Ten Discriminatory Scholarships at University of Central Arkansas Challenged by Equal Protection Project
“We want students to have access to the funding, but every student should have fair and equal opportunity for scholarships without regard to race, color, national origin, or sex.”
The Equal Protection Project (EqualProtect.org) is a project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation devoted to fighting unlawful discrimination in all forms. While most of our cases have involved race, color, and national origin discrimination, we will challenge all forms of unlawful discrimination, including sex discrimination.
Since its launch, EPP has challenged over 550 discriminatory programs and scholarships at more than 120 colleges and universities. This is done to ensure that every student has the opportunity to compete on equal terms.
On October 28, 2025, we filed a Civil Right Complaint against the University of Central Arkansas (“UCA”):
We bring this civil rights complaint against the University of Central Arkansas (“UCA”) for offering, administering, and promoting ten (10) scholarships that discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, and/or sex in violation of Title VI and Title IX, respectively.
UCA automatically awards certain scholarships to students based on their initial application for admission. Additional scholarships are available through the UCA Foundation3, which requires students to log in using their campus credentials. Once logged in, students must complete a general application and, when applicable, may apply for specific scholarship opportunities.
We then go on to list the scholarships at issue and why we believe they violate the Civil Rights Act:
The scholarships listed below are currently offered to UCA students and applicants for admission, according to the UCA 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, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”) and its implementing regulations by discriminating against students based on their sex, or both. Because UCA 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 (5)
1. Donis W. Ford Memorial Book Award
Link: https://uca.academicworks.com/opportunities/4884;
https://uca.edu/foundation/private-scholarships/#:~:text=KENNETH%20W,ENDOWMENT
Archived Link: archive.is/wip/tQv1e;
https://web.archive.org/web/20251020141328/https://uca.edu/foundation/private-scholarships/
Discriminatory Requirement: “For full-time junior or senior African-American students majoring in English, African-American Studies or Writing with a GPA of 3.0 or above.”2. Dr. Willie Hardin Scholarship
Link: https://uca.academicworks.com/opportunities/5005;
https://uca.edu/foundation/private-scholarships/#:~:text=KENNETH%20W,ENDOWMENT
Archived Link: archive.ph/wip/A5B9T; https://archive.ph/wip/0Y9vq
Discriminatory Requirement: “For full-time students who are Arkansas residents with first preference given to African-American students.”3. Drew Marshall Gainor Scholarship
Link: https://uca.academicworks.com/opportunities/5083;
https://uca.edu/foundation/private-scholarships/#:~:text=KENNETH%20W,ENDOWMENT
Archived Link: https://archive.is/wip/G8YMv; https://archive.ph/wip/0Y9vq
Discriminatory Requirement: “Preference will be given to current Northwestern Mutual interns and to underserved minority students.”4. Holloway/Hicks Scholarship
Link: https://uca.academicworks.com/opportunities/5052;
https://uca.edu/foundation/private-scholarships/#:~:text=KENNETH%20W,ENDOWMENT
Archived Link: archive.ph/wip/oGol6; https://archive.ph/wip/0Y9vq
Discriminatory Requirement: “For full-time students who are Arkansas residents with first preference given to African-American students.”5. Kenneth W. Abrams/Paul W. Kimbrough Endowment
Link: https://uca.academicworks.com/opportunities/5367;
https://uca.edu/foundation/private-scholarships/#:~:text=KENNETH%20W,ENDOWMENT
Archived Link: archive.ph/wip/VozDo;
https://web.archive.org/web/20251020141328/https://uca.edu/foundation/private-scholarships/
Discriminatory Requirement: “For full-time African-American students majoring in political science or business with a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or above. Consideration may be given to financial need.”
SCHOLARSHIPS THAT VIOLATE BOTH TITLE VI AND TITLE IX (2)
1. Faydean Dunevant Scholarship
Link: https://uca.academicworks.com/opportunities/5101;
https://uca.edu/foundation/private-scholarships/#:~:text=KENNETH%20W,ENDOWMENT
Archived Link: archive.ph/wip/28pAe;
https://web.archive.org/web/20251020141328/https://uca.edu/foundation/private-scholarships/
Discriminatory Requirement: “For full-time female African-American students who are residents of Faulkner County (Arkansas) and majoring within the College of Fine Arts and Communication.”2. Gregory E. Hunt Memorial Scholarship
Link: https://uca.academicworks.com/opportunities/4956;
https://uca.edu/foundation/private-scholarships/#:~:text=KENNETH%20W,ENDOWMENT
Archived Link: archive.is/wip/KRfbV;
https://web.archive.org/web/20251020141328/https://uca.edu/foundation/private-scholarships/
Discriminatory Requirement: “Preference given to African-American males from Lonoke (Arkansas).”
SCHOLARSHIPS THAT VIOLATE TITLE IX (3)
1. Jennifer J. Westpfahl Women in Finance Scholarship
Link: https://uca.academicworks.com/opportunities/5268;
https://uca.edu/magazine/alumna-establishes-scholarship-for-women-in-finance/
Archived Link: https://archive.is/wip/ANTTy; https://archive.is/wip/Rut4E
Discriminatory Requirement: “For the first time, a scholarship has been established for women studying finance at the University of Central Arkansas.”2. University Women’s Book Scholarship
Link: https://uca.academicworks.com/opportunities/5116;
https://uca.edu/foundation/private-scholarships/
Archived Link: https://archive.ph/wip/wre6X; https://archive.ph/wip/0Y9vq
Discriminatory Requirement: “For non-traditional female students in a degree program.”3. Miss Eugenia M. Oliver Memorial Scholarship
Link: https://uca.academicworks.com/opportunities/5116;
https://uca.edu/foundation/private-scholarships/
Archived Link: https://archive.ph/wip/b6aCv; https://archive.ph/wip/0Y9vq
Discriminatory Requirement: “For full-time junior or senior female students under the age of 23 with 60 hours or more completed at UCA.”
As we always do, we then spend several pages explaining why a race- and sex- based scholarships violate not only federal and state law, but also the university’s own non-discrimination rules. We then request that a formal investigation be opened.
The complaint was covered by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette:
The Equal Protection Project is accusing the University of Central Arkansas of violating Title VI and Title IX with several scholarships, and is requesting a federal civil rights investigation.
The Equal Protection Project — which was started in 2023 by the Legal Insurrection Foundation, a conservative advocacy organization based in Rhode Island — filed the federal civil rights complaint Tuesday with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights in Washington and the Kansas City Office for Civil Rights.
The complaint states UCA offers, administers and promotes 10 scholarships “that discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, and/or sex” in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972….
“The Equal Protection Project calls on the senior administration of UCA to make sure nondiscrimination standards are upheld throughout the institution,” Jacobson said in a news release Wednesday. “We call on UCA to reexamine the campus culture, including at the faculty and administrative levels, to understand why some forms of discrimination appear to be tolerated.”
“We do not want these scholarships shut down,” he added. “We want students to have access to the funding, but every student should have fair and equal opportunity for scholarships without regard to race, color, national origin, or sex.”
Local ABC7 also covered the story:
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.
Robert Fox is an attorney at the Equal Protection Project, and focuses, among things, on filing civil rights complainst against DEI discrimination.
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