{"id":2326951,"date":"2024-08-19T15:51:54","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T19:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/university-of-illinois-hit-with-42-civil-rights-complaints-over-alleged-race-and-sex-discrimination-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-08-19T15:57:01","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T19:57:01","slug":"university-of-illinois-hit-with-42-civil-rights-complaints-over-alleged-race-and-sex-discrimination-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/university-of-illinois-hit-with-42-civil-rights-complaints-over-alleged-race-and-sex-discrimination-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Illinois hit with 42 civil rights complaints over alleged race and sex discrimination &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Funiversity-of-illinois-hit-with-42-civil-rights-complaints-over-alleged-race-and-sex-discrimination-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2326951&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign \u2062is\u2062 facing 42 civil rights complaints related to allegations of race and sex discrimination in its scholarship offerings. The\u2063 complaints, filed\u2062 by the Legal Insurrection\u2062 Foundation\u2019s\u200b Equal Protection Project, claim that these scholarships violate Title IX and Title VI\u200b laws \u200bby being exclusively available\u200c to preferred racial and gender groups, effectively discriminating against \u2063other potential recipients. <\/p>\n<p>Among the grievances, it is noted that certain scholarships reserve benefits for specific groups, with\u200b language\u2064 that promotes preferences for\u200b &#8220;underrepresented,&#8221; &#8220;minority,&#8221; and &#8220;diverse&#8221; students, often excluding white students unless\u200b specific exceptions are \u2063made. Examples include scholarships favoring ethnic backgrounds such as Czech or Lithuanian descent.\u200b The complaints argue that such practices create barriers to equitable access to educational opportunities, undermining the diversity efforts celebrated by the university. <\/p>\n<p>The situation is \u200bfurther emphasized in light of recent Supreme Court\u2062 decisions against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-justice-department-drops-discrimination-lawsuit-against-yale\/\" title=\"Biden\u2019s Justice Department Drops Discrimination Lawsuit Against Yale\">race-based admissions<\/a> and growing \u200bcriticism of diversity and inclusion\u200d policies perceived as discriminatory. The Equal Protection\u200d Project\u200b founder, William A. Jacobson, stated that the university must develop a remedial plan to address the discrimination that has \u200coccurred.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">University of Illinois hit with 42 civil rights complaints over alleged race and sex discrimination<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1733379\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><strong>EXCLUSIVE &mdash;<\/strong> The University of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/illinois\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Illinois<\/a> Urbana-Champaign, the flagship school of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/higher-education\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>state&rsquo;s university system<\/a>, has been hit with civil rights complaints spanning 42 scholarships that are only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/dei\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>available to preferred races and sexes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint, obtained by the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> and sent to the U.S. Department of Education&rsquo;s Office for Civil Rights, was made Monday by the Legal Insurrection Foundation&rsquo;s Equal Protection Project. It alleged that 19 scholarships violate Title IX due to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/meet-gegi-the-unicorn-schools-are-using-to-turn-young-children-into-trans-activists\/\" title=\"Meet \u2018Gegi,\u2019 The Unicorn Schools Are Using To Turn Young Children Into Trans Activists\">gender-based discrimination<\/a>, as well as 19 Title VI violations for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/student-group-sues-yale-for-discrimination-revives-trump-era-case\/\" title=\"Student Group Sues Yale for Discrimination, Revives Trump-Era Case\">race-based discrimination<\/a>, and it cited four scholarships it said violate both civil rights statutes.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;UIUC has achieved diversity but in the worst way. The array of discriminatory scholarships collectively discriminates against almost everyone. Discrimination does not become lawful just because there is a diverse group of victims,&rdquo; William A. Jacobson, founder of the Equal Protection Project, told the&nbsp;<em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. &ldquo;The harm from discriminatory educational barriers is that it racializes not just the specific program, but the entire campus. Sending a message&nbsp;to&nbsp;students that access&nbsp;to&nbsp;opportunities is dependent on race or sex is damaging&nbsp;to&nbsp;the fabric of campus.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Alleging a &ldquo;systemic non-compliance with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-justice-department-pick-helped-kill-pipeline-favored-by-key-senator\/\" title=\"Biden Justice Department Pick Helped Kill Pipeline Favored by Key Senator\">federal civil rights law<\/a>,&rdquo; the complaint pointed to multiple instances in which scholarships are reserved for specific racial groups or genders, barring students who do not meet those demographic standards from benefiting from the scholarship.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint comes after the U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Supreme Court\">Supreme Court<\/a> overturned race-based admissions practices using affirmative action last year and as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/dei\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"diversity, equity, and inclusion\">diversity, equity, and inclusion<\/a> ideology comes under growing scrutiny from critics for being inherently discriminatory. It also comes on the same day the Democratic National Convention begins in Chicago, Illinois, which critics accused of having <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tacoma-parks-hosts-white-staff-only-meeting-to-fight-white-supremacy-violence\/\" title=\"Tacoma Parks Hosts \u201cWhite Staff Only\u201d Meeting to Fight \u201cWhite Supremacy Violence\u201d\">racially segregated meetings<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Democrats are filing to their racially segregated meetings this morning <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jBXeTXBZG8\">pic.twitter.com\/jBXeTXBZG8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Brent Scher (@BrentScher) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrentScher\/status\/1825558441374658672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 19, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Some of the University of Illinois scholarships awarded to racial groups are somewhat vague in their wording, using phrases such as &ldquo;underrepresented,&rdquo; &ldquo;minority,&rdquo; and &ldquo;diverse,&rdquo; but in every instance, they exclude at least white students unless a specific national origin preference is stated. For example, two scholarships state a preference for a Czech student, and another prefers a student of Lithuanian descent, which the complaint still maintains is discriminatory.