George Floyd Memorial Scholarship Accused Of Discrimination Against Non-Black Students, Legal Complaint Claims Program Violates The Civil Rights Act

A free speech organization has called for an investigation into North Central University’s George Floyd Memorial Scholarship.

On Mar. 25, the Legal Insurrection Foundation filed a complaint against the award fund with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

George Floyd

According to the non-profit, the eligibility terms of the George Floyd Memorial Scholarship are violations of Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which “prohibits intentional discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in any ‘program or activity’ that receives federal financial assistance.”

The document read,

“We write on behalf of the Equal Protection Project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, a non-profit that, among other things, seeks to ensure equal protection under the law and non-discrimination by the government, and that opposes racial discrimination in any form.”

They expanded:

“We bring this civil rights complaint against North Central University for creating, supporting and promoting the George Floyd Memorial Scholarship — an undergraduate scholarship that engages in invidious discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin.”

Skyline of North Central University

If you didn’t know, the Minnesota college’s criteria for the program are listed on their official website, where they describe the scholarship as “a way to invest in a new generation of young Black Americans.”

The said breaching of the terms seems to focus on their stipulation that the applicant must be “a student who is Black or African American.

via North Central University’s website

Legal Insurrection Foundation president William A. Jacobson, Esq. and The Equal Protection Project’s Ameer Benno, Esq. have requested a look into the initiative and enforcement.

They concluded in their statement,

“We respectfully ask the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to impose remedial relief as the law permits for the benefit of those who have been illegally excluded from NCU’s George Floyd Memorial Scholarship based on racially discriminatory criteria, and to ensure that all ongoing and future programming through that university comport with federal civil rights laws.”

The George Floyd Memorial Scholarship is a four-year, full-tuition grant for Black students. It’s an honor of the late George Floyd who horrifically died at the hands of police brutality in 2020.

He was murdered by a white officer named Derek Chauvin, who knelt on his neck for nearly 10 minutes after a store clerk suspected that Floyd had paid him in counterfeit money.