Discriminatory Scholarship at Drake University Challenged by Equal Protection Project

Discriminatory Scholarship at Drake University Challenged by Equal Protection Project

So far in 2025, our Equal Protection Project (EqualProtect.org) has filed 16 cases with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Education, including a case filed on April 22, 2025, against the Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Since its launch in February 2023, EPP has filed complaints against almost 100 colleges and universities, challenging over 300 discriminatory programs and scholarships. This year is turning out to be even better than our incredible 2024 year (see LIF’s 2024 Annual Report).

From the Civil Rights Complaint against Drake:

We bring this civil rights complaint against Drake University (“Drake”), a private university, for discrimination in a school-administered program, the Crew Scholars Program (“Crew Program”) open only to “students of color” in violation of Title VI.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion At Drake

Drake has a longstanding commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion (“DEI”) on campus.2 Today that “…commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion acknowledges the role Drake University can play in redressing historic injustices that result in continued marginalization of members of specific groups…3” The university’s DEI department has numerous programs and initiatives.4

Drake remains committed to DEI. The university’s Associate Provost, Campus Equity & Inclusion assured that, “Regardless of what Iowa legislation might pass, this work will continue in some shape or form, even if it has to take on a new name, even if it has to take on an altered appearance. This work is too important to just let it vanish.5”

Crew Scholars Program

One of these DEI programs offered at Drake is the Crew Program, described as “… an academic excellence and leadership development program for incoming students with a passion for diversity.6” Members receive an annual $500 tuition scholarship that is renewable. The Crew Program, however, is not open to white students according to the Drake website: “The Crew Scholars Program at Drake University is open to incoming domestic students of color in any major.7”

We then go on, as we always do, to explain in detail why the classification of “students of color” violates federal and state law, and even Drake’s own nondiscrimination policy, and we ask OCR to open an investigation.

The filing generated substantial media coverage in Iowa and beyond.

The Des Moines Register, syndicated on Yahoo News, covered the story:

A group that opposes race-based education policies is targeting Des Moines’ Drake University with a federal civil rights complaint, alleging White students are unlawfully barred from its Crew Scholars Program for students of color.

The Equal Protection Project, a conservative nonprofit headed by Cornell University clinical law professor William Jacobson, has filed similar actions against colleges and universities across the country, including the University of Northern Iowa….

[I]in an interview following the filing of the civil rights complaint, Jacobson contended that a lack of inclusivity is at the root of the problem with the Crew Scholars Program. It would not be discriminatory, he said, “If it was truly open to everyone, and was in fact open to everyone.”

“The mere promotion of it is a violation of the law akin to hanging a sign on your store door saying ‘No Blacks allowed,’ ‘No Whites allowed’ ‘No Hispanics allowed,’” he said. “Even if you don’t physically bar them at the door, the hanging of such a sign would be a violation of law.

“If this was a program that merely served people who are interested in diversity, but clearly open to everybody, both in terms of promotion and practice, then it would be OK,” he said….

The complaint against Drake is not a lawsuit, but rather is an administrative proceeding within the Department of Education, Jacobson said.

The next step is for the department to determine if it will investigate Drake, he said.

In most cases, schools simply change their programs or scholarships to bring them into compliance, he said.

“In more than half the cases the schools change the program, change the eligibility,” he said. “It is very likely that the Department of Education will contact Drake. … Drake will make a decision whether it wants to defend this scholarship.”

If Drake indeed changed the wording about the Crew Scholars Program on its website, Jacobson said, “That to me is an admission of culpability. … But there would be no reason for them to almost instantaneously take down that language.”

The goal of the complaint is to get Drake to stop its “discriminatory behavior,” he said.

I was interviewed about the filing by Matt Kittle on NewsTalk 1040 WHO in Des Moines, and local station KCCI8 covered it:

[video link not available]

The Equal Protection Project argues that Drake’s program discriminates against students based on race because it’s open to students of color but not to white students.

Project president William Jacobson says scholarships must be based on factors other than race.

“So if you want somebody who’s good at math, you have a scholarship for people who are good at math,” Jacobson says, “but you can’t say we have a scholarship for black students who are good at math, or only white students who are good at math, or only Hispanic students who are good at math.”

Jacobson says by giving preference to someone of a certain race, a school excludes someone else from a spot. He says there are other ways to diversify student populations that don’t rely on race.

“This is a systemic discrimination that affects all students who do not qualify based on race,” he says.

(added) Iowa News Now also covered the story with an interview of me:

[click image for video]

================

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.