Case
Equal Protection Project v. University of Wisconsin-Madison (Undergraduate Program Open Only to “BIPOC” Students Challenged)
Case Particulars
Tribunal
Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights
Date Filed
January 22, 2024
Docket No.
N/A
Case Status
OCR Complaint Filed
Case Overview
EPP filed a civil rights complaint against the University of Wisconsin-Madison (“UW-Madison”), a public institution, for supporting and promoting a program that engages in invidious discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin.
According to the UW-Madison website, the “Creando Comunidad: Community Engaged Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Fellows” (“BIPOC Fellows”) is a UW-Madison program, offered through the university’s Morgridge Center for Public Service, designed “to connect[ ] BIPOC undergraduate students who are currently, or striving to, participate in community engagement.”
The mission of the program is “to center and empower the strengths of BIPOC undergraduate students partaking in critical service work,” to provide them “opportunities for community building, collaboration, support, and both personal and professional development” and to “support the deconstruction of systemic oppression through critical service.”
As the name of the program suggests, a race- and ethnicity-based criterion dictates who can participate in the BIPOC Fellows program. Eligibility is restricted to undergraduate students who are “member[s] of a historically underrepresented racial or ethnic group or community.”
EPP is the Complainant in this matter, which was evaluated by the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
On March 25, 2024, in a letter to EPP, OCR said it would open an official investigation in response to EPP’s Complaint regarding “[w]hether the University excluded applicants based on race, color and national origin from its Creando Comunidad: Community Engaged Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Fellows fellowship program (Fellowship Program) in a manner inconsistent with the requirements of Title VI.”
That investigation is ongoing.
UW-Madison’s website currently appears to have no information regarding the Fellowship Program.
Case Documents
Media Coverage
- Scholarship programs for students of color crucial at UW, Emily Otten, The Badger Herald (April 16, 2024)
- Education Dept investigating Wisconsin university fellowship called discrimination ‘on its face’, Gabriel Hays, Fox News (March 28, 2024)
- UW-Madison ‘Students of Color’ program under Dept. of Education investigation, Matt Lamb, The College Fix (March 27, 2024)
- Feds open investigation after complaint about UW-Madison fellowship for students of color, Sarah Lehr, Wisconsin Public Radio (March 26, 2024)
- DoE Civil Rights Office Opens Investigation Into UW-Madison ‘BIPOC’ Fellowship After Complaint By Equal Protection Project, William A. Jacobson, Legal Insurrection (March 25, 2024)
- US Dept. of Education investigating UW-Madison after allegations of discrimination, Chad Thompson, 27wkow.com (March 25, 2024)
- Education Department opens civil rights investigation into University of Wisconsin, Breccan F. Thies, Washington Examiner (March 25, 2024)
- University Faces Federal Civil Rights Investigation For Race-Based Fellowship Program, Katelynn Richardson, Daily Caller (March 25, 2024)
- Anti-affirmative action group files complaint against BIPOC scholarship program, Anna Kristoff, The Badger Herald (January 25, 2024)
- U. Wisconsin-Madison Scholarship Program Open Only To “BIPOC” Students Challenged By Equal Protection Project, William A. Jacobson, Legal Insurrection (January 22, 2024)
- UW- Madison hit with civil rights complaint over scholarship program for BIPOC students, Kyle Pozorski, Channel3000 (January 22, 2024)
- Conservative group files civil rights complaint against UW, alleging discrimination against white students in fellowship program, Robert Chappell, Madison365 (January 22, 2024)
- ‘Blatant Discrimination’: University Of Wisconsin Faces Civil Rights Complaint Over Race-Based Fellowship Program, Katelynn Richardson, Daily Caller (January 22, 2024)