University of Wisconsin–Madison faces federal complaint over race-based scholarship

A nonprofit recently filed a complaint against the University of Wisconsin–Madison for offering a scholarship that allegedly violates federal anti-discrimination law.

The organization, Defending Education, officially filed the complaint against UW-Madison on April 9, contending that the school distributes “financial benefits” to students on the basis of race.

Specifically, Defending Education accused the institution of offering a scholarship for between $1,000–$3,300 per year that gives funding to “statutorily designated minority Wisconsin undergraduate students.”

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Defending Education asserts that the scholarship is therefore exclusively available to students who qualify as “minority,” including African American, Latino, Native American, American Indian/Eskimo and Southeast Asian.

The scholarship in question is called the Lawton Grant; UW-Madison’s website states that eligible students must “identify as African-American, Latino, Native American (American Indian/Eskimo), Southeast Asian of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, or Hmong decent.”

“Students can receive the Lawton Grant for a maximum of 8 semesters or up to $16,000, whichever happens first,” the description continues.

As an authority for its complaint, Defending Education cited the U.S. Department of Education’s Feb. 14 notice that it sent to universities that receive federal funding, warning them that racially discriminatory scholarships could trigger federal penalties.

“If an educational institution treats a person of one race differently than it treats another person because of that person’s race, the educational institution violates the law,” the notice read.

“Federal law thus prohibits covered entities from using race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, [and] prizes,” the department continued.

Defending Education’s complaint is similar to complaints filed by the non-profit Equal Protection Project (EPP) against other allegedly racially discriminatory penalties. This year, EPP has brought forward complaints against the University of Rhode Island, Indiana University, the University of Oregon, among others.

This is far from the first time that UW-Madison has made headlines in relation to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies; the institution recently lost $12.6 million in grants connected to DEI and LGBT issues.

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The university also recently hosted a conference that discussed “queer theory, disability studies, and fat studies.” 

 “We encourage proposals that explore transfeminism, queer theory, disability studies, and fat studies, especially those which explicitly bring focus to embodiment,” the event description stated. 

Campus Reform has contacted the University of Wisconsin–Madison for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.