Civil rights group targets Harvard role in union scholarship reserved for ‘historically marginalized communities’

A scholarship program involving Harvard University that requires applicants to identify as “students of color” is facing a new civil rights complaint from the Equal Protection Project.

The “Union Scholars” program, which advertises to “students of historically marginalized communities,” appears on the website of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a trade union.

[RELATED: Fordham University ‘Girl Boss’ program for women in business faces civil rights complaint] 

The website displays Harvard, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a prominent partner, specifically the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School and the Wurf Fund.

The union website describes the program as “a summer scholarship and internship opportunity that prioritizes the experiences of students of historically marginalized communities.”

The Equal Protection Project’s complaint, filed on Dec. 7, with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, says that the program’s racial requirement violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

“Such racially discriminatory admissions criteria utilized in a joint program run by Harvard are particularly outrageous considering Harvard was the subject of the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling prohibiting use of race in admissions,” the complaint says.

Harvard was the defendant in the 2023 Supreme Court case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College, in which the court ruled that race-based “affirmative action” was unconstitutional.

The Dec. 7 complaint calls the Union Scholars program “explicitly race-restricted.” 

“The phrase ‘historically marginalized community’ is often used as an alternative to ‘underrepresented minority,’ and AFSCME makes this meaning clear elsewhere,” it says, pointing to promotional material that says the program is for “students of color.”

The union website has since changed “students of color” to “students of historically marginalized communities.”

A previous version of the website from Oct. 2 appears on the Wayback Machine, an internet archive.

“While the use of racial preferences described above is explicit, it is also clear from AFSCME and Harvard’s websites that the program is ‘signaling’ a preference for minority students as recipients of this paid internship, which is unlawful,” the complaint states.

[RELATED: FSU faces civil rights complaint over 32 race- and sex-based scholarships]

The Equal Protection Project has filed many civil rights complaints over race and sex-based scholarships, such as against Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and UCLA.

In comments to Campus Reform on Monday, the Equal Protection Project took credit for the University of Arkansas modifying over 100 scholarships to remove mentions of race-based requirements.

Campus Reform contacted Harvard University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.