FAIR News: FAIR Advocacy Helps Eliminate Race-Based Quotas in Arkansas as White House Issues Executive Order on Accreditation Fairness
Newsletter
Dear Friends of FAIR,
In a significant victory for equal treatment under the law, FAIR is proud to announce that Arkansas has eliminated several discriminatory race-based quota systems for public board appointments that were at the center of our recent litigation.
Earlier this year, FAIR partnered with the Pacific Legal Foundation and Do No Harm to challenge Arkansas laws that mandated racial quotas in gubernatorial appointments to state licensing boards, including the Occupational Therapy Examining Committee and the Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling. Our litigation, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, argued that these quotas violated the Equal Protection Clause and Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by discriminating against qualified individuals based solely on their race.
FAIR’s lawsuit specifically challenged provisions requiring that "One (1) member shall be a member of a minority race" on the Occupational Therapy Committee, and appointments ensuring "at least one (1) member of an ethnic minority" on the Counseling Board. These mandates disadvantaged qualified applicants who did not meet the racial criteria, putting them squarely at odds with FAIR's mission of advancing a common culture based on fairness, understanding, and humanity.
In direct response to our legal challenge, Governor Sarah Sanders signed House Bill 1365 (now Act 938) last week, successfully repealing these discriminatory practices. The legislation, sponsored by Representative Ken Brown, systematically removes racial and gender quotas from approximately twenty state boards, committees, councils, and commissions, ensuring that appointments will now be based on merit and qualifications rather than immutable characteristics.
This legislative victory represents a significant step toward FAIR's mission of advancing civil rights and liberties for every person, regardless of race or ethnicity. When public service opportunities are open to all qualified individuals without racial discrimination, everyone benefits from the most qualified leadership. FAIR applauds Governor Sanders and the Arkansas legislature for recognizing that public service should be based on merit, not group identity.
In a parallel development reinforcing the importance of merit-based systems, the White House recently issued an Executive Order addressing discriminatory practices by accrediting bodies. The April 2025 order, "Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education," establishes accountability measures for accreditation boards that engage in discriminatory practices. This federal action aligns with FAIR's ongoing work to ensure that race-neutral, merit-based standards are upheld across all institutions.
The Arkansas victory is part of FAIR's broader strategy to challenge similar race-based quota systems across the country. With race-based board appointment mandates existing in 25 states, FAIR is committed to ensuring that qualification and merit—not race or gender—remain the determining factors for public service.
Jeff Jennings, attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation who represented FAIR in the litigation, noted: "Arkansas cannot disqualify individuals from public service because of their race. Courts have repeatedly struck down race-based appointment mandates as unconstitutional, and Arkansas should be no different. Public service should be based on qualifications, not immutable characteristics."
The repeal of these discriminatory quotas demonstrates that targeted legal action, combined with principled advocacy, can successfully advance colorblind equality under the law. It also highlights FAIR's commitment to using litigation as a tool to challenge policies that treat individuals differently based on race, ethnicity, or gender.
As we continue this important work, we're grateful to our members and supporters who make these advocacy efforts possible. Through litigation, education, and community building, FAIR remains dedicated to advancing a common culture based on fairness, understanding, and humanity. We believe that treating people as individuals, not as representatives of racial or ethnic groups, is essential to building a truly just and equitable society.
Your contribution makes victories like Arkansas possible. We rely on your generous support to continue our legal advocacy efforts to challenge discriminatory practices across the nation and promote fairness and equal treatment for all Americans.
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. Together, we can build a society where individuals are judged by their character and qualifications rather than by immutable characteristics.
Thank you for standing with FAIR in our ongoing mission to protect and defend universal equality!
Warmly,
The Team at FAIR
My Family and I: An Evening with Adam Gussow
Join Fair For All Monday, May 19th from 7-8:30pm for an exclusive book talk with Adam Gussow, professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi and a world-renowned blues harmonica player. The author of My Family and I: A Mississippi Memoir, Gussow comes to New York City to share inspiring stories from his lifelong quest for racial reconciliation. From gigging in the streets of 1980s Harlem to graduate training at Princeton to teaching at Mississippi's most notorious prison, Gussow has lived a life uplifting Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision for a just, humane, and colorblind America.
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Good. Treat people like... people. Race-based quotas are counterproductive, adversarial, and fail to confront the problems that they were intended to fix. Race isn't that useful a stat once corrected for cross tabs. It is literally skin deep. Its explanatory power is limited. It is good for preening college brochure covers. It is bad as a sorting mechanism for actually helping people.