Four Discriminatory Scholarships at Rutgers U. Challenged by Equal Protection Project

“At the Equal Protection Project, we are calling on Rutgers to live up to its own set of rules — that shouldn’t be controversial.”

Posted by William A. Jacobson Monday, August 4, 2025 at 03:00pm 1 Comment

The Equal Protection Project (EqualProtect.org) has challenged over 500 discriminatory programs and scholarships at over 100 colleges and universities.

One of our most recent filings was a Civil Rights Complaint on August 1, 2025, at the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education against Rutgers University in New Jersey, regarding four (4) scholarships that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin.

From the Complaint (images omitted):

We bring this civil rights complaint against Rutgers University (“Rutgers”), a public university, for discrimination in four (4) scholarships based on race, color, or national origin, in violation of Title VI.

Rutgers offers a variety of scholarships.2 In most cases, no separate application is required, as scholarships are typically awarded based on information provided in the student’s initial undergraduate application.

The scholarships listed below are currently offered to Rutgers students and applicants for admission, according to the Rutgers website, and violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”) and its implementing regulations3 by illegally discriminating against students based on their race, color or national origin. Because Rutgers is a public university, these discriminatory scholarships also violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Each of the scholarships listed below is available for the 2025-2026 school year with the application period currently open, according to the Rutgers website.4

SCHOLARSHIPS THAT VIOLATE TITLE VI (4)

1. EEOC/General Motors Endowed Scholarship
Link:
https://studentaffairs.rutgers.edu/resources/scholarships#:~:text=Corporation%E2%80%99s%20educational%20endowment%20and%20grants,and%20students%20of%20underrepresented%20minorities
Archived Link: https://archive.ph/5y3Kq
Discriminatory Requirement: “The provision of the agreement endowed specified colleges and universities with funds to be used to provide scholarships in perpetuity for minority and female employees of General Motors and their eligible spouses and offspring. Under General Motors Corporation’s educational endowment and grants program, scholarship funds are made available annually to meet their designated purpose. Preference will be given to General Motors employees, their spouses and children, and students of underrepresented minorities.”5

5 Rutgers considers “minorities” to be those who “… designate themselves as Black, non-Hispanic; American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, or Hispanic.” See https://oirap.rutgers.edu/CDS/2023/New%20Brunswick%20CDS_2023-2024_final_V1.pdf [https://web.archive.org/web/20250407172210/https://oirap.rutgers.edu/CDS/2023/New%20Brunswick%20CDS_2023-2024_final_V1.pdf] (accessed July 29, 2025)….

2. GEM Fellowship Program
Link: https://gradfund.rutgers.edu/awards/gem-fellowship-program/
Archived Link: https://archive.ph/wip/yLQbP
Discriminatory Requirement: “This fellowship provides both financial support and internship opportunities to highly qualified, underrepresented students6 who wish to pursue graduate study in engineering or science.”

6 Rutgers considers underrepresented students to include only “African American, American Indian, or Latino” students. See https://soe.rutgers.edu/Rutgers_NACME [https://archive.is/wip/LCgRB] (accessed on July 29, 2025).

3. NACME Renewable Scholarships
Link: https://soe.rutgers.edu/Rutgers_NACME
Archived Link: https://archive.is/wip/LCgRB
Discriminatory Requirement: “Identify as under-represented (African American, American Indian, or Latino) and/or first generation.

4. Albert W. Dent Graduate Student Scholarship for minority students
Link: https://gradfund.rutgers.edu/funder/american-college-of-healthcare-executives/
Archived Link: https://archive.is/wip/IS3Sw
Discriminatory Requirement: “Offered annually, the Albert W. Dent Graduate Student Scholarship is designated for minority students enrolled in their final year of a healthcare management graduate program.”

The NY Post covered the case filing:

A legal advocacy group has accused New Jersey’s flagship public university — Rutgers — of discrimination for excluding white students from scholarship programs that recruit African-American, Native American and Hispanic students.

The Equal Protection Project filed a civil rights complaint against Rutgers University with the US Department of Education, claiming the scholarship programs violate federal anti-discrimination laws and are unconstitutional.

“What doesn’t Rutgers understand about non-discrimination? Discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is barred under federal law, state law, and even under Rutgers’ own rules. At the Equal Protection Project, we are calling on Rutgers to live up to its own set of rules — that shouldn’t be controversial,” said William Jacobson, a Cornell University law professor and founder of the Equal Protection Project.

“Where were the administrators and staff whose jobs supposedly are devoted to preventing discrimination? Why was there no intervention to uphold the legally required equal access to education?”

The group’s Aug. 1 complaint filed with the Education Department accuses four different Rutgers programs of discrimination by excluding white students, a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Law of 1964, as well as the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause….

The Equal Protection Project asked in the complaint that “the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights promptly open a formal investigation, impose such remedial relief as the law permits for the benefit of those who have been illegally excluded from Rutgers’ various scholarships based on discriminatory criteria, and ensure that all ongoing and future scholarships and programming at Rutgers comports with the Constitution and federal civil rights laws.”

Per the NY Post, it appears that Rutgers is denying any violation:

Rutgers, in a statement on Sunday, said it will review the complaint but indicated that it has already scrapped two of the programs.

“Rutgers University remains firmly committed to equal protections afforded under law and rejects discrimination in all its forms. The university will closely review the complaint, but based on preliminary information, two of the scholarships are not administered by the university and the remaining two are no longer being awarded,” the university said in a statement.

To the contrary, as of the date of our complaint, all of the challenged scholarships were actively promoted on and active according to the Rutgers website (see screenshots and links in Complaint). It is irrelevant whether Rutgers “administered” the scholarships (though we believe it did) since it promoted them, and the application was made through Rutgers.

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.

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