University of Illinois hit with 42 civil rights complaints over alleged race and sex discrimination

EXCLUSIVE — The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the flagship school of the state’s university system, has been hit with civil rights complaints spanning 42 scholarships that are only available to preferred races and sexes.

The complaint, obtained by the Washington Examiner and sent to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, was made Monday by the Legal Insurrection Foundation’s Equal Protection Project. It alleged that 19 scholarships violate Title IX due to gender-based discrimination, as well as 19 Title VI violations for race-based discrimination, and it cited four scholarships it said violate both civil rights statutes.

“UIUC has achieved diversity but in the worst way. The array of discriminatory scholarships collectively discriminates against almost everyone. Discrimination does not become lawful just because there is a diverse group of victims,” William A. Jacobson, founder of the Equal Protection Project, told the Washington Examiner. “The harm from discriminatory educational barriers is that it racializes not just the specific program, but the entire campus. Sending a message to students that access to opportunities is dependent on race or sex is damaging to the fabric of campus.”  

Alleging a “systemic non-compliance with federal civil rights law,” the complaint pointed to multiple instances in which scholarships are reserved for specific racial groups or genders, barring students who do not meet those demographic standards from benefiting from the scholarship.

The complaint comes after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned race-based admissions practices using affirmative action last year and as diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology comes under growing scrutiny from critics for being inherently discriminatory. It also comes on the same day the Democratic National Convention begins in Chicago, Illinois, which critics accused of having racially segregated meetings as well.

Some of the University of Illinois scholarships awarded to racial groups are somewhat vague in their wording, using phrases such as “underrepresented,” “minority,” and “diverse,” but in every instance, they exclude at least white students unless a specific national origin preference is stated. For example, two scholarships state a preference for a Czech student, and another prefers a student of Lithuanian descent, which the complaint still maintains is discriminatory.

The Wanda Taeschner Babcock scholarship, for example, states a preference for “underrepresented populations pursuing a career in education to promote cultural diversity.” According to the UIUC website, “Underrepresented includes Black, Hispanic, and American Indian, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, and multi-racial students.”

The Doris I. and James L. Willmer Endowed Scholarship has stratified preferences, stating, “Preference first to first-generation female, then to female students, and finally to minority students,” covering both Title IX and Title VI violations, according to the complaint. Similarly, the Myron and Jewel Ash Scholarship has a “preference to provide support for an African American man pursuing a career in elementary and middle school planning a teaching career in an inner city school at the kindergarten through eighth grade level.”

“It doesn’t matter what the source of funds are for the scholarships or if the discrimination is at the request of donors,” Jacobson said. “UIUC needs to come up with a remedial plan to compensate students shut out of these scholarships due to discrimination.”

Many of the scholarships are explicit in their allegedly gender-discriminatory language. For example. the A. E. Florio Award, which will give one recipient $1,500 to pursue undergraduate community health, states that “preference is given to women.” The Henry Clarence Fredrickson Memorial Scholarship is awarded to a student with a farm background studying agriculture but states that “first preference is given to female student.”

The Nadia S. Chowdhury Memorial Scholarship Fund states a preference for both a female student and one with a “multicultural heritage.”

“Here, the sex-based eligibility criterion is, by its terms, applied mechanically, and without any statistical justification warranted by any alleged past discrimination by UIUC,” the complaint stated.

The complaint pointed to eight scholarships that state a preference for female students, but another eight that are explicit about excluding men from being awarded the scholarships. There is also one scholarship, the John Kreitzer Jr. Scholarship, which states a preference for a male student, and another, the Calvin B. Niccolls Scholarship, which requires a male student.

UIUC did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner. The Department of Education declined to comment, citing its policy of not confirming complaints.