Young America’s Foundation (YAF) revealed they had filed a complaint urging the Trump administration’s Department of Education’s (DOE) civil rights office to investigate Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, over violations of conservative students’ rights.
In a thread on X, Spencer Brown, the communications chief for YAF claimed that the aviation university was “in violation of multiple executive orders implemented by” President Donald Trump, and Title VI, and Title IX.
“Young America’s Foundation write to alert you to significant and ongoing civil rights violations against conservative students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University,” the foundation wrote in its complaint address to the DOE’s Civil Rights offices in Denver and Atlanta.
Brown also explained that the complaint came after YAF had “demanded” the university “repeal its ill-conceived totalitarian speech ban and subsequently exposed ERAU’s discriminatory and selective enforcement of the ban to suppress @_YAFreedom students while supporting leftist causes.”
YAF “has filed a complaint urging the Trump administration’s @EDcivilrights office to open a formal investigation of @EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University and apply appropriate remedial actions amid the school’s ongoing violation of students’ rights,” Brown wrote.
“On behalf of our YAF members at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) and all truth-seeking students on ERAU campuses, YAF requests that the OCR open a formal investigation into ERAU for its promotion of DEI and gender ideology in violation of civil rights laws and President Trump’s executive orders,” the complaint said.
In a press release, YAF explained:
Despite being a private institution, ERAU — because it accepts federal funding — is subject to Trump administration policies and certainly not immune from the consequences of its actions.
As outlined in the complaint, ERAU is in violation of multiple executive orders implemented by President Donald Trump, a recent Dear Colleague letter the Department of Education, Title VI, and Title IX.
ERAU, despite these clear orders from the Trump administration — and a purported ban on expression deemed “political” — has repeatedly blocked YAF activism while allowing leftist students, such as those pushing radical gender ideology, to express themselves freely.
“With this complaint, YAF is following through on its promise to have our students’ backs whenever their rights come under attack from school administrators,” Brown said in a statement. “In this case, YAF is alerting the Trump administration — and urging swift action — to remedy ERAU’s shameful speech policy and pattern of discrimination against conservative students. With his executive orders, President Trump equipped the Office of Civil Rights to investigate and defund educational institutions that violate their students’ rights, a welcome change that YAF applauds and is now eager to take advantage of to root out leftist discrimination at ERAU and other schools nationwide.”
In the press release, the foundation explained that the complaint laid “bare ERAU’s egregious actions” such as “ERAU’s speech ban” blocking “all religious speech” and ERAU prioritizing “so-called secular speech” and discriminating “against religious students.”
“ERAU has banned any show of support for the Jewish State and its citizens,” the press release added. “For example, ERAU banned YAF students from creating an Israeli flag display and from memorializing Holocaust Remembrance Day.”
“ERAU elevated the ‘Day of Transgender Visibility’ to a religious holiday and permitted activists to express themselves on that day, in spite of ERAU’s speech ban. ERAU, however, continues to refuse the YAF chapter’s requests to express themselves. In doing so, ERAU recognizes sex-based distinctions that are not legitimate under law and discriminates on the basis of religion,” the press release added. “This violates Title VI, Title IX, Executive Order No. 14151, Executive Order o. 14173, Executive Order No. 14168, and the Dept. of Ed. Feb. 14, 2025 Dear Colleague Letter.”