A Drake University scholarship program aimed at students of color is the subject of a complaint submitted to the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office.
The Equal Protection Project argues that Drake’s program discriminates against students based on race because it’s open to students of color but not to white students.
Project president William Jacobson says scholarships must be based on factors other than race.
“So if you want somebody who’s good at math, you have a scholarship for people who are good at math,” Jacobson says, “but you can’t say we have a scholarship for black students who are good at math, or only white students who are good at math, or only Hispanic students who are good at math.”
Jacobson says by giving preference to someone of a certain race, a school excludes someone else from a spot. He says there are other ways to diversify student populations that don’t rely on race.
“This is a systemic discrimination that affects all students who do not qualify based on race,” he says.
The Equal Protection Project has filed dozens of similar complaints against colleges across the country, including the University of Northern Iowa.
(By Lucia Cheng, Iowa Public Radio)