“Quinnipiac University School of Law is facing a federal civil rights complaint for a scholarship only open to women and LGBTQ+ students,” reports The College Fix.
The complaint was submitted to the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights by Adam Kissel, a senior fellow at the Cardinal Institute.
Kissel, a former deputy assistant secretary for higher education, called the Goff Law Group Endowed Law Scholarship “a blatant violation of civil rights” and “Title IX,” which bans educational institutions from discriminating based on sex. He says that “a law school should know better than to discriminate on the basis of sex. Maybe this helps us understand why QU Law is poorly ranked.”
Quinnipiac, a private university in Connecticut, announced the $500,000 scholarship last month. It was created with a donation from alumna Brooke Goff, a personal injury law attorney, and will be awarded to two students every year, according to the Quinnipiac Chronicle.
Jennifer Brown, dean of the law school, told The Fix that Goff provided the scholarship funds out of a “desire to increase access to the legal profession for people who have been historically underrepresented. Brooke’s hope is that this support for LGBTQ students and their allies, particularly, will help to diversify perspectives and lived experience among lawyers, and in turn this will enrich the quality of service for a diverse community of clients.”
In exchange for Goff’s gift, Quinnipiac will rename its Ceremonial Courtroom as the Brooke A. Goff Courtroom.
Kissel’s complaint notes that the Goff scholarship “is limited to women” and “operates a preference for applicants on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity (SOGI). The limitation to women violates Title IX. Additionally, the SOGI preference violates Title IX under OCR’s current interpretation of the law …”
The Supreme Court ruled that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity constitute sex discrimination, in Bostock v. Clayton County (2018). In Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan (1982), the Supreme Court ruled that constitutional bans on sex discrimination generally prohibit discrimination against men by public universities.
Kissel’s complaint also alleges that Quinnipiac has other sex-discriminatory scholarships, such as the Lynne Pantalena Endowed Scholarship for female students and the Distinguished Scholar Awards scholarships, which “privileg[es] certain SOGI [gay/transgender] identities.”
“Even if the discriminatory scholarship is offered by a third party, OCR says it is unlawful for a school to advertise it,” Kissel said.
Many colleges have scholarships that exclude heterosexuals. Duke University excluded heterosexual students from a scholarship in 2017. The scholarship was awarded based on “the potential for student involvement in the LGBT community.” Other colleges with discriminatory scholarships include Iowa State University, Spelman College in Georgia, and California State University at Long Beach.
