Are race-based scholarships on their way out?

Some colleges and universities have put race-based scholarships on hold. Carlos Barquero via Getty Images by Jeffrey C. Sun, University of Louisville and Charles J. Russo, University of Dayton The fate of hundred of millions of dollars in scholarship money is up in the air in Ohio after seven state universities put race-conscious programs on hold to check their legality. The review comes after Dave Yost, the state’s attorney general, advised administrators in a call that using race as a factor to award funds may be unconstitutional. Yost’s guidance was based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which banned consideration of a student’s race in college admissions, except under limited conditions. Yost’s interpretation of the court’s opinion should not have been a surprise. The day after the Supreme Court’s decision, he had signaled that schools should clamp down on race-conscious programs. He warned that “disguised” race-conscious admissions policies are still race-conscious admissions policies. Targeting racial criteria Although Ohio did not consider race-conscious scholarships right after the Supreme Court decision came down, other states acted quickly to place such scholarships on the chopping block. Missouri’s attorney general immediately banned the use of...