A race-based scholarship program in a liberal state is facing backlash.
The Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois program offers financial support exclusively to non-white graduate…
A race-based scholarship program in a liberal state is facing backlash.
The Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois program offers financial support exclusively to non-white graduate students who want to work in higher education, leading to accusations of discrimination.
The Illinois Board of Higher Education created the program in 2004 to offer scholarships for “traditionally underrepresented minority groups” in higher education, according to Adler University. The program receives $2 million in funding annually from the state budget.
Applicants must belong to one of the following racial groups: African American, Hispanic American, Native American, Asian American, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, according to the scholarship’s website. White is not an option.
Gov. JB Pritzker’s latest budget proposal continues to fund the program, drawing praise from Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) Executive Director Ginger Ostro.
However, right-of-center legal experts contend such race-based scholarships are illegal and must be abolished.
“This race-exclusive program violates the Constitution and Title VI,” Hans Bader, a First Amendment and civil rights attorney from Washington D.C., told The College Fix.
“Such programs violate the Constitution, as is made clear in appeals court ruling such as Rabiebna v. Higher Education Appeals Board (2025), which struck down a racially-exclusive scholarship program in Wisconsin, and Podberesky v. Kirwan (1994), which struck down a race-exclusive scholarship at the University of Maryland,” he added.
University of San Diego Law Professor Gail Heriot agrees.
“This isn’t a hard one,” she told the Washington Free Beacon. “The program was illegal and unconstitutional since its inception.”
Dan Morenoff, executive director of the American Civil Rights Project, thinks the scholarship is likely something the Trump administration will target as an unlawful example of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in higher education.
“Every listed institution has tasked an individual employee with affirmatively discriminating based on race in who and how to help obtain financial aid,” Morenoff told the Free Beacon. “That seems certain to violate Title VI and promises to draw the attention and ire of any number of federal agencies.”
The federal Department of Education warned universities earlier this year that failing to comply with civil rights laws may cause schools to “face potential loss of federal funding.”
The Trump administration has already withheld $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University in New York over concerns of antisemitism on campus. It is also investigating 60 colleges nationwide for campus antisemitism.
