Feds accuse Southern Illinois University of bias against whites

CHICAGO — The U.S. Justice Department has threatened to sue Southern Illinois University next week unless the college opens up three paid fellowship programs once reserved for minority and female students.

The government says it will file the lawsuit because the fellowships discriminate against "whites, nonpreferred minorities and males," according to a letter dated Nov. 4.

Federal officials say the graduate programs, which include stipends, violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which bars employment discrimination.

In its reply, the university has asked for more time to "consider appropriate modifications" and to provide the Justice Department with information about the programs, a spokeswoman for the university in Carbondale said.

"We have no reason to believe that these programs are discriminatory," said spokeswoman Sue Davis.

The threatened lawsuit comes more than two years after the U.S. Supreme Court said universities can consider race in college-admissions decisions, but only among other factors, and that each applicant must be evaluated individually.

If the government sues, it would be the first to legally challenge race-specific outreach programs at colleges and universities, said Sheldon Steinbach, general counsel for the American Council on Education, which represents 1,800 college and university administrators.

Though the Supreme Court decision was regarded as a win for universities that wanted to keep affirmative-action policies, schools nationwide have since opened up minority scholarships, fellowships, academic-support programs and summer-enrichment classes to students of any race.

College officials, fearing lawsuits, have generally interpreted the court ruling to mean they can no longer offer race-exclusive programs designed specifically to help minority students, Steinbach said.

A Northwestern University summer program, for example, was opened to all students last summer.

At the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, a program for minority engineering students that provided internships, scholarships and tutoring was renamed and broadened to include nonminority students.

Universities, however, have been reluctant to change fellowships and other programs tied to financial aid that could make a difference in where a student chooses to attend.

"Are there schools out there who are still retaining race-specific scholarships? There probably are. But the mainstream of schools have amended their programs to make them race-neutral," Steinbach said.