U. S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division

_____________________________________________________________
Office of the Assistant Attorney General                                    Washington, D.C.  20530
 
 
 

                                                                              April 12, 2002
 

MEMORANDUM FOR GENERAL COUNSELS OR AGENCY HEADS/
                                   CIVIL RIGHTS DIRECTORS
 

FROM:                        Ralph F. Boyd, Jr.  /s/
                                   Assistant Attorney General
                                   Civil Rights Division

SUBJECT:                   Executive Order 13160

         I am writing with regard to Executive Order 13160,
"Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Race, Sex, Color, National
Origin, Disability, Religion, Age, Sexual Orientation, and
Status as a Parent in Federally Conducted Education and Training
Programs." This Executive Order was issued on June 23, 2000,
and a Guidance Document entitled "Ensuring Equal Opportunity
in Federally Conducted Education and Training Programs"
was published in the Federal Register on January 18, 2001.
Copies of both documents are attached for your convenience.

         I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that
the Executive Order and the Guidance Document require all
federal departments and agencies to develop appropriate
outreach materials and to establish procedures for receiving
and addressing complaints.

          In addition, the Executive Order contains a mandatory
agency reporting requirement. Pursuant to §6-601 of the
Executive Order, each federal agency and department must submit
to the Attorney General reports summarizing the number, nature,
and disposition of Executive Order 13160 complaints. More
specifically, the Executive Order states that, for the first
three years following the issuance of the Order, such reports
are to be submitted annually within 90 days of the preceding
year's activities. Since the Guidance Document was issued
in January of 2001, and 2001 was the first full calendar year
following issuance of the Executive Order, all agency reports
should have been submitted to the Department of Justice by
March 31, 2002.

          If your agency has not already filed an Executive
Order 13160 complaint report, please complete the attached
form and submit your agency's report to:

                Coordination and Review Section - NYA
                Civil Rights Division
                U.S. Department of Justice
                950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
                Washington, D.C. 20530

         Please note that, for this first reporting period, you
should include information regarding all complaint activity
from the date the Executive Order was issued in June of 2000
until December 31, 2001. This will ensure that the Division
has a complete record of all complaints filed under the
Executive Order (although I recognize that it is unlikely
that any complaints were filed prior to the issuance of the
Guidance Document in January of 2001). For all future reports,
each calendar year will be deemed to constitute a single
year's worth of complaint activity.

         If you have any questions regarding the completion of
the complaint report form or any other matters related to
the Executive Order or the Guidance Document, please feel free
to contact Ms. Merrily A. Friedlander, Coordination and Review
Section Chief, or Ms. Beth Pincus, staff attorney, at
(202) 307-2222.

       Thank you for your attention to these important matters.
I look forward to continuing to work with your agency in
ensuring compliance with the Executive Order and providing
equal opportunity in all federally conducted education and
training programs.
 

Enclosures