Feds open civil rights investigation into University of San Diego over six race-based scholarship programs

The U.S. Department of Education has opened a formal civil rights investigation into the University of San Diego over six scholarship programs that restrict eligibility based on race or ethnicity.

In an Oct. 22 letter, the department's Office for Civil Rights notified the university it will examine whether the scholarships violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars race-based discrimination by recipients of federal funds.

USD is a private Catholic university that receives federal financial assistance, placing it under Title VI jurisdiction.

The six programs under investigation are:

- The FUSO Alumni Network Scholarship, which gives preference to Filipino students. - The Comité México Scholarship, limited to students with "Mexican or Mexican-American heritage." - The Black Alumni Network Scholarship, which prefers African-American students. - The Latino Alumni Network Scholarship, which prefers Latino/a students. - The Augusto Boal Endowed Scholarship, which prefers "students of color." - The Gwendolyn Brooks Endowed Scholarship for the Study of Humanities, limited to "students of color."

The investigation stems from a February 2025 complaint filed by the Equal Protection Project, a group founded by Cornell law professor William Jacobson. The complaint argues the scholarships create unequal eligibility standards that treat similarly situated students differently based on race.

"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 the complaint.

The complaint cites the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which struck down race-based admissions, and a February 2025 OCR "Dear Colleague" letter stating that discrimination based on race, color or national origin remains illegal "under any banner," including DEI or anti-racism framing.

OCR emphasized that opening the investigation "is not itself evidence of a violation" and that it will remain neutral while collecting and analyzing evidence.

Jacobson told the California Globe that he believes USD's DEI scholarship policies continued to operate even after his 2025 complaint. He noted that many universities have quietly removed or restricted access to their race-based scholarship programs since the Harvard decision.

"Prior to the 2024 election, colleges and universities openly promoted a lot of information on these programs," Jacobson said. "After Trump's election, you could hear the sound of websites being taken down."

The investigation is the latest in a series of OCR actions targeting race-exclusive programs at universities nationwide following the Harvard ruling.