Case Particulars

Tribunal

Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights

Date Filed

September 16, 2026

Docket No.

01-26-2355

Case Status

OCR Complaint Filed

Case Overview

On September 16, 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 Bentley University (“Bentley”) regarding three programs which discriminates based on race in violation of Title VI.

EPP’s Complaint states:

We bring this civil rights complaint against Bentley University (“Bentley”), a private institution, regarding one scholarship and two programs (collectively, the “Programs”) that discriminate based on race in violation of Title VI.

The Complaint uses Bentley’s own websites to demonstrate the discriminatory nature of this program.

Next, the Complaint further explains why the program 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. § 2000d4a(2)(A). As the Eighth Circuit explained, “Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in federally funded programs.” Rowles v. Curators of the Univ. of Mo., 983 F.3d 345, 355 (8th Cir. 2020). Bentley receives federal financial assistance and therefore is subject to Title VI

 

In Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023), 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.

 

Regardless of Bentley’s reasons for offering, promoting, and administering such discriminatory programs, 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”)…

 

Finally, the Complaint then requests that OCR take action:

The Office for Civil Rights has the power and obligation to investigate Bentley’s role in creating, funding, promoting and administering these programs – and, given how many there are, to discern whether Bentley is engaging in such discrimination in its other activities – 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 … 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 discriminated against in the award of Bentley’s various programs based on discriminatory criteria, and ensure that all ongoing and future programming at Bentley comports with the federal civil rights laws.

 

OCR is evaluating EPP’s Complaint for further action.