While past scholarships are only available to African Americans, students from the “minority” have a preference for these scholarships.
Middle Tennessee State University is facing a federal lawsuit alleging that it offers 17 fellowships that “discriminate based on race, color, and/or regional origin.”
The Whitney Stegall fellowship, which states,” Preference may be given to students who are African-American or Native-American,” is one example cited in the problem.
No matter which race or ethnicity is targeted or advantages, “racial and racial discrimination are bad and unlawful,” according to William Jacobson, chairman of the Equal Protection Project, in an interview with The College Fix.
The Cornell University law professor stated in a new interview that “every applicant is entitled to equal treatment regardless of race, color, or regional origin.”
The Legal Insurrection Foundation-affiliated Equal Protection Project filed the complaint earlier this month. The EPP’s goal is to promote” reasonable care of all people, without regard for race or ethnicity.”
The University Media Relations Office declined to comment when The Fix reached out about the objection.
The company responded in an email by saying that the University had not received a copy of any of these complaints from the business or a notification of any formal inquiries into the subject. That is the University’s current scope of the post.
Any “program or action” that receives federal funding is prohibited from discriminating on the grounds of race, color, or national nature under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Because it receives federal funding, the common school is content to Title VI.
The Al Wilkerson Endowed Scholarship, which states that” Preference shall be given to African American students,” as well as the Cornelia Freeman Cooper Endowed Scholarship and Dr. Robert E. Eaker Scholarship, which give” first preference” to “underrepresented minorities,” are some examples taken from the university’s website.
The recipient of the Karla Winfrey Broadcast Journalism Scholarship must be an African-American, according to the award.
Other scholarships, such as those for “minority” students, include “textiles, branding, and style” and “textiles, merchandising, and design.”
Less: Employing more “faculty, staff of color” is one of U. Rhode Island’s priorities.
Middle Tennessee State is accused of even violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in the grievance against the university.
EPP makes reference to the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard situation, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that” [e]liminating cultural bias means eliminating all of it…. The promise of equal security cannot be used to refer to one individual as a whole and another to a man of another color. It is not equal if both are certainly protected the same way.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, whose sole function is to maintain national civil rights laws, received the problem. The Fix sent two e-mail to The Fix asking if they were looking into the issue within the last two weeks.
EPP requests in the complaint that the company launch a proper analysis and implement “remedial relief” for students who have been “illegally excluded from MTSU’s several scholarships based on unfair criteria.”
According to Jacobson,” [ [[the ] February 14, 2025, Civil Rights Guidance issued by OCR reiterates and makes absolutely clear what has always been the law, that discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is, has been, and will continue to be illegal.”
He even requested that the college take immediate action.
The Equal Protection Project calls on MTSU’s top management to ensure that all institution-wide equality standards are upheld, according to Jacobson. “MTSU may know better than to award scholarships to students who are excluded based on race, color, or regional origin.”
Not a special situation, the public school is being sued. Nearly 100 lawsuits have been filed against more than 300 programs and scholarships that are biased by the Equal Protection Project.
These include a similar complaint filed against the University of Rhode Island late last year, alleging that 51 of its fellowships unlawfully discriminate against people of color based on the grounds of sex and culture, The Fix reported at the time.
However, there is a culture on several campuses that makes up for some types of racial discrimination, which needs to end, Jacobson said.
MORE: Professionals ‘” of shade” program revised following a civil rights issue against UMich.
Less: An Asian American team alleges Yale still practices discrimination based on race
A list of fellowships is referenced in a civil rights lawsuit against Middle Tennessee State University, Middle Tennessee State University/Facebook, and Equal Protection Project.
Follow The College Fix on Twitter and Like us on Twitter.
