Case Particulars

Tribunal

Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights

Date Filed

October 13, 2026

Docket No.

N/A

Case Status

OCR Complaint Filed

Case Overview

On October 13, 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 the College of DuPage (“COD”) regarding two discriminatory scholarships in violation of Title VI.

EPP’s Complaint states:

We bring this civil rights complaint against the College of DuPage (“COD”), a public college, for discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in two (2) scholarship programs. The scholarships appear to violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”) and its implementing regulations by discriminating against students based on their race, color or national origin. Because COD is a public college, these discriminatory scholarships also appear to violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

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

Next, the Complaint further explains why the scholarships likely violates federal law:

The scholarships identified above appear to violate Title VI, by discriminating on the basis of race, skin color, or national origin. Eligibility for both scholarships require recipients to be of African American Descent. Furthermore, because COD is a public college, such discrimination also appears to violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

 

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. Because COD receives and administers federal funds through numerous programs, it is subject to Title VI.

 

Regardless of COD’s reasons for offering, promoting, and administering such discriminatory scholarships, it appears to violate 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).

 

Finally, the Complaint then requests that OCR take action:

The Office for Civil Rights has the power and obligation to investigate COD’s role in creating, funding, promoting and administering these scholarships and determine if COD’s role violates federal law. Should OCR determine that COG has violated the law it should 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 and if appropriate impose such remedial relief as the law permits for the benefit of those who may have been illegally excluded from COD’s various scholarships based on discriminatory criteria, and ensure that all ongoing and future scholarships and programming at COD comports with the Constitution and federal civil rights laws.

 

OCR is evaluating EPP’s Complaint for further action.