Six Discriminatory Scholarships at Viterbo University Challenged By Equal Protection Project

Six Discriminatory Scholarships at Viterbo University Challenged By Equal Protection Project

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 21, 2026, was a Civil Rights Complaint against Viterbo University (“Viterbo”):

We bring this civil rights complaint against Viterbo University (hereinafter “Viterbo”). a private university, for discrimination regarding six (6) scholarships, for which eligibility is awarded based upon the race, color, or national origin, or the sex of the recipient, in violation, respectively, of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

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 active according to the Viterbo website, and violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”) and its implementing regulations by discriminating against students based on their race, color, or national origin:

SCHOLARSHIPS THAT VIOLATE TITLE VI (3)

1. Professional Diversity Scholarship
Link: https://www.viterbo.edu/node/192791
Archived Link: https://archive.ph/9nVzZ
Discriminatory Requirement: “Must come from a diverse racial or ethnic background”

2. FSPA Diversity Scholarship for Helping Professions
Link: https://www.viterbo.edu/node/192601#:~:text=
Archived Link: https://archive.ph/FPsn4
Discriminatory Requirement: “Must be an ethnic minority”

3. Sister Thea Bowman Minority Scholarship
Link:
https://www.viterbo.edu/transferaid#:~:text=,utilizing%20any%20institutional%2C%2
0federal%2C%20or
Archived Link: https://archive.ph/jJypG
Discriminatory Requirement: “must be African American”

SCHOLARSHIPS THAT VIOLATE TITLE IX (3)

4. The Excel Energy Scholarship for Women in Science
Link:https://www.viterbo.edu/node/192926#:~:text=Must%20identify%20as%20female
%3B%20Must,the%20Xcel%20Energy%20service%20area
Archived Link: https://archive.ph/U5l4P
Discriminatory Requirement: “Must identify as a female”

5. The Sister Elissa Kamaka Endowed Scholarship for Women
Link:https://www.viterbo.edu/node/192976#:~:text=Must%20identify%20as%20femal
e%20Must,one%20semester%20at%20Viterbo%20University
Archived Link: https://archive.ph/3oSHh
Discriminatory Requirement: “must identify as a woman”

6. The Suzanne “Susan” M. Weiss Memorial Scholarship
Link:https://www.viterbo.edu/node/193771#:~:text=Must%20have%20demonstrated%20
financial%20need%3B,Must%20identify%20as%20female
Archived Link: https://archive.ph/Q78G7
Discriminatory Requirement: “Must identify as female”

As we always do, we then spend several pages explaining why the exclusionary 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.

La Crosse, Wisconsin TV station WXOM 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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