Case Particulars

Tribunal

Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights

Date Filed

May 14, 2025

Docket No.

OCR Case Number 07-25-2176

Case Status

OCR Complaint Filed

Case Overview

On May 14, 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 the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO) “for offering, administering, and promoting two (2) scholarships that discriminate based on race, color, and/or national origin.”

The Complaint continued:

The scholarships listed below are currently offered to UNO students and applicants for admission, according to the UNO website, and 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, and/or national origin. Because UNO is a public university, these discriminatory scholarships also violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The Complaint then explained, using UNO’s own website, the discriminatory nature of each of the two scholarships:

The “HDR Scholarship” states as follows: “Preference shall be given to underrepresented minority students, but shall not be the controlling criterion in awarding this scholarship.” Additionally, “UNO considers a minority student to include ‘American Indian, African American, Asian American, Hispanics of Any Race, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders, and Two or More Races.'” (citation omitted)

“The Dreamers Pathway Scholarship is for students who are Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or DACA-eligible and Nebraska residents who are seeking an undergraduate degree at the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO).” The Compliant states further: “Because DACA only applies to persons born outside the United States who meet certain additional criteria, restricting scholarship eligibility to DACA recipients constitutes discrimination based on national origin and violates Title VI.”

The Complaint next explains the legal reasoning behind why these scholarships violated Title VI and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment:

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 UNO receives federal funds, it is subject to Title VI…

 

As UNO is a public university, its offering, promoting, and administrating these discriminatory scholarships also violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Complaint then summarizes and requests OCR take action:

Because the discrimination outlined above is presumptively illegal, and since UNO cannot show any compelling government justification for it, the fact that it conditions eligibility for multiple scholarships on race, color, and national origin violates federal civil rights statutes and constitutional equal protection guarantees.

 

The Office for Civil Rights has the power and obligation to investigate UNO’s role in creating, funding, promoting and administering these scholarships – and, given how many there are, to discern whether UNO 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…

 

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

OCR is evaluating EPP’s Civil Rights Complaint for further action.