A state appeals court last week struck down as unconstitutional a state statute establishing a college scholarship program for minority students attending private and technical colleges.
The District II Court of Appeals opinion overturned a decision by Jefferson County Circuit Judge William Hue who had upheld the state statue challenged by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), a conservative advocacy law firm.
The District II Court unanimously found that the statute and the Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. and state constitutions.
In 1985, the Wisconsin Legislature enacted a statute establishing the program, which financially supported needy Black American, Native American and Hispanic undergraduate students enrolled in Wisconsin private colleges. The program was later broadened to include needy private and technical college undergraduates who were former citizens of Laos, Vietnam or Cambodia or whose ancestors were citizens of those countries.
The grant program is administered by the state Higher Educational Aids Board, which, with its executive secretary, are the only defendants in the suit.
The yearly grants ranged from $250 to $2,500 per eligible sophomore, junior and senior technical or private college students. In the 2021-22 school year, $819,000 was allocated for the program.
WILL filed suit in 2021 contending that the grant’s racial qualification bars many otherwise deserving students and does not comply with the U.S. Supreme Court requirements imposed on other programs that give public benefits based on race.
A similar scholarship grant for Universities of Wisconsin system students was not challenged in the case.
In its appeal brief, WILL acknowledged the disparities in graduation rates among different racial groups but the list of eligible students doesn’t include former residents of India or Thailand. One of the five plaintiffs is a Thailand native and whose son is ineligible for the grant.
The state contended in its appeals brief that program is constitutional as it furthers diversity in higher education, a compelling public interest that the Supreme Court has recognized.
In ruling for the plaintiffs, Judge Mark Gundrum wrote: “(The statute) and the related grant program are unconstitutional on their face. In so holding, we adhere to the refocusing of the Equal Protection Clause by the (2023 U.S. Supreme Court 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College) for the realization of the promise, ideal and hope of equal protection.”
In a news release WILL attorney Dan Lennington said, “The appellate judges agreed with WILL that the state of Wisconsin can offer aid based on need, income level or personal hardships — but not race. Their comprehensive decision marks a turning point in the fight for true equality for both our state and country.”
Austin Retzlaff, financial aid manager at the College of Menominee Nation, said the some of the school’s approximately 300 students have received the state grant. However, losing that funding source doesn’t represent a “big hurt.”
“It (aid) all helps but in the scheme of things, it doesn’t amount to a big hurt,” Retzlaff said March 7.
The HEAB tells the college how much aid it will receive from the Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant program. Retzlaff submits names of students to the board, which determines who is eligible for the grant. The grant is then divided up between the eligible students, which Retzlaff said typically ranges between $300 and $500.
Tuition for full-time undergraduate schools at the college is $3,000 per semester, said Retzlaff.
More CMN students are assisted by the federal Pell Grant program, said Retzlaff, which can total $7,395 for the school year.
A spokesperson for the HEAB said that the board was studying the opinion and would have no further comment on it.
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