Ohio University halts race-based scholarships to comply with SCOTUS affirmative action ruling
Ohio University has paused its race-based scholarships as the school reexamines its policies to make sure they are aligned with the court's June ruling.
'Race-based scholarships discriminate on the basis of race in awarding benefits,' an Ohio Attorney General spokesperson recently stated.
Ohio University has put its race-based diversity scholarships on pause in the wake of the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling from last summer.
“We are temporarily pausing the awarding of impacted scholarships, which represent a small but important subset of our annual awards, as we contemplate any necessary revisions,” the school announced on Feb. 22.
The university stated that race-based scholarships that have already been granted will not be affected. It will, however, not give out any new race-based scholarships until the policies have been reviewed.
“[A]s a public institution, we must abide by state and federal laws,” the university said in the statement. “Within that context, following the June Supreme Court decision in the Harvard case, we began a process to review selection criteria for admissions and scholarships as well as language in our gift agreements.”
“Amid a complex and evolving legal landscape, this is a time-consuming undertaking,” the school continued. “The work to date has helped us identify gift agreements that include language that may need to be revised.”
Immediately after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision against race-based affirmative action in college admissions, the Ohio Attorney General’s office informed state colleges and universities that they need to eliminate race as a factor in the admissions process.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost wrote in a letter on June 30, 2023 that, “In light of [Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard], institutions of higher education and institutional employees must immediately cease considering race when making admissions decisions.”
A spokesperson for the Ohio AG also recently stated that race-based scholarships violate the Supreme Court’s decision from last summer.
“What was said in response to a question was after the recent Supreme Court decision, scholarships will need to be looked at to ensure compliance with the law,” Bethany McCorkle wrote in an email, as reported by the Ohio Capital Journal.
“Although the Court did not expressly prohibit race-based scholarships, it indicated that ‘eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,’ she said. “Race-based scholarships discriminate on the basis of race in awarding benefits. Therefore, it would follow that such programs are unconstitutional.”
Eddith Dashiell, the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism director at Ohio University, also told the Ohio Capital Journal that a university communications official said that the school is “deleting every single diversity scholarship.”
“(The Supreme Court decision is) being stretched to include diversity scholarships,” Dashiell stated.
[RELATED: MSU awarding DEI scholarships for ‘inclusive excellence’]
Ohio University spokesperson Dan Pittman stated that it is uncertain whether the race-based scholarships will return in a revised fashion or will be deleted permanently.
“If it is determined revisions to any gift agreements are necessary, the University will work closely with donors on the implementation of those revisions,” Pittman said in an email, according to the Journal. “Because this review is ongoing, it would be premature for us to comment further on any potential outcomes, including the scope of impacted gift agreements.”
Campus Reform has contacted Ohio University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
