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OPINION: North Central University makes final revisions to eliminate racially discriminatory program

A Christian college in Minnesota will no longer exclude white, Asian, Latino, and Native American students from a scholarship following years of activism by a civil rights activist, media attention, and federal complaints.

North Central University’s edits to its “George Floyd Memorial Scholarship” came after The College Fix raised the issue last March and the Legal Insurrection Foundation filed a federal complaint. However, civil rights activist Mark Perry told The Fix after publication he had tried multiple times to get the Department of Education to open an investigation since 2021, in addition to contacting leadership at the college.

The scholarship, created in 2020, originally made clear it discriminated on the basis of race, noting only “young Black Americans” should apply. As Perry pointed out to The Fix, the scholarship is now called the “Floyd Scholarship.”

Only students who were “Black or African American, that is, a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa,” could apply.

“We believe that the George Floyd Memorial Scholarship will enable North Central University to increase our number of Black students who will impact the learning environment in a positive manner,” the university website stated at the time.

Following the federal civil rights complaint and The Fix’s reporting, the university made slight edits. Some time around July 2024, the school removed some language about black students from an introductory paragraph.

However, the actual scholarship application still asked students if they “identify as being a student [of] African descent (Black, African American, African, or Mixed).” Meanwhile, a page describing the history of the scholarship fund still included racially discriminatory language.

However, today that page has now been completely removed and The Fix could not identify any other explicit references to race on the application materials.

Legal scholar William Jacobson, who filed the initial complaint through his Legal Insurrection Foundation and its Equal Protection Project, expressed cautious optimism in a statement to The Fix.

“If North Central has completely eliminated racial eligibility barriers to the George Floyd Scholarship, then that is a victory for equality and equal access to education,” Jacobson told The Fix on Tuesday. “Removal of a website page may reflect a change in practices at North Central, but we would have to know more about what is going on behind closed doors.”

“Is the scholarship truly being administered on a non-discriminatory basis, or are the discriminatory practices continuing out of sight,” the Cornell University law professor said. “We call on North Central to provide transparency and clarity.”

Civil rights have been advancing ever since President Donald Trump took office.

Under President Trump’s leadership, colleges and K-12 schools have been put under further scrutiny for their discrimination against students, particularly white and Asian students.

Federal civil rights law, including the Constitution, is clear – no person can be discriminated against on the basis of their race.

Unfortunately, racial discrimination still remains in this country. For example, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson recently boasted about going out of his way to hire black people. He also made a racist statement, claiming that non-black employees do not look out for everyone.

“When you hire our people, we always look out for everyone else. We are the most generous people on the planet,” Johnson said. He then went on to list all the officials he hired who are black.

The comment is of course a contradiction – if he, a black man, explicitly hires on the basis of race, then he is not looking out “for everyone else.” Rather, he is only looking out for his “people.”

Thankfully, President Donald Trump and his Department of Justice promptly opened a federal civil rights investigation about his comments.

North Central University rid itself of racially discriminatory policies – it is time for Chicago to do the same.

Editor’s note: The article has been updated with further information from Mark Perry.

MORE: Harvard president takes 25% pay cut amidst funding battle with Trump

IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: A person holds up a sign commemorating George Floyd; Expensive/Shutterstock

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