<\/p>\n<p>The Wanda Taeschner Babcock scholarship, for example, states a preference for &ldquo;underrepresented populations pursuing a career in education to promote cultural diversity.&rdquo; According to the UIUC website, &ldquo;Underrepresented includes Black, Hispanic, and American Indian, Native Hawaiian\/Other Pacific Islander, and multi-racial students.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Doris I. and James L. Willmer Endowed Scholarship has stratified preferences, stating, &ldquo;Preference first to first-generation female, then to female students, and finally to minority students,&rdquo; covering both Title IX and Title VI violations, according to the complaint. Similarly, the Myron and Jewel Ash Scholarship has a &ldquo;preference to provide support for an African American man pursuing a career in elementary and middle school planning a teaching career in an inner city school at the kindergarten through eighth grade level.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter what the source of funds are for the scholarships or if the discrimination is at the request of donors,&rdquo; Jacobson said. &ldquo;UIUC needs&nbsp;to&nbsp;come up with a remedial plan&nbsp;to&nbsp;compensate students shut out of these scholarships due&nbsp;to&nbsp;discrimination.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Many of the scholarships are explicit in their allegedly gender-discriminatory language. For example. the A. E. Florio Award, which will give one recipient $1,500 to pursue undergraduate community health, <a href=\"https:\/\/secure.osfa.illinois.edu\/scholarship-database\/detail.aspx?id=322\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>states<\/a> that &ldquo;preference is given to women.&rdquo; The Henry Clarence Fredrickson Memorial Scholarship is awarded to a student with a farm background studying agriculture but states that &ldquo;first preference is given to female student.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Nadia S. Chowdhury Memorial Scholarship Fund states a preference for both a female student and one with a &ldquo;multicultural heritage.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Here, the sex-based eligibility criterion is, by its terms, applied mechanically, and without any statistical justification warranted by any alleged past discrimination by UIUC,&rdquo; the complaint stated.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The complaint pointed to eight scholarships that state a preference for female students, but another eight that are explicit about excluding men from being awarded the scholarships. There is also one scholarship, the John Kreitzer Jr. Scholarship, which states a preference for a male student, and another, the Calvin B. Niccolls Scholarship, which requires a male student.<\/p>\n<p>UIUC did not respond to a request for comment from the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. The Department of Education declined to comment, citing its policy of not confirming complaints.<\/p>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1733379\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1733379\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the leading institution in the state&#8217;s university system, is facing 42 civil rights complaints regarding scholarships that are allegedly restricted based on race and gender. The Legal Insurrection Foundation&#8217;s Equal Protection Project filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education\u2019s Office for Civil Rights on Monday. It claims that 19 scholarships violate Title IX due to gender discrimination and another 19 violate Title VI due to racial discrimination, with four scholarships reportedly breaching both laws.<\/p>\n<p>William A. Jacobson, founder of the Equal Protection Project, criticized UIUC for achieving diversity through what he describes as discriminatory practices that affect nearly all students. He emphasized that discrimination does not become acceptable simply because it impacts a diverse group of individuals and warned that such practices send harmful messages about access to opportunities being contingent upon race or sex.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint alleges systemic violations of federal civil rights laws by highlighting numerous instances where scholarships are designated for specific racial groups or genders, effectively excluding those who do not fit these criteria from receiving aid. This comes in light of last year&#8217;s U.S. Supreme Court decision against race-based admissions policies and increasing criticism towards diversity initiatives perceived as discriminatory.<\/p>\n<p>Some scholarship descriptions use terms like &#8220;underrepresented,&#8221; &#8220;minority,&#8221; and &#8220;diverse,&#8221; but they generally exclude white students unless a specific national origin is mentioned. For instance, certain scholarships favor Czech or Lithuanian students while still being deemed discriminatory by the complaint.<\/p>\n<p>Several scholarships explicitly state preferences based on gender; for example, one award prioritizes women applicants while others specify preferences for female candidates from multicultural backgrounds or first-generation college students who are female.<\/p>\n<p>Jacobson argued that regardless of funding sources or donor requests influencing these scholarship conditions, UIUC must develop a plan to address the exclusion faced by affected students due to these discriminatory practices.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint also identifies eight scholarships favoring female applicants while another eight outright exclude male candidates; however, there are also instances where male-only eligibility is specified in some awards. The University has not commented on this matter when approached by the Washington Examiner, nor has the Department of Education provided any remarks regarding this ongoing situation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2326952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AP833302849486.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38586,38587,38588,38585,32076],"class_list":["post-2326951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-civil-rights-complaints","tag-race-discrimination","tag-sex-discrimination","tag-university-of-illinois","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AP833302849486.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2326951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2326952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2326951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2326951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2326951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}