Our Equal Protection Project has challenged over 265 colleges and universities covering over 730 discriminatory programs and scholarships.
Our latest filing — and first in 2026 – at the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) was on January 6, 2026, against the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT), for offering, administering, and promoting four (4) scholarships that discriminate on the basis of race, color, and/or national origin in violation of Title VI.
From the Civil Rights Complaint (images omitted):
The scholarships listed below are currently offered to UT students and applicants for admission, according to the UT 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 UT 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 (4)1. UT Battelle Minority Scholarship:Link: https://utk.scholarships.ngwebsolutions.com/Scholarships/SearchArchived Link: http://archive.today/WMjKGDiscriminatory Requirement: “Engineering scholarship committee selects African American students in the College of Engineering who have demonstrated academic success.”2. Messer Construction DESP Scholarship:Link: https://utk.scholarships.ngwebsolutions.com/Scholarships/SearchArchived Link: http://archive.today/WMjKGDiscriminatory Requirement: “Engineering scholarship committee selects African American students with academic merit.”3. Fred D. Brown, Jr. Memorial Engineering Scholarship/ Fellowship EndowmentLink: https://utk.scholarships.ngwebsolutions.com/Scholarships/SearchArchived Link: http://archive.today/WMjKGDiscriminatory Requirement: “Engineering scholarship committee selects minority students in the College of Engineering.”54. Charles Lattimore ScholarshipLink: https://cehhs.utk.edu/gse/funding-options/#:~:text=Charles%20Lattimore%E2%80%93%20This%20award%20provides,eligible%20to%20receive%20this%20awardArchived Link: http://archive.today/WMjKGDiscriminatory Requirement: “This award provides financial assistance to African American students interested in pursuing a career in education.”
As we do in all cases, we then extensively provide the law as to why such race-restricted scholarships are unlawful:
The scholarships identified above violate both Title VI and the Fourteenth Amendment, by discriminating on the basis of race, skin color, or national origin.6Title VI prohibits intentional discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any “program or activity” that receives federal financial assistance….Regardless of UT’s reasons for offering, promoting, and administering such discriminatory scholarships, they are violating Title VI by doing so. It does not matter if the recipient of federal funding discriminates in order to advance a benign “intention” or “motivation.”As UT is a public university, its offering, promoting, and administering these discriminatory scholarships also violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In Students for Fair Admissions, the Supreme Court declared that “[e]liminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it …. The guarantee of equal protection cannot mean one thing when applied to one individual and something else when applied to a person of another color. If both are not accorded the same protection, then it is not equal.” Id. at 206 (cleaned up). “Distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry [including race] are by their very nature odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality.” Id. at 208. Consequently, “[a]ny exception to the Constitution’s demand for equal protection must survive a daunting two-step examination known … as strict scrutiny.” Id. at 208 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The scholarships at issue here cannot withstand that exacting standard.
We requested the OCR open an investigation.
Such race-based scholarships not only violate federal law, they also violate state law and UT’s own nondiscrimination rules, as well as recent Tennessee legislation banning DEI practices. In May 2025, Gov. Bill Lee signed into law the “Dismantling DEI Departments Act,” which applies to public colleges and universities across the state and prohibits certain DEI mandates, programs, and activities, according to reports.
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.
===============
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY