In a span of nearly four years, Raymond C. Pierce, Deputy Assistant
Secretary for the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of
Education, has supervised some 600 civil rights compliance reviews of
school districts across the nation. His portfolio in higher education
has included managing policy development on issues ranging from gender
fairness in intercollegiate athletics to race-targeted scholarships to
higher education desegregation.
Currently, attorneys in the Office For Civil Rights are negotiating
with Ohio officials to bring the state into civil rights compliance
over its support of the ailing, historically-Black Central State
University in Cleveland.
The Office for Civil Rights is also pursuing a high-profile inquiry
of the higher education system in Texas as a result of the state’s
interpretation of the Hop wood decision in the Fifth Circuit Court,
which has banned the use of race as a factor in admissions at Texas
public colleges and universities.
Pierce, 38, a graduate of Case Western University School of Law,
spoke recently to Black Issues In Higher Education’s senior writer
Ronald Roach.
Can you describe your duties and responsibilities as Deputy
Assistant Secretary the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department
of Education? Enforcement. My job is to enforce civil rights. I have
twelve offices around this country that enforce civil rights, and my,
job is to direct and operate them.
What are primary enforcement mechanisms at your disposal?
We’ll go to an administrative law judge or refer [the case] to the
Department of Justice. But most times, we always get a resolution if we
don’t send it to the Department of Justice…Secretary Riley has really
pushed hard to resolve these cases; to work with recipients of federal
funds, school districts, counties, states to see if we can’t find a way
to resolve these matters in a way that’s productive for the students
who are involved here. And, I’m proud to say that with our leadership
here. we’ve been able to accomplish that.
