A conservative legal advocacy group has filed a complaint against Indiana University with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for maintaining at least 19 race-based scholarships across the Kelley School of Business , the IU Indianapolis McKinney School of Law and the IU Indianapolis campus.
The group, Equal Protection Project , has filed complaints against race-based scholarships and programs at approximately 30 universities across the U.S., and says in response, universities have voluntarily changed their programming more than half the time.
What is Equal Protection Project's complaint against Indiana University?
The OCR complaint comes from the Equal Protection Project (EPP) , a litigious branch of the conservative nonprofit Legal Insurrection Foundation , which has been a key player in challenging “Critical Race Theory” education in colleges across the country.
The complaint challenges 19 different scholarships at the Kelley School of Business, IU Indianapolis, and McKinney School of Law that either state preference for or require applicants to be “underrepresented minority students.”
Most of these scholarships use “underrepresented minority” language and don’t specify race, but some, like the McBride Family Equity Scholarship at IU Indianapolis , state preference is given to “African American students who are also first-generation college students.”
Race-based or race-conscious programming in higher education has been under renewed scrutiny in the wake of a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that effectively ended race-conscious admission policies for universities, declaring race alone cannot be a factor considered in admissions .
William Jacobson, president of the EPP, said the 19 scholarships at IU are the most the organization has challenged at a single school system.
“This is probably the most pervasive discriminatory scholarship activity we’ve seen anywhere so far,” Jacobson said. “Nineteen, to us, reflects a systemic disregard with not only the U.S. Constitution and the Civil Rights Act, but also Indiana University’s own rules.”
Who filed the scholarship complaint against Indiana University?
The complaint with the OCR was filed by the Equal Protection Project, a branch of the conservative not-for-profit Legal Insurrection Foundation (LIF).
The LIF, headed by conservative Cornell Law professor and blogger William Jacobson , challenges “Critical Race Theory” education and race-based or race-conscious programs and scholarships across the country. The website states the group combats, “Marxist, race-based narratives that victimize and divide.”
Since launching in 2023, the EPP has filed approximately 30 complaints against public and private colleges across the country, including IU, the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin, Kansas State University, and the New York University Medical School.
Of those, Jacobson said 16 or 17 universities have voluntarily changed the language related to programs and scholarships.
“At least half of the schools have changed their discriminatory practices in response to our complaints,” Jacobson said.
Is race-conscious programming allowed at Indiana University?
The EPP argues race-conscious scholarships and programming at public universities violates both the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in educational programs that receive federal funding, which all public, and many private universities, do.
While race-conscious practices have effectively been struck down in university admissions, the Supreme Court wrote in its 2023 majority opinion it was not “prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.”
While some IU scholarships specifically identify racial preferences, others have language referencing “underrepresented populations,” including “financially challenged students and/or students with diverse cultural experiences.”
The EPP says the voluntary changes universities have made in response to complaints with the OCR show a preference for opting out of the contested programs over entering into fact-finding stages and potential litigation.
What is the current status of the complaint against Indiana University?
The EPP’s complaint against IU was filed with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), not a court, so proceedings between IU, the EPP and OCR are not trackable on a public database.
Per the OCR’s page on its complaint process , if the OCR decides to investigate the complaint, it will issue letters of notification to IU and the EPP and “collect and analyze relevant evidence from the complainant, the recipient, and other sources.” If the OCR finds merit to the EPP’s complaint, it will contact IU and “attempt to secure [IU’s] willingness to negotiate a voluntary resolution agreement.”
If IU were to decline, the OCR could “suspend, terminate, or refuse to grant or continue Federal financial assistance to the recipient, or may refer the case to the Department of Justice.”
Reach Brian Rosenzweig at brian@heraldt.com . Follow him on Twitter/X at @brianwritesnews .
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Complaint filed against Indiana University for "pervasive" race-based scholarships
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