In 1992 Illinois lawmakers passed legislation creating the Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program (MTI). Its purported aim was to alleviate a teacher shortage by recruiting minority students to pursue teaching careers at Pre-K through high school levels.
It awards scholarships of up to $7,500 per year for tuition, fees, room & board, and commuter allowances and up to four years of full-time college enrollment. Scholarship winners must commit to one year of teaching at an Illinois school with at least 30% minority enrollment for each year of assistance.
Eligibility requirements are extensive: students must meet residency, academic, and financial standards. Nevertheless, these scholarships are only for non-white students, specifically, students who are “African American/Black, Hispanic American, Asian American or Native American origin, or a qualified bilingual minority.”
There are no exceptions. Students who do not belong to these preferred racial groups are completely excluded from even applying.
College costs don’t discriminate—they price people of all races out of higher education. This includes at least one member of the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER), a nationwide advocacy organization dedicated to eliminating racial distinctions and preferences in America. AAER’s student member in Illinois dreams of attending college to be a teacher and would fully qualify to compete for the state’s scholarship program if race weren’t a factor.
It’s wrong for the government to deny individuals access to government benefits on the basis of race. Moreover, it’s unconstitutional.
The equal protection guarantee of the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment protects individuals from government discrimination due to arbitrary classifications like race. Excluding students from a state-funded scholarship program because of their race blatantly violates the Equal Protection Clause.
If Illinois officials want to fund college scholarships for deserving students, they can do so. What they can’t do is use race to favor some applicants at the expense of equal opportunity for others.
Represented at no charge by Pacific Legal Foundation, AAER is fighting back with a federal equal protection challenge to restore equal treatment and educational opportunity for all students, regardless of race.
What’s At Stake?
- Illinois cannot disqualify students from competing for a taxpayer-funded college scholarship because of their race. Race-based discrimination is unjust, demeaning, and unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause.
