UW-Madison Sued for Continuing Race-Based Scholarships After Supreme Court Ruling
Conservative groups, including one run by Scott Walker, say university has 20 programs.
Students walking along Johnson Street on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Bill Martens/WPR
Five top administrators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are named in a lawsuit involving former Gov. Scott Walker targeting race-based scholarships.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, Walker’s organization — Young America’s Foundation — and Citizens Defending Liberty filed the suit Monday in Waukesha County Circuit Court.
The groups allege race-based scholarships and grants at Wisconsin’s flagship university are discriminatory and violate the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment.
The lawsuit names Interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots, Provost John Zumbrunnen and three others.
It comes one month after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled undergraduate retention grants for certain minority students are unconstitutional.
“While UW-Madison has abandoned several race-based scholarships and grants since 2023, UW-Madison has resisted abandoning them entirely,” according to the latest complaint.
It names the Universities of Wisconsin System’s Lawton Undergraduate Minority Retention Grant Program.
The Lawton program was created by lawmakers in 1985 for minority undergraduate students to “improve their opportunities for retention and graduation and lessen the burden of student debt.”
“The Lawton Program is far from the only race-based scholarship or grant at UW-Madison,” according to the complaint. “UW-Madison currently administers at least 20 race-based scholarships in both the undergraduate and graduate schools, many of which lack the same level of public transparency as the Lawton Program.”
UW-Madison student Jenna Lawrence is a plaintiff in the case.
“Students should earn scholarships for merit and financial need, not simply due to their race,” Lawrence said in a statement. “I am proud to stand alongside YAF and WILL and argue for our universities to treat all students equally.”
Gillian Drummond, a spokesperson for UW-Madison, said the university just received the complaint and is still reviewing it.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling in June was based on the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 that significantly curtailed race-based college admissions.
The U.S. Supreme Court laid out five independent tests that a racial classification must survive to pass constitutional scrutiny. WILL says the UW scholarships do not pass those tests.
“The University of Wisconsin-Madison continues to administer scholarships and grants to students based on race, and it’s happening with our tax dollars,” WILL deputy counsel Rebecca Furdek said in a statement. “WILL is holding the university accountable so eligibility for scholarships doesn’t depend upon the color of a student’s skin.”
UW-Madison sued for continuing race-based scholarships after Supreme Court ruling was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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