White OU students suing university with claims of racial discrimination in financial aid

Beau Simmons, The Norman Transcript, Okla.
·3 min read

May 17—Three University of Oklahoma students have filed a class action lawsuit, claiming the university discriminates by rewarding financial aid based on race.

The students suing OU are white.

Brayden Johnson, Logan Rhines, and Kayla Savage are claiming OU provides financial aid to minority students that is not available to white students. The suit claims OU is violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

"Rather than determining who to admit based on their race, the University of Oklahoma determines how much financial aid it gives to students based on their race. That is unlawful," the complaint reads. "Universities that discriminate on the basis of race when making financial-aid awards violate the same equal protection principles that apply in the admissions context and elsewhere."

"The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the government from considering race when providing public benefits — such as financial aid — except when the government can satisfy strict scrutiny. This is an exceedingly high standard. The government must show that racial preferences serve a compelling government interest and are narrowly tailored to that interest. No other showing will suffice. And Title VI requires, at minimum, that recipients of federal funding meet this same exacting standard—strict scrutiny—when using racial classifications.Defendants' use of race to allocate financial-aid resources cannot survive strict scrutiny."

The students are all undergraduates, according to the court document, though Johnson is listed as enrolled in an accelerated master's degree program. Rhines is a junior, and Savage is a senior. All three students applied for financial aid identifying as white and non-Hispanic, according to the complaint.

In Savage's complaint, she claimed she was told by the University of Oklahoma's Office of Admissions that financial aid was "generally not available to students like her, but would have been if she were African-American."

Savage is a member of OU's chapter of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit that advocates for conservative causes in schools.

In a statement to The Transcript, The University of Oklahoma said its distribution of financial aid is lawful.

"The University of Oklahoma takes seriously its obligations to students and to properly administering financial aid," the statement reads. "While we cannot comment on the specifics of ongoing litigation, our policies and procedures adhere to applicable laws."

Over the last two years in Oklahoma, state lawmakers have pushed through legislation that eliminates Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs as well as outlawing Affirmative Action hiring in public universities.

The complaint also criticizes an OU "Welcome Weekend" event it claims as racially exclusionary as a multi-day orientation for incoming Black students.

The suit seeks compensation that would be measured at trial based on any financial aid they would have been "wrongfully deprived of because of their race."

The University of Oklahoma and OU President Joseph Harroz are named as defendants. Also named as defendants in the suit are Jeff Blank, vice president for Division of Enrollment Management; Courtney Henderson, executive director of Financial Aid Services and Dorion Billups, director of Connection and Student Engagement.