Nicole Neily President | Parents Defending Education
On April 9, 2025, Defending Education (DE), an organization opposing racial discrimination in schools, lodged a complaint against the University of California, Berkeley, citing alleged racial discrimination linked to a scholarship program. The complaint asserts that UC Berkeley’s "Environmentalists of Color" scholarship violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
This scholarship at UC Berkeley offers a $10,000 recurring award and is administered through the university’s Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC). The scholarship aims to "help bridge institutional gaps in support of Environmentalists of Color" and to support "passionate students of color working in the environmental field at UC Berkeley." According to the criteria, applicants must be registered students at UC Berkeley and identify as a person of color who is passionate about environmentalism.
The DE complaint to the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights argues that the scholarship represents a form of racial discrimination. It references two seminal Supreme Court cases, including Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which declared school racial segregation unconstitutional, and a more recent case in 2024, Students for Fair Admission, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.
A 2015 decision by the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, under similar circumstances, found a school district had violated the Equal Protection Clause and Title VI, highlighting that programs must assess non-racially discriminatory alternatives and consider diversity inclusively.
The petition calls for a Department of Education investigation into UC Berkeley’s scholarship program, urging swift action to correct any identified unlawful policies.
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