Reparations and Higher Education: How Public Universities May Offer Reparation Scholarships to African American Students After Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Journal Abbreviation

Tenn. J. Race Gender & Soc. Just.

Abstract

According to Frederick Douglass, education is emancipation and the means of freedom. Education is a “priceless gift.” This gift is especially significant for Black students, considering the historical denial of their access to education. Today, in the Information Age, higher education is key to individual economic success. It is a tool for breaking the cycle of poverty. But for many Black students, higher education can perpetuate the cycle of poverty due to onerous college debt. One path to lightening the financial burden is reparation scholarships.

Reparations consist of a multitude of efforts. Colleges have begun addressing their ties to slavery through various actions including providing public apologies, renaming buildings, equalizing enslaved-descendant and legacy status, and offering scholarships for descendants. This Article focuses on scholarships for descendants. Public apologies are important but insufficient. Concrete benefits such as reparation scholarships are needed to concretely aid Black students because, first, Black people lost wealth, among other things, due to past racial discrimination. Second, education aids, such as scholarships, provide timely assistance to Black students who benefit instantly from college opportunities that might be lost while waiting for a more comprehensive reparations program. Third, scholarships, while not the ultimate solution to resolving the legacy of slavery, are an important part of the solution. As Professor Brooks notes, “[T]he perfect should not be the enemy of the good.”

This article discusses how states and their public universities may provide reparation scholarships to Black students. Section II identifies the obligation of public universities to provide reparation scholarships to Black students. Section III explains why a reparation scholarship program is not a racial classification and thus does not implicate Equal Protection concerns. Section IV further explains how a reparation scholarship program, even if viewed as a racial classification, satisfies strict scrutiny analysis under the Equal Protection framework. Section V explores additional considerations to address for any university seeking to offer reparation scholarships.

First Page

1

Last Page

25

Publication Date

2024

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS