and method."
90. Columbia, IRWG, and Continuing Education fail to effectively accommodate the educational
interests and abilities of male students and male alumni by offering only a curriculum in
Feminism (Women's Studies) without any countervailing view.
91. Interest and ability rarely develop in a vacuum; they evolve as a function of opportunity and
experience, so any argument that Columbia's male students and male alumni are not
interested in or lack the educational ability for Men's Studies wrongly justifies sex-based
discrimination with archaic and overbroad generalizations about men.
92. Columbia, IRWG, and Continuing Education have so extensively propagated the doctrine of
Feminism from the Women's Studies program throughout the University's activities that any
opposing voice is quickly and summarily silenced.
93. Women's Studies programs are today the varsity sport of choice for females at Columbia in
their never-ending war against men.
94. If Title IX can require universities receiving federal financial assistance to provide a female
athletics program, then it surely can require Columbia to provide a Men's Studies program.
95. Male athletic programs are geared primarily toward benefiting men while Women's Studies
programs are geared primarily toward benefiting females with Feminist ideology, strategy,
tactics and training for exploiting the modern-day social bias against men.
1
All the quotations in this paragraph are taken from the website of Columbia's IRWG.
11
96. The Women's Studies program at Columbia gives female students and female alumni an
exclusive opportunity over their male competitors in the University and society by using
federal resources to provide females with a golf-like handicap that applies to life in modern-
day America.
97. Without a Men's Studies program, Columbia male students and male alumni are
disadvantaged in competing with females on America's current uneven playing field of life.
98. There is no substantial proportionality between the ratios of the number of females in the
Women's Studies program and the ratio of males in a Men's Studies program because
Columbia has no such team of teachers, courses, activities and benefits for male students and
male alumni.
99. On information and belief, the disproportionately high number of females in the Women's
Studies program evinces the discriminatory impact on men, which Columbia has failed to
address.
100. Once Columbia, IRWG, and Continuing Education chose to provide educational
opportunities inuring to the benefit of its female students and female alumni, they were then
required to provide equal educational opportunities for male students and male alumni so as
to balance the dissimilar impact of Women's Studies on males and females.
101. Columbia, IRWG, and Continuing Education's provision of Women's Studies results in
disparities of a substantial and unjustified nature in the benefits, treatment, services and
opportunities granted females and males with the males receiving disproportionately less.
For example, Columbia provides disproportionately more financial assistance for the
propagation of Feminism, which disadvantages men, than for contrary pedagogies.
102. On information and belief, IRWG provides disproportionately more assistance in making
employment opportunities available to female students than males in violation of 34 C.F.R.
106.38.
103. The discriminatory impact of the Women's Studies program is not counter-balanced by
an exceedingly persuasive justification. The assertion that American females are
disadvantaged is nothing more than a "big lie" strategy. For example:
a. Females earn more per unit of time worked than males. The average man spends 44%
more time working or doing work related activities than the average woman, U.S.
Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Time Use Survey 2007, Table A-1, and
the average woman makes 77% that of the average man. If the two were paid equally for
their time actually worked, then the pay for the average woman should be 69.5% that of
the average man--not 77%.
b. Females working part-time earn 115% of what part-time male workers. Denise Venable,
The Wage Gap Myth, National Center for Policy Analysis, April 12, 2002.
12
c. Females control over a majority of the assets in America. See Lucie Schmidt and Purvi
Sevak, Gender, Marriage and Asset Accumulation in the United States, University of
Michigan, 2005.
d. Females make 80% of the purchases in America. Marc Rudov, Why Women Don't
Negotiate, 2007.
e. The 25 most dangerous occupations in America are 90% occupied by men.
f. Males are 20 times more likely to be killed or injured on the job.
g. Over all occupations, men suffer 92% of the job related deaths while making up 54% of
the work force. US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population
Survey, Employment and fatalities, by gender of worker, 2006.
h. Since 1973, abortion has allowed females to murder over 40 million incipient human
beings, Center for Disease Control, Abortion Surveillance--U.S. 2004, Table 2, often as
a means of birth control.
i. Females, but not men, have various excuses that permit them to significantly lessen their
punishment for murdering their newborns (Postpartum Depression), their husbands or
boyfriends (Battered Spouse Syndrome or Paroxysmal Insanity), and even their children
for which society often blames the husband.
j. Females are generally not punished for perjury in family actions, sexual harassment, rape
cases or paternity suits.
k. In some jurisdictions, the husband of the mother of a child born during the marriage will
be responsible for child support even though the wife cheated on the husband and
conceived with another man and DNA evidence can prove such.
l. Wives receive child custody ten times more often than men, Geoffrey P. Miller, Being
There, N.Y.U. School Law, Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series, No. 22,
July 2000, p. 11, n. 17, while initiating 70% of the divorces, Marc Rudov, Why Women
Don't Negotiate, 2007.
m. Debtor prisons for nonpayment of child support incarcerate mainly men.
n. Males generally receive more prison time than females for any crime.
o. The life expectancy for females in America is five years longer than males.
p. Breast cancer kills around 41,000 females a year and prostate cancer 27,000 males, yet
there is twice as much Federal money dedicated to breast cancer than prostate cancer, and
there are seven breast cancer drugs for every one prostate cancer drug. Catherine Arnst,
A Gender Gap in Cancer, Business Week, June 13, 2007.
q. The United States has an office dedicated to women's health while there is not one for
men.
r. Nearly every boy born in America has one of the most sensitive parts of his genitalia
removed at an age when he cannot object and without anesthesia.
s. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and welfare programs are paid for mostly by male
taxpayers, and all have a majority of female beneficiaries.
t. Over 52,000 American service men died in Vietnam but only eight women.
u. Females still do not have to register for the draft.
v. Females make up 57% of the nation's college students but just over 51% of the
population.
w. Nightclubs often allow ladies in for free or a fraction of what they charge men, which
over time adds up to a significant transfer of wealth from males to females.
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104. The actual aim of Women's Studies is not affirmative action but to create and perpetuate
a legal, social and economic substratum occupied by men toiling in a Fritz Lang
"Metropolis" like underworld.
105. By offering only Women's Studies, Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education
denigrate and disadvantage men, effect artificial restraints on the individual opportunities for
men, and fail to advance the full development of the talents and capacities of this nation's
men.
VI. Discrimination under N.Y. Civil Rights Law § 40-c
106. N.Y. Civil Rights Law § 40-c states that "[n]o person shall, because of ... sex ... be
subjected to any discrimination in his ... civil rights ... by any ... corporation or institution,
or by the state or any agency ... of the state. § 40-c bars discrimination by direct or indirect
means.
107. The legislative intent behind § 40-c was to fulfill the State's responsibility of assuring
that every individual in New York is afforded equal opportunity to enjoy a full and
productive life and that failure to provide such equal opportunity whether because of
discrimination, prejudice, intolerance or inadequate education or training not only threatens
the rights of New York inhabitants but menaces the institutions and foundations of a free
democratic state. N.Y. Civil Rights Law § 40-c, Historical and Statutory Notes.
108. Columbia University is a private educational institution of higher learning organized and
existing under the laws of the State of New York.
109. By discriminating against male students and male alumni with its Women's Studies
program, Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education violate N.Y. Civil Rights Law § 40-c.
110. The Regents, Chancellor, Commissioner and President of HESC in their official
capacities constitute agencies of the State of New York.
111. By discriminating against male students and male alumni in approving, assisting and
aiding Women's Studies at Columbia, the Regents, Chancellor, Commissioner and President
of HESC violate N.Y. Civil Rights Law § 40-c.
VII. Injury
112. By singling out for special benefits the religion of Feminism propagated by the Women's
Studies program at Columbia University, the Federal and State defendants create a
governmental sectarian preference that infringes an unalienable right of the plaintiff class
members.
113. "The Religion ... of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every
man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate. This right is in its
nature an unalienable right." Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments,
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as reproduced in the Appendix to the dissenting opinion of Rutledge, J., in Everson v. Board
of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 63 (2 The Writings of James Madison 183-191 (G. Hunt ed.
1901)).
114. "The Rulers [Federal and State defendants] who are guilty of ... encroachment [on that
right] exceed the commission from which they derive their authority, and are Tyrants. The
People who submit to it are governed by laws made neither by themselves, nor by an
authority derived from them, and are slaves." Id.
115. The conduct of all the defendants in promoting only Women's Studies effectively denies
the members of the plaintiff class the opportunity to take Men's Studies courses that will
prepare and assist them for dealing with, defending against, and fighting the anti-male
climate that is pervasive in America today.
116. Because of the defendants' policies and practices in advocating and furthering Feminism
and training Feminist "storm-troopers" through the Women's Studies program at Columbia,
the plaintiffs face obstacles to educational access and career opportunities solely as the result
of an accident of nature that made them men.
117. The defendants' contribution to the establishment and continuation of Feminism as the
primary belief system in this society impairs the plaintiffs' rights to fair treatment in
employment, business, politics, the courts, the media, by the police, and before executive
government agencies.
118. The defendants' advocacy and furthering of Feminism and training of Feminists
derogates males while propagandizing the superiority of females with a harm similar,
although not yet as egregious, as the Nazification of universities in Germany during the
1930s when education demonized the Jews while demanding genuflection to an Aryan
throne.
VIII. Plaintiffs' Class
119. There are questions of law and fact presented in this action that are common to the entire
class and that affect the rights of the class.
120. This class action is maintainable under Fed. R. Civ. P. § 23(b)(2) because the defendants
have acted on grounds generally applicable to the class, thereby making declaratory and
injunctive relief and nominal damages appropriate to the class as a whole.
121. The putative class in this action consists of all males who were students, full or part time,
or alumni of Columbia University at some point in time during the three years prior to the
filing of this action or all males who currently maintain the status of student or alumni, or all
males who will in the future acquire the status of student or alumni.
122. The exact number of members of the class is not known, but it is estimated to be too large
for joinder of all members to be practical.
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123. The Federal and State defendants are responsible for aiding the establishment of a
religion--Feminism--at Columbia University and giving that religion their official
imprimatur in violation of the class members' liberty interests by de facto forcing them to
conform to the establishment of Feminism or keep silent.
124. All the defendants violate the equal protection rights of the plaintiff class members
secured under the 5th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
125. Defendants Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education violate Title IX to the Education
Amendments of 1972 by denying benefits and unjustifiably discriminating against the
plaintiff class members.
126. Defendants Regents, Chancellor, Commissioner, President of HESC, Columbia, IRWG
and Continuing Education discriminate against the class members in violation of N.Y. Civil
Rights Law § 40-c.
127. Roy Den Hollander, the named plaintiff and resident of New York County, is an alumnus
of Columbia University's Graduate School of Business.
128. As an alumnus, Mr. Den Hollander may take courses in Continuing Education's auditing
program, prepare for further graduate work through its Post Baccalaureate Studies or pursue
undergraduate studies through the School of General Studies, which offers the same courses
with the same teachers as other Columbia undergraduate programs.
129. Mr. Den Hollander explored these avenues for studying and benefiting from Men's
Studies in the Fall of 2007 but found there were no such opportunities because Columbia's
discriminatory practices only allow for a Women's Studies program.
130. Mr. Den Hollander was denied a public benefit comparable to the public benefit offered
female alumni and female students of Columbia.
131. The lack of a Men's Studies program also prevents Mr. Den Hollander and other male
alumni and male students from securing the same educational, career, and networking
advantages that female alumni and female students can from the Women's Studies program.
IX. Relief Sought
132. This Court declare that the aid and assistance provided by the Federal and State
defendants for promoting and advocating Feminism and for training Feminists in the
Women's Studies program at Columbia violate the establishment clause of the 1st
Amendment.
133. Enjoin the Federal and State defendants from providing any further aid and assistance for
promoting and advocating Feminism and for training Feminists in the Women's Studies
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program at Columbia because such practices violate the establishment clause of the 1st
Amendment.
134. Declare that the furnishing of aid and assistance by the Federal and State defendants to
the Women's Studies program at Columbia invidiously discriminates against the plaintiffs
based on sex.
135. Enjoin the Federal and State defendants from providing any further aid and assistance for
the Women's Studies program at Columbia because it violates the equal protection rights of
the plaintiffs.
136. Declare that the Women's Studies program at Columbia discriminates against the
plaintiffs based on sex.
137. Enjoin Columbia, IRWG and Continuing Education from offering to students and alumni
any of the Women's Studies program curriculum, activities or benefits unless an equivalent
Men's Studies program focusing on concerns important to men is established by Columbia.
138. Level the playing field by either instituting Men's Studies or eliminating Women's
Studies at Columbia University, which will assure that male students and male alumni are no
longer at a disadvantage when competing with female students and female alumni for the
benefits of society nor at a disadvantage of ending up with the worst of society's burdens.
139. Award nominal damages in the amount of one dollar to the class of plaintiffs and any
other relief the Court deems proper.
Subject Matter Jurisdiction
140. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1331
because this action raises federal questions under the 5th and 14th Amendments to the U.S.
Constitution and Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.
141. This Court has supplemental jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. 1367(a) over the State cause of
action, N.Y. Civil Rights § 40-c, for civil rights violations by defendants Columbia
University, IRWG, Continuing Education, Regents, Chancellor, Commissioner and President
of HESC.
Personal Jurisdiction
142. This Court has personal jurisdiction over the defendants in accordance with Fed. R. Civ.
P. 4(e)(2)(C), 4(h)(1)(B), 4(i)(2), 4(j)(2)(B) and N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 307(1) & (2)(1).
Venue
143. This Court has venue under 28 U.S.C. 1391(b)(3) & (e)(3) and under N.Y. Civil Rights
Law § 40-d.
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Conclusion
144. There are numerous problems of national importance that lie under the surface of this
litigation in which the plaintiffs have made an initial move to compel colleges and
universities to change policies having extensive implications for society at large.
145. University and college Women's Studies programs are busy across the land spreading
prejudice and fostering animosity and distrust toward men with the result of the wholesale
violation of men's rights due to ignorance, falsehoods and malice.
Dated: August 18, 2008
New York, N.Y.
/S/
_________________________
Roy Den Hollander, Esq. (1957)
Class attorney and representative
545 East 14 Street, 10D
New York, N.Y. 10009
(917) 687-0652
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