Race-Based Scholarships at Radford University Challenged By Equal Protection Project

“You cannot have scholarships that discriminate on the basis of race. It’s really that simple.”

Posted by William A. Jacobson Monday, November 17, 2025 at 09:56pm 1 Comment

The Equal Protection Project has challenged over 120 institutions regarding over 550 discriminatory programs and scholarships.

Our latest filing was on November 17, 2025, against Radford University in Virginia regarding two (2) race-based scholarships.

From the Civil Rights Complaint:

We bring this civil rights complaint against Radford University (Radford), for offering, administering, and promoting two (2) scholarships that discriminate on the basis of race, color, and/or national origin in violation of Title VI….

The scholarships listed below are currently offered to Radford students and applicants for admission, according to the Radford website, and violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”) and its implementing regulations4 by discriminating against students based on their race and skin color. Because Radford is a public university, these discriminatory scholarships also violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

SCHOLARSHIPS THAT VIOLATE TITLE VI (2)
1. Clementine Hansley-Hurt Memorial Scholarship
Link: https://radford.academicworks.com/opportunities/15052
Archived Link: https://archive.is/wip/nzWyp
Discriminatory Requirement: “Clementine Hansley-Hurt was a professor in Radford’s Psychology Department and president of the local chapter of NAACP. After her death in 1992, friends and co-workers established this scholarship to help minority5 Psychology majors.: [image omitted]

2. RUC-George Solonevich Scholarship
Link: https://radford.academicworks.com/opportunities/15012
Archived Link: https://archive.is/wip/pzyWB
Discriminatory Requirement: “Preference given to minority students”

Local News 10 covered the story and interviewed me by cell phone video:

A legal advocacy organization has filed a federal civil rights complaint against Radford University, alleging the institution illegally used race as a factor in awarding certain scholarships.

The Equal Protection Project (EPP), which regularly challenges race-based policies nationwide, claims two specific Radford scholarships violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating based on race.

The organization has filed complaints against more than 120 universities regarding over 550 scholarships and programs that explicitly restrict participation based on race, national origin, color, or sex.

“We are challenging two scholarships at Radford that, by their terms, are restricted or favored minorities,” said William Jacobson, founder and president of the Equal Protection Project. “You cannot have an institution that’s a public institution and then also receive federal funding. You cannot have scholarships that discriminate on the basis of race. It’s really that simple.”

The Equal Protection Project is a facet of the Legal Insurrection Foundation (LIF), a conservative media group. LIF also oversees CriticalRace.org, a database tracking critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in education. Jacobson, who founded these organizations, says they emerged from research documenting what he calls “the racialization of education.”

“We believe we are improving the system by focusing on students as individuals rather than as proxies for identity groups,” Jacobson said. “The law is not permitted to engage in what amounts to racial stereotyping, assuming because of somebody’s skin tone they have been disadvantaged or discriminated against.” ….

Jacobson noted that Radford already has internal non-discrimination policies.

“We’re actually not asking Radford to do anything other than what it has promised to do,” he said. “We’re asking them to live up to their own set of rules.”

The organization argues that any use of race-based criteria at a public, federally funded university violates federal civil rights law and the Fourteenth Amendment.

Radford University acknowledged the complaint in a statement: “We take seriously the complaint alleging that two scholarships discriminate against students based on their race, skin color or national origin and are reviewing the issue.”