UW-Madison in Legal Trouble Over "Race-Based Scholarships"

The university "continues to offer and promote race-based scholarship awards in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964," according to a federal complaint

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is violating the law by offering “several racially discriminatory scholarship programs” to students, according to a recent legal complaint sent to the U.S. Department of Education.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, on behalf of the Young America’s Foundation (YAF) and YAF UW-Madison, alleged that the university “currently offers at least 60 scholarships that use race as a factor.” One of these scholarships required that the recipients be white, while numerous others looked for “underrepresented student[s] of color” or similar racial criteria.

The complaint argues that, because UW-Madison receives federal funding, it is subject to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Among other things, Title VI prohibits the university from discriminating against students “on ground of race, color, or national origin” when it comes to forms of financial aid. It says UW is violating this because, even though the scholarship money is not necessarily given by the university, it acts as an intermediary by advertising these scholarships on the Wisconsin Scholarship Hub (WiSH).

The Title VI complaint “asks the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to open an investigation and direct UW-Madison to stop offering, awarding, and promoting scholarship programs that use race as a factor.”

Courtney Graves, who serves as the chairwoman of Wisconsin YAF, told The Madison Federalist, “It is important that the university reward students based on merit, not immutable characteristics. Racial discrimination should have no place in the 21st century.”

WILL Associate Counsel Nathalie Burmeister said in a press release, “Under Title VI, federally funded universities like UW-Madison cannot restrict scholarship awards and other financial aid to students based on race, but that’s exactly the current practice. In 2025, WILL plans to find, pursue, and eliminate these activities.”

The Universities of Wisconsin previously abandoned “over 160 race-based scholarships” after pressure from WILL, but UW-Madison “refused to publicly acknowledge and confirm that it would eliminate its racially discriminatory scholarship programs.”

WILL submitted a public records request to the university last March requesting a “list of each scholarship, fellowship, or award available at UW Madison for the current school year in which the race of the recipient is a factor.” After “months of delay,” UW provided a spreadsheet with the scholarships listed on WiSH alongside eligibility requirements. However, university officials “do not know how many scholarships they offer and whether they contain racial criteria” because some may not be listed on WiSH.

The Title VI complaint is part of a broader initiative by WILL to “eliminate ‘diversity, equity & inclusion’ programs in all levels of the federal government.”

“The effort in total represents at least $124 billion in federal spending and mirrors the Trump administration’s stated goals of eliminating DEI – and all race-based programs – because they are unconstitutional and unlawful, distort the free market through unnecessary regulations, and otherwise waste taxpayer money.”

Editor’s note: Courtney Graves serves as managing editor of The Madison Federalist, but played no role in the writing or editing of this article.