U. Illinois Has 42 “Illegal” Race-, Sex-Based Scholarships: Federal Complaint

Authored by Matt Lamb via The College Fix,

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has 42 “illegal” scholarships that discriminate against applicants on the basis of race, sex, or both, a federal complaint alleges.

The Equal Protection Project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation filed the complaint today with the Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Education.

It identifies 19 scholarships that discriminate on the basis of sex in violation of Title IX.

“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,” the complaint states.

Another 19 scholarships discriminate on the basis of race, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to the federal complaint.

The complaint states:

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.

Another four discriminate on both the basis of race and sex, according to the complaint.

The 2023 Supreme Court decision banning affirmative action makes clear the scholarships are illegal, according to William Jacobson, a law professor at Cornell University.

“After the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students For Fair Admission, it is clear that discriminating on the basis of race to achieve diversity is not lawful,” Jacobson, the founder of the Equal Protection Project, told The College Fix via a media statement.

“As Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the majority opinion, ‘[e]liminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.’”

“The vast number of discriminatory scholarships reflects a pervasive and systemic failure to comply with constitutional and statutory requirements at UIUC, warranting expedited investigation by the Office for Civil Rights,” Professor Jacobson said.

“The eligibility requirements for these scholarships are openly discriminatory,” Jacobson also said. “Regardless of the purpose of the discrimination, it is wrong and unlawful.”

“It does society no good to inject more racism and sexism into the educational system through discriminatory college scholarships,” the civil rights activist said.

He wants the university to create a “remedial plan to compensate students shut out of these scholarships due to discrimination.”

It is not just blue state universities that offer scholarships based on race and sex.

The University of Alabama offers at least $200K in scholarships based on race or sex, a May College Fix analysis found.

The public university told The Fix it is reviewing its scholarships due to legal developments.