The Equal Protection Project (EqualProtect.org) has filed over 60 Civil Rights Complaints covering hundreds of university scholarships and programs. The enormous impact our efforts have had contributed — we believe — to changing the culture surrounding DEI discrimination enabling the political change we are now seeing.
In a filing on March 12, 2025, we challenged sixty-five (65) discriminatory scholarships at Calvin University in Michigan. This is the largest number of disciminatory scholarships we have found at any single institution. There were so many scholarships at issue we had to list them in separate Exhibits rather than in the body of the complaint.
From the Civil Rights Complaint:
We bring this civil rights complaint against Calvin University (“Calvin”), a private university, for discrimination in sixty-five (65) scholarships based on race, color, national origin, and/or sex in violation of Title VI and Title IX, respectively. We request expedited investigation and action on this case in light of the enormous number of discriminatory scholarships, by far the most we have ever seen at any one institution, and the ongoing award process.The scholarships listed in Exhibit A (35) violate Title VI by conditioning eligibility on race, color, or national origin. For example, the “Dale and Ila Wiersma Scholarship” requires recipients to be a “North American ethnic minority student.” Others give preference based on these factors, such as the “Arnold and Janice Bok Family Scholarship”, which states that “first preference will be given to a Hispanic student from North, Central, or South America.”Further, the scholarships in Exhibit B (3) violate both Title VI and Title IX by giving preference based on race, color, national origin, and sex. For instance, the “A.M.D.G. Scholarship” establishes a preference hierarchy, favoring “ethnic minority or international students” first, followed by “women,” “non-Christian Reformed Church Members,”2 and then those with “financial need,” all listed “…in the order of preference.”Finally, the scholarships in Exhibit C (27) are sex-based scholarships that violate Title IX. Some explicitly condition eligibility on sex, such as the “Celebrate and Connect Women’s Scholarship”, which is available only to “female” students. Others give preference based on sex, such as the “Carol L. Faber Math Scholarship”, which states that “first preference is for a female student.”
We then went on to explain in great detail, as we always do, why the scholarships violate the law.
Fox News covered the fiilng:
A complaint filed by a civil rights organization on Wednesday claims that Calvin University, a Christian liberal arts university in Michigan, is discriminating on the basis of sex and race.”The large number (65) of discriminatory scholarships at Calvin is shocking,” Cornell professor William Jacobson and founder of the Equal Protection Project, told Fox News Digital in a statement.”At EqualProtect.org we have challenged discriminatory programs and scholarships at over 60 colleges and universities, but never have we seen such a large number at any single institution.” ….Jacobson told Fox News Digital that he hopes Education Secretary Linda McMahon will focus on restoring civil rights.”While the Department of Education is undergoing a restructuring, enforcement of the civil rights laws to eliminate DEI discrimination remains a stated priority of the new Trump administration,” Jacobson said. “We hope that Secretary McMahon will maintain this focus on civil rights enforcement in order to advance the administration’s overall civil rights agenda. To scale back enforcement would be self-defeating and would undermine efforts to eliminate discrimination done in the name of DEI in higher education.”
Local ABC13 also covered it:
Reminder: 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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