School previously opened up discriminatory program following federal investigation
The University of Louisville may once again find itself the target of a federal investigation for violating the civil rights of Americans.
The Equal Protection Project recently filed a federal complaint against the school, alleging it violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race.
Specifically, the complaint by the Legal Insurrection Foundation project identifies six scholarships it says violates the law.
For example, the “A&S McSweeny Fellowships” are only open to “historically underrepresented ethnic/racial groups,” a list that excludes white and Asian applicants.
The complaint also takes aim at the “Dawn Wilson Scholarship for LGBTQ+ Students of Color” and the “Watson Family Endowed Scholarship Fund.” The latter privileges “first- or second-generation college student of African-American heritage.”
Other scholarships give preference to Latino students or “undocumented” applicants.
Legal scholar and civil rights activist William Jacobson provided further comments to The College Fix via a media statement.
“That racially discriminatory scholarships exist at a major public university is disheartening,” Jacobson said. “It is time for higher education everywhere to focus on the inherent worth and dignity of every student rather than categorizing students based on identity groups.”
Jacobson, the founder of the Equal Protection Project, said the school “should know better than to run scholarships that treat students differently based on race, color, or national origin.”
“The Equal Protection Project calls on the senior administration of UofL to make sure nondiscrimination standards are upheld throughout the institution,” Jacobson, a Cornell University law school professor, also said.
He said “there is a culture on many campuses that excuses some forms of racial and ethnic discrimination, and that needs to stop.”
This is not the first time the university has faced complaints for discrimination. In 2022, the school agreed to clarify that the “Yum! Franchise Accelerator Fellowship is open to all eligible students regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age.”
The program previously advertised itself as open to “underrepresented people of color and women,” as The Fix previously reported.
School leadership has previously boasted of plans to hire explicitly on the basis of race, which would disadvantage white applicants.
University of Louisville earmarked $2.4 million to hire “diverse faculty,” as The Fix reported in 2016.
The year prior it came under fire for a physics job posting that explicitly excluded white and Asian applicants.
MORE: ‘Minority Fellowship Program’ at HHS draws scrutiny
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: A screenshot of an ‘LGBTQ+ Students of Color’ scholarship at the University of Louisville; Louisville.edu