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 800 discriminatory programs and scholarships at more than 275 colleges and universities. This is done to ensure that every student has the opportunity to compete on equal terms.
Our most recent filing on April 14, was a Civil Rights Complaint against Lewis & Clark College (“L&C”):
We bring this civil rights complaint against Lewis & Clark College (L&C”), a private college, for discrimination regarding one program and four (4) scholarships in which eligibility is awarded based upon the race, color, or national origin of the recipient and violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.L&C offers a variety of scholarships for students, including merit-based awards, need based aid, and donor-funded scholarships.2 Many of these awards are automatically considered at the time of admission, and amounts can vary significantly, with some renewable each year based upon academic progress.
We then go on to list the scholarships at issue and why we believe they violate the Civil Rights Act:
The program and scholarships listed below are currently active according to the L&C website, and violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”) and its implementingregulations by excluding students based on their race, color, or national origin:1. Academic Enhancement ProgramLink: https://law.lclark.edu/diversity/resources/Archived Link: https://archive.is/wip/TePmvDiscriminatory Requirement: “While all admitted students are invited to participate,space is limited and thus, priority is given to ethnic minorities, international students, non-traditional students, and those with socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.2. Goldie Chan Lam ScholarshipLink: https://www.lclark.edu/live/profiles/23070-goldie-chan-lam-scholarship?Archived Link: https://archive.is/wip/6VUi9Discriminatory Requirement: “This scholarship is awarded to students of Chineseancestry who demonstrate financial need.”3. Esther and Edward Lee ScholarshipLink: https://www.lclark.edu/live/profiles/23068-esther-and-edward-lee-scholarship?Archived Link: https://archive.is/wip/yM2xwDiscriminatory Requirement: “This scholarship is awarded to female students from Asiawho are majoring in math, science or computer science, with preference given tostudents of Chinese ancestry.”4. Greg Caldwell Scholarship for International StudentsLink: https://www.lclark.edu/live/profiles/23067-greg-caldwell-scholarship-forinternationalArchived Link: https://archive.is/wip/4xvFyDiscriminatory Requirement: “The Greg Caldwell Scholarship is an endowed fund thatannually provides tuition support for an international student who holds a nonimmigrant visa and is enrolled in Lewis & Clark’s undergraduate program. There is noapplication for the scholarship.”5. William Randolph Hearst ScholarshipLink: https://graduate.lclark.edu/giving/scholarship_support/william-randolph-hearstscholarship/Archived Link: https://archive.is/wip/9AzsiDiscriminatory Requirement: “It is awarded to a continuing student in the counseling psychology degree program who is a member of a currently or historically underrepresented racial or ethnic group, or individuals who have demonstrated a significant commitment to serving racially or ethnically diverse populations.”
As we always do, we then spend several pages explaining why a racially exclusionary scholarship violated not only federal and state law, but also the college’s own non-discrimination rules. We then request that a formal investigation be opened.
Portland, Oregon TV station KOIN6 covered the filing.
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 complaints against DEI discrimination.
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