Case Particulars

Tribunal

Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights

Date Filed

January 30, 2026

Docket No.

N/A

Case Status

OCR Complaint Filed

Case Overview

On January 30, 2026, the Equal Protection Project (EPP) filed a Civil Rights Complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against Metropolitan State University of Denver (“Metro State”) for offering 20 discriminatory scholarships based on race, color, and/or national origin in violation of Title VI. The complaint was divided into two parts. Part One challenges the scholarships restricted by race and color, while Part Two challenges scholarships limited to DACA and undocumented students that discriminate against American-born students.

EPP’s Complaint states:

This complaint constitutes Part One of a two-part filing concerning Metro State’s scholarship practices. Part One challenges scholarships that discriminate on the basis of race, color, and national origin, unrelated to DACA/“Undocumented” scholarships. Part Two challenges only scholarships involving preferences for DACA and “undocumented” students, which constitutes national-origin discrimination against American-born students in violation of Title VI and is being filed separately because the Office for Civil Rights already has numerous DACA/“undocumented” scholarship investigations open.

The Complaint uses Metro State’s own websites to demonstrate the discriminatory nature of the programs.

Next, the Complaint further explains why the initiative challenged violates federal law:

Title VI prohibits intentional discrimination on the basis of 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” encompasses “all of the operations … of a college, university, or other postsecondary institution, or a public system of higher education.” See 42 U.S.C. § 2000d-4a(2)(A). As noted in Rowles v. Curators of the University of Missouri, 983 F.3d 345, 355 (8th Cir. 2020), “Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in federally funded programs,” and therefore applies to universities receiving federal financial assistance…

 

Regardless of Metro State’s reasons for offering, promoting, and administering such discriminatory scholarships, they are violating Title VI by doing so. It does not matter if the recipient of federal funding discriminates in order to advance a benign “intention” or “motivation.” Bostock v. Clayton Cnty., 590 U.S. 644, 661 (2020) (“Intentionally burning down a neighbor’s house is arson, even if the perpetrator’s ultimate intention (or motivation) is only to improve the view.”); accord Automobile Workers v. Johnson Controls, Inc., 499 U.S. 187, 199 (1991) (“the absence of a malevolent motive does not convert a facially discriminatory policy into a neutral policy with a discriminatory effect” or “alter [its] intentionally discriminatory character”). “Nor does it matter if the recipient discriminates against an individual member of a protected class with the idea that doing so might favor the interests of that class as a whole or otherwise promote equality at the group level.” Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard Coll., 600 U.S. 181, 289 (2023) (Gorsuch, J., concurring).

 

As UT is a public university, its offering, promoting, and administering these discriminatory scholarships also violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In Students for Fair Admissions, the Supreme Court declared that “[e]liminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it …. The guarantee of equal protection cannot mean one thing when applied to one individual and something else when applied to a person of another color. If both are not accorded the same protection, then it is not equal.” Id. at 206 (cleaned up). “Distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry [including race] are by their very nature odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality.” Id. at 208. Consequently, “[a]ny exception to the Constitution’s demand for equal protection must survive a daunting two-step examination known … as strict scrutiny.” Id. at 208 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The scholarships at issue here cannot withstand that exacting standard.

Finally, the Complaint then requests that OCR take action:

The Office for Civil Rights has the power and obligation to investigate Metro State’s role in creating, funding, promoting and administering these scholarships—and, given how many there are, to discern whether Metro State is engaging in such discrimination in its other activities. Given the scope and number of discriminatory scholarships at issue, we further request that the Department of Justice investigate Metro State’s conduct, including the DACA and undocumented-only scholarships challenged in the companion complaint, and take appropriate enforcement action under federal civil-rights law. 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 … is to stop discriminating[.]” Parents Involved in Cmty. Sch., 551 U.S. at 748.

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

OCR is evaluating EPP’s Complaint for further action.