ROCHESTER, N.Y. – SUNY Schools are warning donors and students they can no longer award scholarships based on race or gender. The change in policy includes endowments that were previously given to very specific students for very specific reasons.
Jim McGrath dated Diedrea Tisdale in the early 1980’s but when Tisdale moved away, they drifted apart. Decades later, they reconnected on Facebook and met up at a picnic, “she said “while why don’t you come,” and I go.. wow, I haven’t seen her in 25 years and we got back together,” McGrath recalls.
He felt like the luckiest man alive, “old man hits the lottery,” but a year into their rekindled romance, Tisdale got cancer. “8 months from her diagnosis to her passing, it was real quick,” McGrath explains.
McGrath wanted to do something to honor his late girlfriend so, in 2017 he established the Diedrea Tisdale Memorial Scholarship at Monroe Community College. “$25,000 is the principal and they give away the interest every year,” McGrath says. The only request he had, was that the money go to a student of color who graduated from the Rochester City School District. He thinks that’s what Tisdale would have wanted as a black woman and RCSD alum. For years, that’s what has happened.
But this year, he got an email from MCC saying in part: “SUNY has asked us to review all scholarship criteria that reference race or gender following a Supreme Court decision during the Biden administration that determined such language could be considered discriminatory…To ensure we can continue awarding in Diedrea’s honor, we recommend removing the line: ‘Priority to African American students, or those who are from historically underrepresented groups in higher education.’”
“For me to privately give something targeted to a certain demographic, it seems… I don’t know where that’s coming from cause it’s not like the government is giving the money or anything like that, it’s me and that’s what I want,” McGrath says.
In a joint statement, a spokesperson for SUNY tells News10NBC, “From our founding, SUNY’s statutory mission has been ‘to provide to the people of New York educational services of the highest quality, with the broadest possible access, fully representative of all segments of the population.’ SUNY will continue to fulfill this mission, follow all state and federal anti-discrimination laws, and – on the specific question of scholarships – continue to adhere to the mandate issued by the prior Federal Administration’s Office for Civil Rights.”
A spokesman for MCC added, “As we continue on this journey, Monroe Community College is dedicated to ensuring that our admissions processes, operations, and scholarship programs align with federal and state laws, as well as SUNY’s recommendations and overall mission. We’re committed to upholding these important standards and creating an inclusive environment where every student feels welcomed and supported.”
McGrath is contemplating his options. “Maybe they’ll give me back my money and I can target it to someplace, Boys and Girls Club, whatever but I think it will get to the people I want better than MCC and all their restrictions,” McGrath says.
Colleges across the country have reported modifying or freezing scholarships that are based on race, gender or ethnicity following the 2024 supreme court decision ending race-conscious admissions in higher education.
SUNY would not provide a specific number of how many scholarships across its 64 campuses have been modified or frozen.
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