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The Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives threatens an Illinois program that provides scholarships to minority graduate students who agree to stay in the state and work in the education field.
On March 31, the U.S. Department of Justice notified universities participating in the Diversifying Higher Education in Illinois scholarship and the Illinois Board of Higher Education, which disperses the scholarship funds, that the program “unconstitutionally discriminated on the basis of race in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment,” according to an April 11 Department of Justice news release.
“After the Justice Department threatened to file suit, the state and six universities suspended the program,” the DOJ release said.
But Gov. JB Pritzker, who included funding for the program in his February budget proposal, continues to support an expenditure for the scholarship as budget negotiations continue in Springfield, said Alex Gough, a spokesperson for the governor’s office.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office declined to comment, citing an ongoing DOJ investigation of the scholarship program. The spokesperson did not respond to a request for details about the investigation.
The DOJ did not return emailed requests for comment.
Colleges and universities nationwide have been under fire from the administration of President Donald Trump for months on a number of fronts, among them DEI initiatives, which the administration has said “disregard merit and divide Americans based on race.”
The DOJ cited a 2023 Supreme Court decision that effectively ended the use of race as a factor in university admissions to justify its decision that the Illinois scholarship program was unlawful. DOJ’s statement on the program said the scholarship used “race as a prerequisite for participation, specifically excluding students of some races but not others in violation of federal law.”
“This Department of Justice is committed to rooting DEI out of American institutions, including in the education system,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in the news release on the scholarship program.
At an unrelated news conference Monday, Raoul, without pointing specifically to the scholarship, said that while policies must be evaluated to make sure they’re consistent with the law, it’s also “critically important” for educational institutions to “not succumb to fear.” He said if they do, they become vulnerable to continued threats from the federal administration.
“It’s important to double down on the type of policies that prevent discrimination in the workplace or at an educational institution in the first place, and not to back away from those,” Raoul said. “I would say, ‘Fight back.’ You can do the evaluation and continue to do and to embrace the tools that create a diverse and inclusive workplace.”
The Diversifying Education in Illinois scholarship program offers up to four years of need-based financial aid for minority students pursuing graduate degrees if the students agreed to accept a teaching or staff position at an Illinois higher education institution, governing board or education-related position in a state agency when they graduate or leave their school. The scholarship is open to Illinois residents who are members of an “underrepresented group,” including Black, Hispanic and Asian-American populations, according to the program’s website.
The program was created by a 2004 state law that was passed after an IBHE study found that “the presence of students and faculty/staff from various ethnic groups was very important in the decision of underrepresented students to stay in school.” More than $2 million was appropriated in the state’s budget last year to fund scholarships at 14 universities in Illinois.
A spokesperson for the Illinois Board of Higher Education said the remaining funds for the current year were dispersed to students following the DOJ threat.
“As the Board of Higher Education explained to the DOJ, there are no activities scheduled to take place over the next few months on Illinois’ scholarship program,” said José García, an IBHE spokesperson. “Illinois agreed to conduct an evaluation of the program and will consult with the General Assembly since this program is enshrined in Illinois law.”
State Rep. La Shawn Ford, a Chicago Democrat, said he has been working with IBHE and plans to support funding for the program going forward. But he said it won’t include funding for private universities that withdrew from the program after the DOJ’s threat.
While IBHE said all remaining scholarship funds were dispersed, some private university students said they did not receive the last installment of their scholarship because their institution turned down the funds to stay in compliance with the DOJ.
Spokespersons for several of the private universities the DOJ said dropped the scholarship program referred questions to the IBHE.
Adler University in Chicago received the letter from the DOJ in March saying the institution’s participation in the program “endangered its compliance with Title VI regulations,” according to a university spokesperson.
The university’s decision to drop the scholarship has left some students in a tough spot, particularly since the federal government has resumed collecting defaulted federal student loans, ending a COVID-19 era pause.
Sahar Al-Najjar, a doctoral candidate studying clinical psychology at Adler University, said she was informed she was losing the scholarship the same week she was expected to resume payment on her federal student loan. Al-Najjar had to drop a summer course she couldn’t afford without the scholarship’s support.
“I had to really sit down and move things around and try to figure out what is most feasible in the moment,” Al-Najjar said. “This fellowship had really took off that load, that stress, the past few years because of the support that extended in various ways — the community piece, the financial piece, the connection piece with other scholars and fellows. I’m really grateful for it, but really sad, because it would have been great to finish off this year with it.”
Margaritta Fultz, a doctoral candidate at Adler University who works as an administrative aide at the University of Illinois Springfield, said she did not receive the last $6,000 of her $18,000 scholarship, which would have supported her summer term. Fultz said she is also unsure if students who promised to stay in the state to teach are still bound to do so.
“My response was just complete and utter horror,” Fultz said. “I needed that funding, now the burden of my long-term debt is going to be pressed more to complete my study and my dissertation.”
Fultz said the scholarship helped her continue her doctoral degree last year after she had dropped out due to costs and loan burdens.
“The scholarship was an opportunity pathway with me being a neurodivergent Black woman,” said Fultz, who was recently diagnosed with autism. “It was already a challenge to make sure I had the technology that I needed, and things of that nature so that I could even perform academically at the rate that you have to.”
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