According to a new legal complaint filed with the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education on Monday, March 25, a university scholarship named for George Floyd and offered only to black students is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The scholarship, the George Floyd Memorial Scholarship, is offered by North Central University, a private Christian university in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
As background, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits educational institutions from racial discrimination. Specifically, it states that “No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”
According to the legal challenge of the George Floyd Memorial Scholarship, one filed by Legal Insurrection Foundation’s Equal Protection Project, the scholarship thus runs afoul of Title VI because it is only open to black students. Thus, because it is only open to one race, it is discrimination on the basis of race, something prohibited for organizations that, like the school, receive federal financial assistance.
In the legal challenge, the group wrote, “We write on behalf of the Equal Protection Project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, a non-profit that, among other things, seeks to ensure equal protection under the law and non-discrimination by the government, and that opposes racial discrimination in any form.” Continuing, it argued, “We bring this civil rights complaint against North Central University (“NCU”) for creating, supporting and promoting the George Floyd Memorial Scholarship – an undergraduate scholarship that engages in invidious discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin.”
After showing, through source documents and printed out webpages from the university itself, that the scholarship is only open to black students, the legal challenge then explains succinctly why it is illegal. It provides, “Simply put, ‘Title VI prohibits a recipient of federal funds from intentionally treating any individual worse even in part because of his race, color, or national origin and without regard to any other reason or motive the recipient might assert.’ . . . Thus, regardless of NCU’s reasons for sponsoring and promoting the GFMS, it is violating Title VI by doing so.”
Concluding, the group explained what it wanted from the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, saying, “Accordingly, we respectfully ask the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to impose remedial relief as the law permits for the benefit of those who have been illegally excluded from NCU’s George Floyd Memorial Scholarship based on racially discriminatory criteria, and to ensure that all ongoing and future programming through that university comport with federal civil rights laws.“
Commenting on the scholarship and suit to The College Fix in an emailed statement, Equal Protection founder William Jacobson said, “The George Floyd Scholarship eligibility requirements are openly racially discriminatory.” Continuing, he added, “Regardless of the purpose of the racial discrimination, it is wrong and unlawful.”
Then, explaining what he thinks the university needs to do to rectify the situation and make amends for its violation of Title VI with the allegedly discriminatory scholarship, Jacobson told the College Fix, “NCU needs to come up with a remedial plan to compensate students shut out of the George Floyd Scholarship due to discrimination.”
Featured image credit: By George Floyd – Original publication: FacebookImmediate source: George Floyd's profile on Facebook., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64103075
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