(June 4, 2025): Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) joined the Federalist Society to provide a detailed breakdown of its ongoing legal action against District 65 in Evanston, IL. SLF represents Dr. Stacy Deemar, a teacher in the district, who has now filed two complaints with the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and a lawsuit in federal court challenging the district’s overt racial discrimination and segregation.
The first OCR complaint Dr. Deemar filed in 2018 led to a finding by the Department of Education that District 65 violated the Civil Rights Act. But just a few days after taking office, President Biden withdrew that letter of finding without explanation. Dr. Deemar was forced to file a lawsuit in federal court, represented by SLF. Since then, SLF submitted a second OCR complaint on Dr. Deemar’s behalf in 2025, and the Trump Department of Education recently announced that it was opening up a new investigation into the school district.
SLF explained to the audience that starting in 2015, District 65 released a strategic plan that by 2020, its schools would be “marked by equity”. Within a few years, all of its policies, programs, training, and curriculum reflected that commitment. For example, the district’s Racial and Educational Equity Policy states that the district is “committed to focusing on race as one of the first visible indicators of identity.” And District 65 made it clear that it viewed equity as distinct from equality. According to the district, “Equity is about fairness, justice, individuals getting what they need and deserve,” and “equality is about sameness and treating everyone in an identical manner regardless of their differences.”
SLF stated that District 65 also implemented several teacher trainings that stereotyped by race, and it even segregated staff meetings using affinity groups and directions to go to separate rooms based on race to share how racism has affected them.
District 65 openly admitted that it was segregating based on race, defending the practice as “critical” to achieve equity. And as SLF explained in the Federalist Society discussion, those policies and practices trickled down to students, with students as young as kindergarten being offered affinity groups and taught in the classroom that America “has a racist history that is grounded in white privilege” and that saying “treat everybody equally” is colorblind and therefore racist.
After Dr. Deemar formally complained to OCR about these practices and policies in 2018, the Department of Education conducted a lengthy investigation into District 65 and found in 2021 that the district engaged in segregation, disparate treatment, and created a hostile educational environment. But just days later, after President Biden took office, the finding was withdrawn.
Represented by SLF, Dr. Deemar filed a federal lawsuit against the district. Because the violations are ongoing, SLF submitted another complaint with OCR in April 2025 on Dr. Deemar’s behalf, pointing to several instances in which the district continues to segregate and discriminate. In response, OCR launched another investigation into the district.
SLF explained in the discussion that other school districts are facing similar issues, and it is going to take administrative action and court rulings to see positive changes.
Watch the full discussion at FedSoc.org.