Ohio law schools drop race-based scholarships, programs 

Five public law schools in Ohio have dropped race-based scholarships and internships from their academic programs following an investigation by the Buckeye Institute, an Ohio-based free-market public policy think tank. 

The law schools are at Cleveland State University, Ohio State University, the University of Akron, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Toledo, according to a press release from the Buckeye Institute. 

“Federal law and the U.S. Constitution prohibit discrimination based on race,” explained David C. Tryon, director of litigation at the Buckeye Institute. “Although the goals of these programs were laudable, it is a victory for the Constitution and the rule of law that all of the law schools ended these discriminatory programs or opened them to all applicants.” 

Earlier this year the institute sent letters to each school requesting all records related to any race-based scholarships, internships, fellowships and other opportunities in the schools’ programs. 

Letters also were sent to several Ohio bar associations and law firms concerning their possible participation in race-based clerkships, internships and scholars programs. 

The letters noted that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling found all racial discrimination is unconstitutional, regardless of intent, and that multiple recent lawsuits have been successful in challenging race-focused programs similar to those implemented in Ohio. 

As reported by the College Fix, the Buckeye Institute launched its investigation in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 rulings in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina. 

The two decisions found using race-based affirmative action programs in university admissions is unconstitutional, a ruling that overturns nearly 50 years of legal precedent on affirmative action. 

In response to the records received from the law schools, the Buckeye Institute told the schools the programs in question “breached Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution,” reports College Fix. “As a result, the five Ohio law schools are making the necessary changes.” 

A spokesman for the Ohio State University Law School told College Fix the school is now “updating scholarships to ensure compliance with the law. While this work is underway, we continue to award scholarships and are managing scholarships on a case-by-case basis in an effort to provide all possible financial support without taking protected class into consideration.” 

The Buckeye institute says as a result of its investigation all five law schools have “removed illegal and unconstitutional race-based requirements for their scholarships and internship programs.” 

The CenterSquare.com reports the letters to Ohio legal groups came weeks after the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) had sent a letter to the University of Wisconsin requesting it stop using race as a priority when choosing recipients for a number of awards and fellowships given at the university. 

Additionally, WILL has targeted similar race-based scholarships, awards and programs at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, UW-Parkside and UW-Whitewater.