Professor fights ‘racially exclusionary’ George Floyd scholarships for violating students’ civil rights

Mark Perry—an emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a former economics professor, and graduate of the University of Minnesota—has filed 10 civil rights complaints since George Floyd memorial scholarships were first offered at Minnesota colleges and universities.

Perry joined Liz Collin on her podcast to discuss these scholarships—and how they violate students’ civil rights.

“This is really an important national issue. One thing that’s important about it is that this trend of the George Floyd Memorial Scholarships started in Minnesota,” Perry explained.

“North Central University, which hosted the first of three funeral or memorial services for George Floyd back in 2020. At that memorial service … the president of the school said … he was introducing a George Floyd Memorial Scholarship exclusively for black students, which again was completely illegal to do that,” Perry continued.

“Not only did he announce that he was starting a scholarship for black students only, North Central challenged every other college president in the country to follow his lead and introduce George Floyd scholarships across the country,” he said.

He also outlined how, along with the University of Minnesota, Bethel University, Metropolitan State, Hamline University, and St. Catherine University in Minnesota, many other colleges throughout the U.S. followed suit, which led to an even bigger problem considering civil rights.

Civil rights violations

“The problem is that in terms of Title VI—which is the federal law that protects individuals against discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin—there are no exceptions,” Perry explained.

“Title VI of the Federal Civil Rights Act that was passed in 1964 clearly says that if you’re a recipient of federal funds you have a legal obligation and you have to certify to the Department of Education as a condition of getting the federal funds … you have to agree to actively enforce all federal civil rights laws, which include discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, and age,” he added.

In pinpointing the problem, Perry said that if these scholarships were “not racially exclusionary, it would be legal.”

However, as he explained to Collin, “many of the universities, including North Central, Bethel, Hamline and St. Kate’s introduced scholarships that were exclusively for black students only, which is a clear violation.”

“It just kind of illustrates that higher education is really in some ways a corrupt and unprincipled enterprise because they accept federal funding,” Perry noted.

The status of George Floyd memorial scholarships in Minnesota

Alpha News found some of the scholarships are no longer accepting donations, including the University of Minnesota. When asked about the status of the George Floyd memorial scholarship, a university spokesperson replied that the scholarship is “on hold.”

However, other schools still seem to be holding George Floyd up as some kind of hero, despite the facts and mandates to dismantle DEI.

For example, St. Catherine University, a private Catholic school in St. Paul, published a story about its scholarship just this summer.

When asked about its George Floyd scholarship, St. Catherine University provided a statement:

“The history and values of St. Catherine University and our founders inspired a response to the call for racial justice brought forth by the death of George P. Floyd, Jr. on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The George Floyd Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund, established with a donor’s gift, is an answer to this call and fuels St. Kate’s mission of education as an expression of social justice.

The George Floyd Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund is a prestigious annual scholarship intended to support students seeking an education they can use to launch a career focused on leading and promoting social justice, specifically related to racism. There are no eligibility restrictions, other than that the recipient be a current student pursuing a degree at St. Catherine University.

As a generous donor established the fund for this scholarship, we will continue to award the scholarship as long as the donor wishes it to continue.”

Perry pointed out that “some schools have been challenged and they’ve had to change … five of the George Floyd scholarships that I challenged were changed, including at Hamline and Bethel, locally here in Minnesota where they agreed to change the eligibility to accept all students regardless of their race, color, or national origin.”

“I think that universities have kind of realized they’re on shaky legal ground when they’re restricting scholarships on the basis of race, including the George Floyd Scholarship,” Perry said.

George Floyd memorial scholarships and fraud

Perry also discussed the scholarships from a broader perspective considering rampant fraud in Minnesota.

“Minnesota is really in some ways the leader in fraud, which has been in the news lately. And in terms of the universities in Minnesota, especially the University of Minnesota, I would describe their behavior as academic fraud in many ways,” Perry said.

Perry explained to Collin how “the University of Minnesota is one of the worst serial violators of federal civil rights laws in the entire country. Of the thousand complaints that I’ve filed against probably more than 900 schools, I’ve filed 28 individual complaints against the University of Minnesota for their continued ignoring of their legal obligation to enforce Title IX and Title VI.”

“It’s really a disgrace and a disappointment. As a U of alumni, it’s embarrassing,” he added.

 

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