Equal Protection Project Notches 21st ‘Win’ As Western Kentucky U Eliminates Discriminatory Fellowship

Equal Protection Project Notches 21st ‘Win’ As Western Kentucky U Eliminates Discriminatory Fellowship

The Equal Protection Project (EqualProtect.org), launched in February 2023, challenges discriminatory programs and scholarships, mostly in higher education.

We just released our November 30, 2024, Impact Summaries (embedded at bottom of this post), showing 47 Civil Rights Complaints filed with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Education and four other challenges, resulting in 20 ‘wins’ (discriminatory practice ended) and five other ‘impacts’ (conduct changed but not yet ended).

We just notched ‘win’ number 21.

You may recall that in September 2023, we announced that Western Kentucky U Race-Based Scholarships Challenged by Equal Protection Project, regarding two scholarships only open to non-white students. The case generated substantial national and local coverage, that you can read at the link.

In late April 2024, we announced that the U.S. Education Dept. Opens Investigation Into Western Kentucky U Race-Based Scholarship Challenged by Equal Protection Project. OCR opened an investigation into the Athletics Minority Fellowship (AMF), but not the other scholarship challenged (Distinguished Minority Fellow Program) because that latter program was the subject of a prior open complaint, and under OCR procedure the first-filed case takes priority.

We had heard that WKU had terminated the discriminatory AMF, and today we received confirmation in a letter from OCR stating that WKU had resolved the problem, so OCR was dismissing the case:

OCR will dismiss an allegation pursuant to Section 110(d) of OCR’s Case Processing Manual (CPM) (July 18, 2022) when OCR obtains credible information indicating that the allegation has been resolved.

At the time this complaint was filed, the University listed the Fellowship on its website with a description that indicated a preference for applicants based on race and national origin. On April 30, 2024, the University informed OCR that it has discontinued the Fellowship and removed any reference to this Fellowship throughout its website. OCR reviewed the University’s website and confirmed that there are no references to the Fellowship. Based on this information, OCR has determined that the allegation is resolved, and we are dismissing it consistent with Section 110(d) of the CPM.

This is what a ‘win’ looks like at OCR – the discrimination ends. It often takes a long time, almost 15 months after we first filed. There’s also a lag between when the program is modified or halted and we find out. So we may already have many more ‘wins’ that we don’t yet know about.

We would have been just as happy if WKU kept the fellowship but opened it up to everyone, but WKU chose otherwise.

So this is ‘win’ number 21 for us, received after our November 30 update. We’ll have to add that to our year-end update.

As you consider year-end charitable donations, please remember 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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