Colleges often have a few race-based scholarships, as well as a few gender-based scholarships for women. These scholarships are generally illegal under federal appeals court rulings like Podberesky v. Kirwan (1994), but few students and faculty are aware of that, so they persist.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is unusual in having a great many — indeed, 42 — illegal race and gender-based scholarships, which are being challenged by the Legal Insurrection Foundation in a complaint to the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. And not all of the scholarships are for women or minorities — although most are.
The Foundation explains:
we have filed over thirty complaints and legal actions since launch in February 2023, with over half the schools withdrawing or modifying the discriminatory programs…Almost all of our actions have addressed discrimination in higher education. In our latest action, we have filed a Civil Rights Complaint with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education, against the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). What distinguishes the UIUC filing is that there are forty-two (42) scholarships challenged. We have never seen so many discriminatory scholarships at any one school. We also have not seen such a “diversity” of discrimination, against men, women, non-whites, whites, etc. There seems to be a systemic breakdown of civil rights compliance at UIUC when it comes to scholarships.
From the Complaint:
We write in connection with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) for illegal sex-based and race-based discrimination in violation of Title IX and Title VI, respectively. Specifically, UIUC offers, administers, and promotes 42 scholarships that discriminate based on race, sex, or both….
I.Title IX Violations (19) – Eight scholarships are offered exclusively to female students, eight state a preference for female students, two are offered exclusively to male students, and one states a preference for male students.
II.Title VI Violations (19) – These 19 scholarships are all offered exclusively or with a stated preference for various groups based on race, color, or national origin including students from underrepresented populations, students who are historically-underrepresented, students from minority groups, and students from various ethnic groups or national origins including Czech, Lithuanian, Japanese, Latina/Latino, Iranian.
III.Title IX and Title VI (4) – These four scholarships discriminate based on both sex and race either exclusively, e.g., eligibility is restricted to a male minority freshman, or with a stated race/sex preference, e.g., minorities or women preferred….
…the number and scope of discriminatory scholarships is extensive, reflecting a systemic disregard for the civil rights laws. In light of this systemic problem, we ask that OCR promptly open a formal investigation not only as to these scholarships, but also the [entire] UIUC system….
The Washington Examiner covered the filing:
“UIUC has achieved diversity but in the worst way. The array of discriminatory scholarships collectively discriminates against almost everyone. Discrimination does not become lawful just because there is a diverse group of victims,” William A. Jacobson, founder of the Equal Protection Project, told the Washington Examiner….Some of the University of Illinois scholarships awarded to racial groups are somewhat vague in their wording, using phrases such as “underrepresented,” “minority,” and “diverse,” but in every instance, they exclude at least white students unless a specific national origin preference is stated. For example, two scholarships state a preference for a Czech student, and another prefers a student of Lithuanian descent, which the complaint still maintains is discriminatory.
The Wanda Taeschner Babcock scholarship, for example, states a preference for “underrepresented populations pursuing a career in education to promote cultural diversity.” According to the UIUC website, “Underrepresented includes Black, Hispanic, and American Indian, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, and multi-racial students.”
The Doris I. and James L. Willmer Endowed Scholarship has stratified preferences, stating, “Preference first to first-generation female, then to female students, and finally to minority students,” covering both Title IX and Title VI violations, according to the complaint. Similarly, the Myron and Jewel Ash Scholarship has a “preference to provide support for an African American man pursuing a career in elementary and middle school planning a teaching career in an inner city school at the kindergarten through eighth grade level.”
“It doesn’t matter what the source of funds are for the scholarships or if the discrimination is at the request of donors,” Jacobson said. “UIUC needs to come up with a remedial plan to compensate students shut out of these scholarships due to discrimination.”
Having an illegal scholarship for blacks isn’t offset by having an illegal scholarship for whites (like a scholarship for Czech or Lithuanian students). As the Supreme Court explained in Shelley v. Kraemer (1948), “Equal protection of the laws is not achieved through indiscriminate imposition of inequalities.”
