Case Particulars

Tribunal

Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights

Date Filed

September 9, 2024

Docket No.

N/A

Case Status

OCR Complaint Filed

Case Overview

On September 9, 2024, the Equal Protection Project (“EPP”) filed a Civil Rights Complaint with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education (“OCR”), against the Minnesota Office of Higher Education (“MOHE”) for a racially discriminatory scholarship program signed into law and funded by Governor (and VP nominee) Tim Walz.

From the Complaint:

We make this civil rights complaint against the Minnesota Office of Higher Education (“MOHE”) – a cabinet-level state agency that provides students with financial aid programs to help them gain access to postsecondary education – for administering a racially discriminatory scholarship called the Minnesota Aspiring Teachers of Color Scholarship Pilot Program (“Teachers of Color” scholarship). The Teachers of Color scholarship ‘provides postsecondary financial assistance to eligible undergraduate and graduate students who are preparing to become teachers, have demonstrated financial need, and belong to racial or ethnic groups underrepresented in the state’s teacher workforce.’

 

* * * *

 

To be eligible for the Teachers of Color scholarship, an applicant must, among other things, be an undergraduate or graduate student who is preparing to become teachers and be ‘a person of color or American Indian.’

 

OCR has jurisdiction over this complaint. The MOHE is a state agency and a recipient of federal funding, including from the U.S. Department of Education. It is therefore liable for violations of Title VI and the Equal Protection Clause, and subject to OCR jurisdiction.

The Complaint then provides an overview of the Teachers of Color scholarship using the Minnesota Office of Higher Education’s own website.

The Complaint explains further why the Teachers of Color scholarship is a violation of federal law and the United States Constitution:

The Teachers of Color scholarship violates Title VI because it conditions eligibility for participation the scholarship on a student’s race, ethnicity and skin color. And, because the MOHE is a public agency, its administration of this discriminatory program also violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

 

Title VI prohibits intentional discrimination based on race, color or national origin in any “program or activity” that receives federal financial assistance. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000d. The term ‘program or activity’ means ‘all of the operations of … a public system of higher education.’ See 42 U.S.C. § 2000d-4a(2)(A). As the MOHE receives federal funds, it is subject to Title VI….

 

Simply put, ‘Title VI prohibits a recipient of federal funds from intentionally treating any individual worse even in part because of his race, color, or national origin and without regard to any other reason or motive the recipient might assert.’ (citation omitted). Thus, regardless of the reasons why the MOHE sponsors, promotes and administers the Teachers of Color program, it violates Title VI by doing so.

 

And, because the MOHE is a public agency, its sponsorship and promotion of the Teachers of Color scholarship also violates the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

 

According to the state legislation that created the Teachers of Color scholarship, the scholarship is intended to achieve racial and ethnic balance in Minnesota’s teacher workforce. Such an objective has been ‘repeatedly condemned as illegitimate’ and ‘patently unconstitutional’ by the Supreme Court. ‘Accepting racial balancing as a compelling state interest would justify the imposition of racial proportionality throughout American society, contrary to our repeated recognition that at the heart of the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection lies the simple command that the Government must treat citizens as individuals, not as simply components of a racial, religious, sexual or national class.’ (cleaned up, citation omitted).

The Complaint then summarizes and asks OCR to take action:

The Office for Civil Rights has the power and obligation to investigate the MOHE’s role in promoting and administering this program and to impose whatever remedial relief is necessary to hold it accountable for that unlawful conduct. This includes, if necessary, imposing fines, initiating administrative proceedings to suspend or terminate federal financial assistance and referring the case to the Department of Justice for judicial proceedings to enforce the rights of the United States under federal law. After all, ‘[t]he way to stop discrimination,’ the Supreme Court has taught, ‘is to stop discriminating.’ (citation omitted).

 

Accordingly, we respectfully ask that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights open a formal investigation, impose such remedial relief as the law permits for the benefit of those who have been illegally excluded from the Teachers of Color scholarship based on discriminatory criteria, and ensure that all ongoing and future programming through the MOHE comports with the Constitution and federal civil rights laws.

EPP is the Complainant in this matter, which is under evaluation by OCR.