University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) is discriminating against prospective and current students because it is on a mission to raise its percentage of Hispanic students high enough to qualify for millions in federal aid. Why? The federal government leads colleges and universities into achieving racial and ethnic quotas by dangling the money in front of them, practically pushing them to meet the quotas.
Title V of the Higher Education Act provides $350 million each year for Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs). To qualify, an HSI must have an undergraduate population that is at least 25 percent Hispanic.
Such an ethnic quota is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause and inconsistent with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And it creates perverse incentives for institutions to alter admissions, outreach, and scholarship programs to admit more Hispanic students and fewer non-Hispanics.
UNR has fallen into this trap. Its new scholarship program, aimed at Hispanics, banks on the stereotype that these students speak Spanish. Perhaps worst of all, the scholarship requires a double major, including Spanish, which limits educational options for those on the scholarship.
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When the university’s percentage of Hispanic students reached 15 percent in 2013, it became an “emerging” HSI for being 10 points away from the quota. That is actually quite a distance: an emerging HSI would need to increase its Hispanic numbers by 67 percent to go from 15 to 25 percent Hispanic. Even so, UNR has been working to get to 25 percent ever since.
UNR’s five-year plan starts with enrollment, which includes executing its “DEI Strategic Action Plan” to gain HSI status—and to reach another status that comes with a quota and money, the status of Asian American, Native American, and Pacific Islander Serving Institution. For this so-called AANAPISI status, the quota is only 10 percent. UNR does not appear to be trying to reach Predominantly Black Institution status, which requires a black student quota of 40 percent.
This year, under president and former Nevada governor Brian Sandoval, the “first Hispanic” in various Nevada roles, the university announced the winners of a new Hispanic-focused scholarship, the Redfield Hispanic Gateway Scholarships program. UNR had reached 23 percent and just needed another push!
Working from the stereotype that Hispanic students speak Spanish, the scholarship gives students $10,000 across their junior and senior years if they double major in Spanish and another major. The program’s leadership and creators acknowledged that gaining HSI status was key to establishing the scholarship.
Double majoring means having far fewer electives. To draw in more Hispanic students, the university incentivizes them to learn less, be exposed to less diversity of academic subjects, and spend tuition dollars on what they already know—according to the stereotype.
Other universities, no doubt, game their admissions, scholarships, and outreach to hit the ethnic, racial, and national origin quotas that unlock a lot of money. But UNR may be the first to egregiously and explicitly execute its motives in writing. Accordingly, on October 14, I filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights—for this violation and others. The evidence makes it clear that this program is far from neutral with respect to ethnic identity.
The federal government offers millions of dollars to colleges and universities that meet unlawful racial and ethnic quotas in a variety of programs. They take the bait, committing unlawful acts themselves. My crusade against the federal quotas probably makes me a Don Quixote since identity groups and universities in the money can be strong constituencies. But the perverse incentives need to stop.
This piece originally appeared in Minding the Campus
