Due to its race-based eligibility requirements, the Diversifying Higher Education Equality in Illinois programme, which only accepts applicants from minority graduate students who want to work in higher education, is in the news.
According to center-right legal experts, the program is in violation of federal law, and participating universities, including the exclusive Northwestern University and University of Chicago, may be liable to lose funding as a result, particularly under the current Trump administration.
The software, which was established in 2004 and provides scholarships to” usually represented majority teams” in higher knowledge, is under the control of the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
According to its site, which notes two hundred universities in Illinois participate, it expressly excludes light applicants, limiting registration to African American, Spanish American, Native American, Eastern American, Alaskan Native, and other Pacific Islander students.
According to some legal experts, the agency’s cultural limits violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which forbids racial bias in organizations receiving federal funding, and are unlawful under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Hans Bader, a Washington, D.C.-based counsel with a focus on First Amendment, democracy, and civil rights issues, claimed that” this race-exclusive system violates the Constitution and Title VI.
According to him,” Such programs violate the Constitution, as is made clear in appeals court decisions like Rabiebna v. Higher Education Appeals Board ( 2025 ), which overturned a racial-ethnic scholarship program in Wisconsin, and Podberesky v. Kirwan ( 1994 ), which overturned a race-exclusive scholarship at the University of Maryland,” he told The College Fix via email.
Bader cited a decision by the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education that unlawfully prohibited two state-administered award plans for white students.
According to Bader,” The OCR expressly rejected the legitimacy of such plans in a solution with the Kentucky Department of Education of September 22, 2017″.
The Supreme Court of the United States ‘ selection in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the 2023 Supreme Court decision outlawing affirmative action in college admittance, he said, strengthens the legal basis for these decisions.
He said,” The logic of that decision clearly applies to scholarship programs, not just admissions.” In Rabiebna v. Higher Education Appeals Board, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals recognized this fact and upheld the ruling.
Gail Heriot, a director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, is a doctor of law at the University of San Diego who agrees with Bader. This isn’t a difficult one, she told the Washington Free Beacon.
She claimed that the system has always been unlawful and illegal.
The College Fix’s request for comment was declined by Northwestern University and the University of Chicago, two of the country’s most prominent Midwest institutions.
Additionally, the Illinois Board of Higher Education refrained from commenting on questions to the governor’s business. J. The plan is funded by B. Pritzker.
Illinois continues to be stubborn despite various states changing their policies in response to legal pressure. Schools are already submitting applications for the 2025-26 academic year, and the application procedure for the DFI fellowship is still going on. March 21 was the date for nominations in the collection process this year.
The Department of Education issued a caution to institutions earlier this year, stating that those organizations that do not uphold civil rights laws could face possible loss of funding. Columbia University has already been sued by the Trump administration, cutting$ 400 million in grants and contracts because of how it handled school prejudice.
Despite mounting constitutional issues, Illinois has continued to offer race-based scholarship programs. The condition is currently in dispute over its Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program, which provides money to minority individuals pursuing teaching certificates.
The University of Chicago was sued next month for its cultural getting policies. The lawsuit challenges UIC’s hiring policies for diversity, equity, and participation, which plaintiffs claim establish cultural preferences in faculty hiring.
Edward Ring, senior colleague at the California Policy Center, claimed that it is costly and unnecessary to pay for the support of so many DEI initiatives in higher education.
We are spending more on administrative positions than we do on educators helpers and academics. According to Ring,” Faculty organisations have worked every perspective… protecting variety or any other… and they were just creating work for more bureaucrats, more than paying university,” they said.
Less: Ed Dept. tries to reduce federal funding for institutions that have La programs
A graduation cap atop money, Zimmytws / Shutterstock .com, IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT
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