FIX EXCLUSIVES
A civil rights complaint has been filed against Florida State University alleging 32 scholarships at the school discriminate based on race or gender.
“We didn’t expect to find such a large number of discriminatory scholarships at a major state university in the anti-woke Free State of Florida,” stated the Equal Protection Project, which recently filed the complaint.
For example, FSU scholarships that were flagged included wording such as “it is the preference … that the recipient be an African American/Black student” and “the preference … that the recipient be a female.”
The university’s Crossman Career Builders Scholarship states “it is the preference of the donor that the recipient be a female who is Black/African American, Hispanic, or a member of the Seminole Tribe.”
“Such word games cannot evade the civil rights laws and equal protection constitutional guarantee,” the complaint read.
The Office for Civil Rights is currently evaluating the case, according to the project.
The complaint alleges the scholarships violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, barring racial discrimination, Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments, barring gender-based discrimination, and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, which prohibits discriminatory legislation toward specific demographics.
In a statement to The College Fix, FSU defended its scholarships.
“All Florida State University students are eligible to apply for and receive the scholarships listed. These scholarships are funded entirely through private donations—not institutional funds—ensuring they remain accessible to all students without affecting the university’s budget,” Amy Farnum-Patronis, senior director of the Office of University Communications, told The Fix.
While donors may express preferences, these do not constitute eligibility requirements. All applicants are evaluated equally based on merit, and no student is disqualified or given an unfair advantage due to donor preferences,” she said via email.
But Cornell Law Professor William Jacobson, founder of the Equal Protection Project, disagrees.
“FSU frequently references the ‘preference of the donor’ for discrimination. That is not a defense for FSU since it is promoting the scholarships in a manner that would dissuade non-favored groups from applying,” he stated.
Precedent may be on the project’s side. Ragin v. the New York Times Co., which dealt with the Fair Housing Act, found that discriminatory favoritism can be implied via subtle phrasing, including “preference” toward certain demographics at the expense of others.
One legal expert told The Fix correcting campus discrimination is important work.
“Legal actions like this one are the only way to rid our higher education system of them once and for all. Every last dollar of federal funding must be threatened,” said Leigh Ann O’Neill, senior legal strategy attorney for the America First Policy Institute.
“It’s not just the elite universities like Cornell, Columbia, and Harvard engaging in discriminatory DEI tactics…it’s happening everywhere,” she told The Fix via email.
To date, the Equal Protection Project states it has filed more than 70 Office for Civil Rights complaints.
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IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: Florida State University’s seal / YouTube screenshot
