On April 9, 2025, Defending Education (DE) filed a complaint against Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. DE claims SIUC is breaking Title VI, a law that bans race discrimination in programs that receive federal funds, and Title IX, a law that bans sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funds. DE also claims SIUC is violating the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, which bars government bodies, including public schools, from treating people differently because of their race or sex without a very strong reason.
SIUC’s Vice Chancellor for Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion lists 33 awards, scholarships, fellowships, and internships that are only for, or that favor, students of certain races or one sex. They are run by offices across the university, from Enrollment Management to the Graduate School. For example:
• The Wrophas and Dianne Meeks Academic Excellence Scholarship requires students to “be of African-American heritage.”
• The College of Education African American Award goes to an education major “who is an African American.”
• The Beatrice and Bayard Scotland Scholarship is “[a]warded to a female student.”
• The Roland Burris Financial Emergency Fund, which helps students facing a financial emergency, says “[p]reference may be given to Black American students.”
Many of these awards also require financial need. That means a struggling student can lose out on help because of their race or sex. That breaks Title VI, Title IX, and the Equal Protection Clause. As the Supreme Court said in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023), “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.” And the Department’s own February 2025 guidance says schools may not hand out scholarships based on race, even when race is only a “plus factor.”
Defending Education urges the Department to investigate every claim in its complaint, fix SIUC’s illegal policies and practices, and order the right remedies.
Read the full complaint below:
