The Equal Protection Project filed a complaint against Indiana University with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights July 15, citing 19 race-based scholarships and claiming the university violated Title VI and the 14th Amendment, according to EPP’s website.
The group is a part of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, a conservative non-profit based in Rhode Island focused on free speech and expression. EPP launched in February 2023 and, according to its website, “is focused on combating racism and other equal protection violations perpetrated in the name of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the equity agenda.”
“The number of discriminatory scholarships we are challenging and the number of IU institutions at which they are offered reflects a pervasive and systemic failure to comply with constitutional and statutory requirements at IU, warranting expedited investigation by OCR,” the complaint read.
The complaint targeted seven scholarships at the Kelley School of Business and twelve at IU-Indianapolis, including five at the campus’ McKinney School of Law.
Scholarships at the Kelley School of Business include the following:
- Rao and Anita Uppaluri Underrepresented Minority Scholarship
- Uppaluri In State Underrepresented Minority Scholarship
- Steven Bretthauser Business Diversity Scholarship
- Richard McVey Kelley Diversity Scholarship
- Daniel and Maureen Aron Diversity Finance Scholarship
- Dworkin International Scholarship
- Howard Jones Scholarship
Scholarships at IU-Indianapolis include the following:
- Herron School of Art and Design Alpha Blackburn Scholarship for the Arts
- Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Hearst Minority Fellowship
- School of Science Biology Tah-Tah Self Achievement Award
- School of Science McBride Family Equity Scholarship
- School of Liberal Arts Matthew Crenshaw Africana Studies Scholarship
- School of Liberal Arts Turner-Wright Scholarship in Africana Studies
- CVR’s Barrier-Busting Scholarship
Scholarships at the McKinney School of Law include the following:
- Murieta S. Covington Memorial Scholarship
- McKinney School of Law Diversity Scholarship
- Lefstein Legacy Scholarship
- Ronald W. Polston Scholarship
- Douglas L. Tillman Legal Scholarship
10 of the 19 scholarships do not specify race and are instead intended for “underrepresented minority” students. Nine scholarships, however, specify a preference for African American students or students of color.
“IU violates Title VI by conditioning eligibility for or providing preferential treatment for the foregoing scholarships at KSB, IUI and MSL based on a student’s race or national origin,” the complaint read. “And because IU is a public institution, its offering and administering of the scholarships listed here also violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
According to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 14th Amendment, no one can be excluded or discriminated against based on race, color or national origin under a program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
The complaint follows a 2023 Supreme Court ruling which rejected race-conscious admission policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. The ruling prohibited affirmative action policies used to increase the number of minority students.
EPP has filed over 30 complaints against public and private colleges and universities around the United States, most recently against Rochester Institute of Technology, Ithaca College and IU-Columbus.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights will decide whether or not to investigate the complaint. More information on the complaint process can be found on the office’s website.
IU does not comment on individual complaints, IU Executive Director for Media Relations Mark Bode wrote in an email.
The university is also facing lawsuits from Speech First, a nationwide free speech organization, about IU’s bias incident reporting system and from the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana about three individuals’ arrests and campus bans at the pro-Palestinian encampment in Dunn Meadow.
