DEI Industrial Complex: University Of San Diego’s Discriminatory Scholarship Programs Under Investigation

The DEI Industrial Complex is getting a much-needed inspection.

The Equal Protection Project filed a complaint in February 2025 with the U. S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, for discriminatory scholarship programs at the University of San Diego. The OCR just opened and investigation.

Equal Protection Project Founder William Jacobson, a law professor at Cornell,  told the California Globe that he believes the DEI policies at the University of San Diego continued to operate even after his 2025 complaint.

“These scholarship programs set up unequal standards of eligibility so that students similarly situated are treated differently based on race and ethnicity, in clear violation of Title VI,” Jacobson wrote in 2025 to OCR.

Some of the scholarships just state a discriminatory preference while others are completely exclusionary, limiting participation to members of a particular racial or ethnic group.

This isn’t Jacobson’s only complaint – this is one on a growing list.

Jacobson’s civil rights complaint against the University of San Diego alleges that six race and ethnicity-based scholarships violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

USD is a private Catholic university; as a recipient of federal funds, it is subject to Title VI, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance.

“USD has scholarships available ‘across the college and all the schools, in undergraduate and graduate programs, and based on a variety of admissions criteria, such as merit and financial need.’ Many of these scholarships are departmental and require a separate application4, while other awards are automatically determined by the USD Office of Undergraduate Admissions,” the complaint says.

The complaint lists six programs on USD’s website:

• FUSO Alumni Network Scholarship: Preference for a Filipino student (open to those who worked to better the Filipino community experience).
• Comité México Scholarship: Requires Mexican or Mexican-American heritage.
• Black Alumni Network Scholarship: Preference for an African-American student.
• Latino Alumni Network Scholarship: Preference for a Latino/a student.
• Augusto Boal Endowed Scholarship: Preference for students of color.
• Gwendolyn Brooks Endowed Scholarship for the Study of the Humanities: Preference or eligibility tied to “student of color.”

The complaint argues these create unequal eligibility standards for similarly situated students based on race or ethnicity. It cites the Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision and a February 14, 2025, OCR “Dear Colleague” guidance letter stating that discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin remains illegal “under any banner,” including DEI or anti-racism framing, and applies to scholarships and financial aid.

Equal Protection Project requested that OCR open a formal investigation, provide remedies for excluded students, and ensure future compliance. 

I contacted USD Public Affairs with the following request:

In February 2025, the Equal Protection Project filed a complaint with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, for discriminatory scholarship programs at the University of San Diego.

The OCR has opened an investigation.

Can you please tell me the status of the scholarships listed below?

 (1) the FUSO Alumni Network Scholarship which indicates a preference for Filipino applicants;

(2) the Comité México Scholarship which limits eligibility to those with “Mexican or Mexican-American heritage”;

(3) the Black Alumni Network Scholarship which indicates a preference for African-American applicants;

(4) the Latino Alumni Network Scholarship which indicates a preference for “Latino/a” applicants;

(5) the Augusto Boal Endowed Scholarship which indicates a preference for “students of color”; and

(6) the Gwendolyn Brooks Endowed Scholarship for the Study of Humanities, which limits eligibility to “students of color.”

USD never responded to my request.

As the Globe reported last year, The complaint makes clear that justifying the exclusive scholarship as a way to achieve diversity is not legally valid.  “Regardless of USD’s reasons for offering, promoting, and administering such discriminatory scholarships, USD is violating Title VI by doing so. It does not matter if the recipient of federal funding discriminates in order to advance a benign “intention” or “motivation.”

The result here is blanket discrimination. “Because USD’s racial and/or ethnicity-based requirements for these scholarships are presumptively invalid, the use of such criteria violates state and federal civil rights statutes.”

The OCR replied to Jacobson in October, announcing that “OCR is opening an investigation to examine whether the University discriminates based on race, color, or national origin by promoting and/or administering,” listing the six scholarship programs.

According to Jacobson, San Diego University has to provide the requested information to the OCR.

Prior to the 2024 election, colleges and universities openly promoted a lot of information on these programs. After Trump’s election, “you could hear the sound of websites being taken down,” Jacobson said. And now, a lot of schools hide DEI scholarship programs behind login walls, limiting access to the public, or simply rebranded them.

Notably, Wisconsin voters just passed an amendment limiting DEI practices at public colleges, Campus Reform reported Sunday. “The new constitutional provision bars public institutions from granting preferences based on race, sex, ethnicity and other protected characteristics. The measure follows a similar constitutional amendment approved by Michigan voters in 2006 and later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.”