George Floyd Memorial Scholarship's race-based eligibility criteria violate Civil Rights Act, federal complaint alleges

A federal complaint filed by Cornell law professor William Jacobson claims that a George Floyd memorial scholarship offered by North Central University in Minneapolis, Minnesota, violates the Civil Rights Act by discriminating based on race.

In addition to the federal Civil Rights Act, the complaint argues that the scholarship also violates Minnesota's Human Rights Act, which makes it a criminal offense for educational institutions to limit access to any educational program on the basis of race.

Jacobson believes that the Supreme Court's recent decision on affirmative action should make it clear that race-based discrimination is illegal. "After the Supreme Court's decision in [Students For Fair Admissions], it is clear that discriminating on the basis of race to achieve diversity is not lawful," he told The College Fix. "As Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the majority opinion, '[e]liminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.'"

We recently paid a visit to the University of Waterloo to report on the “black folx” only swim sessions at its swimming pool. Yes, a new version of apartheid is alive and well in the U of W’s recreation centre.https://t.co/cKKhXSNez4

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In his concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch stated that it doesn't "matter if the recipient discriminates against an individual member of a protected class with the idea that doing so might favor the interests of that class as a whole or otherwise promote equality at the group level."

The Supreme Court's affirmative action ruling stemmed from allegations that Harvard University discriminated against Asian and white students by enrolling students of other races over them, even when the Asian and white students had better test scores.

Jacobson is calling on North Central University to develop a remedial plan to compensate students who were excluded from the George Floyd Scholarship due to its discriminatory eligibility criteria.