In a March 14 press release, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced that over 50 colleges and universities, including Ithaca College, are under investigation for alleged racial discrimination.

IC is under investigation for alleged impermissible race-based scholarships following a complaint filed by the Equal Protection Project on June 24, 2024, alleging that the Rashad G. Richardson “I Can Achieve” Memorial Scholarship and the African Latino Society Memorial Scholarship were discriminating against students based on their race by only being available for students of color.

The complaint claims that the scholarships violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. 

At the time of the complaint, the individual descriptions for the African Latino Society Memorial Scholarship and the Rashad G. Richardson “I Can Achieve” Memorial Scholarship stated that they were awarded to select students who exemplify leadership in BIPOC Unity Center programs or other programs across the college.

The complaint cited a description of both scholarships, stating that they are intended to recognize students of color. The descriptions of both scholarships were changed at some point after the complaint to the current descriptions. 

In the Intercom post that announced the applications for the scholarships for the 2024-25 academic year, the post stated that the scholarships are awarded to students of color. The same criteria is present in the announcement for the scholarships for the 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years.

Emily Rockett — vice president, general counsel and secretary to the Board of Trustees — said she does not know when the criteria for the scholarships changed or the specific details of why the scholarship changed from being intended to recognize students of color to being awarded to select students who exemplify leadership in BIPOC Unity Center programs or other programs across the college.

William Jacobson — clinical professor and director of the Securities Law Clinic at Cornell University and founder of the EPP — said via email that IC changing the scholarship requirements on its website, does not negate the civil rights violation.

“The titling of scholarships and conditions for receipt are important and may signal racial and ethnic exclusion,” Jacobson said. “That violates the law regardless of whether some races were physically excluded because the promotion of a segregated scholarship would dissuade, in this case, whites from even applying.” 

Rockett said she does not believe the past language of the scholarship descriptions will impact the outcome of the investigation because the OCR typically proposes a resolution agreement aimed at establishing compliance going forward. She said that generally, the parties enter into a resolution agreement — a formal agreement to resolve a conflict. 

“If there were a finding of noncompliance, then there is a procedure that OCR would go through and we would go in front of an administrative law judge, and it would be adjudicated whether the college would continue to be eligible for Title IV [financial] aid,” Rockett said. “That process is extraordinarily rare.”

There is no law or court ruling that prohibits scholarship criteria from being based on a protected class status, including race. Antonio Ingram II, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said the complaint was based on an argument that the scholarships violate the Civil Rights Act, rather than legal precedent.

“I would say that based on the present state of law … there’s not a current legal precedent that makes those scholarships prohibited,” Ingram II said.

The investigation follows the DOE’s Feb. 14 Dear Colleague letter that threatens to revoke federal funding for all schools that do not remove Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. The letter applies the decision of the 2023 Supreme Court case, Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College — the landmark case that declared race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions to be unconstitutional — to all aspects of student, academic and campus life, including scholarships.

Ingram II said SFFA v. Harvard did not include a fact pattern that entailed scholarships for racial minorities. He said the DOE is attempting to make universities comply with the mandates of the executive branch.

“We see the Trump administration trying to expand that precedent to encompass facts that were never before court,” Ingram II said. “And I think that’s quite troubling because as a civil rights lawyer, that’s not how the law works.”

Rockett said that it is unlikely that the college loses Title IV funding because it would have to go through a long court process. However, she said that federal grant money could be pulled.

“It wouldn’t be as financially crippling as it is for institutions that have built up entire operational centers around the availability of federal funds,” Rockett said. “For us, it would really put a [damper] on some faculty research that is federal grant funded. But we don’t have a ton of faculty or staff whose entire salaries are funded by federal grants.”

Jacobson said his goal and the goal of the EPP at large is to end discrimination and seek accountability. He said that without compliance from schools, he believes repercussions are necessary and should be based on the severity determined by the Department of Education’s assessment.

“IC should apologize for these discriminatory programs and implement measures to compensate students who were excluded based on the racially discriminatory promotion,” Jacobson said. “IC would do better to admit what it had done and explain that it has changed its practices, rather than potentially misleading the campus by talking only in the present tense. The community deserves better.”

Cliff-Simon Vital, interim director of the BIPOC Unity Center, said he received messages from students after the investigation was first in the press. 

“I think there’s a sense of panic, there’s a sense of dread, there’s a sense of fear,” Vital said. “I want to reiterate that we continue to comply and our scholarships … are not based off of race. It’s not a question we ask. It’s not a determining factor.” 

Junior Duda Formoso, the recipient of the African Latino Society Memorial Scholarship for the 2023-24 academic year, said the scholarship helped support her as an international student from Brazil paying her own way through college. 

“When I got the scholarship, I was so happy because I felt valued and included,” Formoso said. 

According to the Office of Analytics and Research, 70.5% of the student body at IC in Fall 2024 were white. Formoso said scholarships for students of color can help them find belonging at predominantly white institutions.

“It shows us that we deserve to be here and we can be here,” Formoso said. 

Vital said he and the staff at the BIPOC Unity Center were sent an email March 14 from the college informing them that they cannot speak about specifics of the investigation on any public platform. Any press inquiries should be directed to Rockett. The email also informed him that he is not allowed to delete or change any past correspondence related to the scholarships or investigation. 

“It’s not just Ithaca College,” Vital said. “It’s, ‘Can we apply for FAFSA in a couple of weeks?’ and ‘Will there be a Department of Education in a couple of weeks?’ So it’s not just this. It’s the state of the world.”

Duda Formoso was the community outreach manager for The Ithacan in Spring 2024