U.S. Education Dept. Opens Investigation Into Western Kentucky U Race-Based Scholarship Challenged by Equal Protection Project

U.S. Education Dept. Opens Investigation Into Western Kentucky U Race-Based Scholarship Challenged by Equal Protection Project

The Equal Protection Project (EPP)(EqualProtect.org) of the Legal Insurrection Foundation has challenged numerous racially discriminatory programs done in the name of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This discrimination comes in a variety of ways, but the overarching theme is to exclude or diminish some people, and promote others, based on race, color, or ethnicity.

On September 16, 2023, EPP filed a  Civil Rights Complaint challenging two scholarships at Western Kentucky University (“WKU”), a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which were only open to non-white students, 1) the WKU Athletics Minority Fellowship (“AMF”), an undergraduate scholarship for minority students interested in careers focusing in collegiate athletics; and 2) the WKU Distinguished Minority Fellowship (“DMF”), a scholarship that aims to help undergraduate minority students attain graduate degrees. We learned of these discriminatory programs through a tip we received.

The Complaint read, in part:

According to WKU’s website, the AMF provides “at least four undergraduate scholarships in the 2023-24 school year for students interested in careers focusing in collegiate athletics.”1 The purpose of the scholarships are “to enhance[e] the success of students of color – excluding student-athletes on athletic scholarship – within the athletic department’s administrative areas.”2 [image]

Those who are selected into the AMF program receive a $2,000 scholarship per academic year, or $1,000 per semester.3 The deadline date for applications was July 1, 2023.4 As this is the third consecutive academic year that the AMF scholarship has been offered,5 there is every expectation that it will continue into the foreseeable future. The centrality of race to WKU’s AMF scholarship program is apparent. One of the requirements for eligibility for the scholarship is that the applicant “identify as an underrepresented ethnic minority.”6 [image]

According to the application for the AMF scholarship, a student is only an “underrepresented ethnic minority” if he or she is “Black/African-American,” “Black/African Descent,” “Asian, Native Hawaiian [or] Pacific Islander,” “Hispanic/Latino” or “American Indian/Alaskan Native.”7 [image]

In addition to the AMF scholarship, WKU’s “Distinguished Minority Fellowship,” or DMF scholarship, discriminates on the basis of race. As reflected in the screenshot of the application website below, the DMF scholarship is intended “to help minority students attain graduate degrees by providing tuition as well as employment opportunities.”8 [image]

The DMF scholarship provides “[u]p to nine hours of resident face-to-face tuition costs for the completion of a primary graduate degree,” plus eligibility for a stipend of “no less than $15,000 per academic year in association with a graduate assistantship.”9 [image]

To be eligible for the DMF scholarship, students “must have minority status.” According to the school, that means that they must be “African American, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, two or more races or Hispanic/Latino.”10

The Complaint attracted substantial media coverage, including in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Colleges Face Demands to Stop Considering Race in Student Scholarships:

Colleges are facing pressure to stop considering race as a factor when awarding scholarships — adding fuel to a larger debate over what colleges can legally do to promote diversity and equity.

The latest target is Western Kentucky University, subject of a federal complaint filed over the weekend by the Equal Protection Project, an advocacy group that seeks “fair treatment of all persons without regard to race or ethnicity,” according to its website….

William A. Jacobson, a clinical professor of law at Cornell Law School, who founded the Equal Protection Project, has challenged many other programs this year that he believes are racially discriminatory at colleges, school systems, libraries, and other public institutions.

Jacobson said his team caught wind of Western Kentucky’s scholarship programs from a tip a couple of weeks ago , and they determined that the scholarships aren’t labeled as remediation for any specific discrimination on the university’s part — a key requirement for such programs to comply with civil-rights laws, he said….

Fox News also covered the story:

“WKU should know better to run education and career programs that exclude students based on race. Such blatant discrimination always has been unlawful, but any doubt was resolved by the Supreme Court recently in its affirmative action ruling,” EPP founder William A. Jacobson said. “A goal of ‘diversity’ no longer can be used as an excuse to discriminate.”

As did The Daily Caller:

“The harm from racial educational barriers is that it racializes not just the specific program, but the entire campus,” William A. Jacobson, Cornell Law School professor and founder of EqualProtect.org, said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Sending a message to students that access to opportunities is dependent on race is damaging to the fabric of campus. Universities need to adopt the approach of EqualProtect.org, which is that there is no ‘good’ form of racism, and the remedy for racism is not more racism.” …

Inside Higher Ed and The Bowling Green Daily News also covered the story.

We received a Letter (full embed below) from OCR today informing us that OCR was opening a formal investigation into the Athletics Minority Fellowship but not the Distinguished Minority Fellowship because that latter fellowship already was under investigation. From the Letter:

On September 16, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education (Department), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) received the complaint you filed against Western Kentucky University (the University). You allege that the University discriminates on the bases of race and national origin by:

1. Operating the Athletics Minority Fellowship (the Fellowship); and
2. Operating the Distinguished Minority Fellow Program (the Program).

Allegation 1

OCR is opening allegation 1 for investigation. Please note that opening the allegation for investigation in no way implies OCR has made a determination on the merits of the allegation. During the investigation, OCR is a neutral fact-finder, collecting and analyzing relevant evidence from the Complainant, the University, and other sources, as appropriate. OCR will ensure its investigation is legally sufficient and fully responds to the allegation in accordance with the provisions of the Case Processing Manual (http://www.ed.gov/ocr/docs/ocrcpm.pdf) (CPM)….

Allegation 2

After carefully reviewing the information you provided, OCR has determined that we will not investigate allegation 2.

CPM Section 110(j) states that OCR will dismiss an allegation if OCR is currently addressing the same allegation involving the same recipient in an OCR complaint.

OCR is currently addressing the same allegation against the University in OCR Complaint Number 03222168. Therefore, OCR is dismissing allegation 2 pursuant to CPM Section 110(j), effective the date of this letter….

This is an important first step in the process. We have heard that the fellowship may have been discontinued after our Complaint, but that doesn’t matter because the discriminatory bell cannot be unrung. WKU needs to come up with a remedial plan to compensate students shut out of this scholarship on the basis of race or ethnicity. That victimized population is substantial, and it is not enough to say it won’t happen again.

We are continuing to act on tips and to seek out opportunities to challenge discrimination done in the name of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. But we need your help. We are a small organization going up against powerful and wealthy government and private institutions devoted to DEI discrimination. Donations are greatly needed and appreciated.

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