New York public library faces backlash over internship for 'Black graduates'

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An advocacy group is pressing the Albany Public Library after the New York state funded library opened its paid internship program application only to Black applicants. 

The Equal Protection Project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation is calling for the public library to change its application process.

"Can you imagine somebody posting for a fellowship at a public library and saying it's only open to Whites? Nobody would do that," Bill Jacobson, president of the Equal Protection Project (EPP), told Fox News Digital. "So why do they think it's okay to open up such a public fellowship only to Blacks? It's discrimination."

"What the message they're sending is that discrimination is okay, depending on who you're doing it against. And that's not the law," Jacobson added. "That's not what our society is supposed to stand for."

"That's not what our society is supposed to stand for."

— - Bill Jacobson, President of The Equal Protection Project

Albany Public Library defines eligible applicants for their paid internships as, "Black students or new professionals who completed their MLIS/MSIS at an ALA-accredited program anywhere in the United States or Canada since May 2020." (Albany Public Library)

The Touhey Library Equity Fellowship (TLEF) is a paid internship at the Albany Public Library in the state's capital that has been offered since 2020.

"The library profession isn’t as racially diverse as it could be, so the Touhey Library Equity Fellowship was established as a way to hopefully attract Black librarians to Albany Public Library," Andrea Nicolay, executive director of Albany Public Libraries said, according to the library's website. 

"With the generous support of the Carl E. Touhey Foundation, we are able to work towards our diversity goal with much greater intention. Having professional staff who reflect the community we serve is important and has the potential to inspire our young patrons to explore a career in libraries," Nicolay added. 

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An online application form specifies internship requirements, noting that the two interns must be "Black recent Library and Information Science graduates" who will have "the opportunity to gain valuable practical skills and proficiency in many aspects of public librarianship." 

Albany Public Library is under fire from an advocacy group who alleges that the public library is discriminating again non-Black applicants. (Albany Public Library)

A recent Instagram post from the Albany Public Library sharing the "paid summer internships for Black library school graduates." (Albany Public Library via Instagram)

But this year, the library received a cease-and-desist letter from the Equal Protection Project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation.

"As the TLEF is racially exclusionary – only black students and black recent graduates are eligible to apply to and participate in the program – we write to express our concern and call to your attention that this program appears to violate a variety of state and federal civil rights laws, as well state and federal constitutional prohibitions on race-based discrimination," the EPP wrote in a letter to the Albany Public Library and the New York State Attorney General’s Office of Civil Rights.

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"We sent in the letter in the hope that they would voluntarily correct their actions," Jacobson told Fox News Digital. 

The public library did not reply to The Equal Protection Project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation's letter alleging racial discrimination in their summer internship program. (Albany Public Library)

Jacobson said that after the EPP thoroughly researched the internship program, the group was shocked that a large public library, "would discriminate this way."

"You have to treat people equally. You cannot discriminate on the basis of skin color, on the basis of ethnicity," he said. "A White applicant cannot apply for this. A person of Asian descent cannot apply for it, and a Hispanic person cannot apply for it.

"We found it pretty shocking that a major public library would discriminate in this way."

"You have to treat people equally. You cannot discriminate on the basis of skin color, on the basis of ethnicity." 

— - Bill Jacobson, President of The Equal Protection Project

Jacobson said that the Albany Public Library and the New York State Attorney General’s Office of Civil Rights have not replied to the EPP's March 20 letter. The group noted it will take legal action if the program continues.

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"What our legal action looks like has not been decided, but we will be taking action for sure if they do not correct this discriminatory program," Jacobson said.

The Albany Public Library and the New York State Attorney General’s Office of Civil Rights did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital's request for comment.