Case Particulars

Tribunal

Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights

Date Filed

September 3, 2025

Docket No.

N/A

Case Status

OCR Complaint Filed

Case Overview

On September 3, 2025, the Equal Protection Project (EPP) filed a Civil Rights Complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against Kansas City University (KSU) “for sex-based discrimination in its Women in Business program and related scholarships. The program, which includes multiple organized activities, violates Title IX by discriminating on the basis of sex.”

EPP’s Complaint continues:

The Women in Business program is currently offered to KSU students and prospective students, according to the KSU website, and violates Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”) and its implementing regulations by discriminating against students and prospective students based on their sex.

The Complaint uses KSU’s own website to demonstrate the discriminatory nature of the program.

Next, the Complaint explains why the challenged scholarships violate federal law:

The Women in Business program and related scholarships identified above violate Title IX, by discriminating on the basis of sex.

Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education. The statute provides: “[n]o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a). Accordingly, a school receiving federal funding may not administer scholarships, fellowships, or other forms of financial assistance that impose preferences or restrictions based on sex, except in limited exceptions that are not applicable here.

Finally, the Complaint then requests that OCR take action:

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 KSU’s various programs and scholarships based on discriminatory criteria, and ensure that all ongoing and future programming at KSU comports with the Constitution and federal civil rights laws.

OCR is evaluating EPP’s Complaint for further action.