By Associated Press - Friday, November 6, 2020

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Federal officials are investigating an online diversity training session at the University of Kentucky where students were put into a mandatory break-out session “that segregated students by race,” a school spokesman said.

The episode in August is being reviewed by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, UK spokesman Jay Blanton told the Lexington Herald Leader.

“That should not have happened, and it will not in the future,” Blanton said Thursday about the training. “We have made clear our expectations moving forward. A community that values diversity and inclusivity is something to which we all aspire.”

The incident was first publicly reported by an on-campus conservative student group. The group’s report was a factor in a request by Republican U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, who asked the Justice Department to investigate the incident.

Blanton told the newspaper that the letter to the Justice Department was sent after the university was notified about the Education Department’s review.

Blanton said the Justice Department hasn’t contacted the school and a spokeswoman for Cotton said his office hasn’t gotten a response from the agency.

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