Case Particulars

Tribunal

Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division

Date Filed

12/22/2025

Docket No.

N/A

Case Status

Complaint Filed

Case Overview

On December 22, 2025, the Equal Protection Project (EPP) filed a Civil Rights Complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division requesting they open an “…investigation into systematic discrimination within the Illinois public university system involving at least seventy-seven (77) scholarships and programs across seven institutions, including the flagship University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.”

EPP then lists the universities and the number of discriminatory scholarships or programs at each institution

• University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign (38)
• Illinois State University (4)
• University of Illinois Springfield (13)
• Eastern Illinois University (1)
• Chicago State University (4)
• University of Illinois Chicago (1)
• Western Illinois University (16)

The Complaint uses the Illinois universities’ own websites to demonstrate the discriminatory nature of these programs.

Next, the Complaint further explains why these scholarships and programs violate the law:

The scholarships and programs identified in the Exhibits violate either Title VI, by discriminating on the basis of race, skin color, or national origin; Title IX, by discriminating on the basis of sex; or both. Furthermore, because these are public Illinois universities, such discrimination also violates 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 these Illinois public universities receive and administer federal funds through numerous agencies, including the DOJ, 3 and are public institutions, they are subject to Title VI.

 

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. See 34 C.F.R. § 106.37(a).

 

Finally, the Complaint then requests that OCR take action:

The Department of Justice has the power and obligation to investigate the universities’ role in creating, funding, promoting, and administering these scholarships and programs—and, given their number, to determine whether Illinois state-level action is involved—and to impose whatever remedial relief is necessary to hold them accountable for unlawful conduct. This authority includes, if necessary, imposing fines, initiating administrative proceedings to suspend or terminate federal financial assistance, and pursuing judicial proceedings to enforce the rights of the United States under federal law. As the Supreme Court has observed, “[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).

 

Accordingly, we respectfully request that the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division promptly open a formal investigation, impose such remedial relief as the law permits for the benefit of those who have been illegally excluded from the Illinois public universities’ various scholarships and programs based on discriminatory criteria, and ensure that all ongoing and future scholarships and programming comport with the Constitution and federal civil rights laws.

DOJ is evaluating EPP’s Complaint for further action.