Case Particulars

Tribunal

Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights

Date Filed

June 29, 2026

Docket No.

09-26-2611; 09-26-2612

Case Status

Case Overview

On June 29, 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 University of Southern California (“USC”) and Loyola Marymount University (“LMU”) regarding its participation in the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s Youth Leadership Institute (“YLI”).

EPP’s Complaint begins:

We bring this civil rights complaint against the University of Southern California (“USC”) and Loyola Marymount University (“LMU”), both private institutions, for their sponsorship and facilitation of the Youth Leadership Institute (“YLI”) program for Hispanic students which discriminates based on national origin in violation of Title VI and Title II.

The Complaint uses USC, LMU and YLI’s own websites to demonstrate the discriminatory nature of this program.

Next, the Complaint further explains how USC and LMU’s involvement violates federal law:

YLI is run by an outside non-profit but USC and LMU materially support and participate in YLI. The universities host program events, provide on-campus housing and other facilities, promote the program, furnish speakers and university personnel, make classroom and meeting space available, and provide other institutional resources that facilitate the program’s operation. Accordingly, USC and LMU are legally liable for the discrimination that takes place on their campuses with their support through YLI.

 

Then, the Complaint explains how the program violates the law and requests OCR take action:

USC and LMU participation in the YLI program violates Title VI by discriminating on the basis of national origin. Moreover, this participation violates California’s own discrimination statutes and the nondiscrimination policies of USC23 and LMU.

 

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act 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” means “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); Rowles v. Curators of the Univ. of Mo., 983 F.3d 345, 355 (8th Cir. 2020) (“Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in federally funded programs,” and thus applies to universities receiving federal financial assistance). As both USC and LMU receive federal funds, they are subject to Title VI.

 

YLI participants are provided with overnight lodging in university residence halls during the in-person components hosted by USC and LMU. Participants stay in campus residence halls while attending the multi-day institute. Because participation in the YLI is expressly limited to students who identify as being of Hispanic heritage, access to those lodging accommodations is likewise conditioned on national origin.

 

Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides that “[a]ll persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation” without discrimination on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin. 42 U.S.C. § 2000a(a). Title II specifically includes “any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests.” Id. § 2000a(b)(1). Here, LMU and USC are providing temporary overnight lodging in university residence halls to participants in a short-term program. Access to those lodging accommodations is expressly restricted to students who satisfy the program’s Hispanic-heritage requirement. Accordingly, the universities’ provision of transient lodging on a discriminatory basis violates Title II independently of their violations of Title VI.

 

The Office for Civil Rights has the power and obligation to investigate USC and LMU’s role in promoting and administering this program and to discern whether USC and LMU are engaging in such discrimination in its other activities – as well as the duty to impose whatever remedial relief is necessary to hold it accountable for this 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 … is to stop discriminating[.]” Parents Involved in Cmty. Sch. v. Seattle Sch. Dist. No. 1, 551 U.S. 701, 748 (2007).

 

Because the Title VI violations are intertwined with the Title II violations, we request that the entire case – or at least the Title II violations – be referred to the U.S. Department of Justice for investigation and any appropriate enforcement action.

 

OCR is evaluating EPP’s Complaint for further action.