The U.S. Department of Education has opened a federal civil rights investigation into the University of California, Berkeley, over three campus student programs and two scholarships that serve Black and Latino students.
The investigation was disclosed in a November 3 letter from the department's Office for Civil Rights to the Legal Insurrection Foundation, the conservative nonprofit that filed the complaint. The California Post first reported the letter, and the department verified it and confirmed that it is investigating the university for alleged violations of federal civil rights law.
The complaint, filed February 10, targets the university's African American Student Development Office, the Black Resource Center and the Latinx Student Resource Center, along with the African American Initiative Scholarship and the Lloyd A. Edwards Scholarship. It alleges the programs and scholarships discriminate on the basis of race, color or national origin.
The complaint argues that even if the resource centers do not turn students away, their names and descriptions are likely to discourage students outside the named racial or ethnic groups from taking part. It also alleges the two scholarships have eligibility criteria that exclude applicants based on race. The African American Initiative Scholarship, funded by the San Francisco Foundation and administered by the Cal Alumni Association, says it provides financial support to African American students, and its eligibility requirements include identifying as Black or African American. The Lloyd A. Edwards Scholarship is intended to support Black or Native American undergraduate students at UC Berkeley.
UC Berkeley said in a statement that it "is fully committed to creating a learning environment that is free from all forms of discrimination." The university said the two scholarships are awarded by outside sources, not by university, federal or state money, and that its student resource centers are open to all students regardless of identity. It added that all students who demonstrate financial need are eligible for support, and that about two-thirds of its undergraduates qualify for aid.
The Legal Insurrection Foundation rejects the outside-funding argument. Its president, William A. Jacobson, said a public university must comply with the 14th Amendment's equal protection guarantee no matter where the money comes from, and that an open investigation is "an extremely significant step" because not every complaint is opened for investigation. The November 3 letter, signed by OCR Chief Attorney Anamaria Loya, also warns the university against retaliating against anyone who files a complaint or participates in the investigation.
Why it matters: the probe puts programs built to support Black students under federal scrutiny, and it is the latest in a series of federal actions against California's public universities over race and diversity programs. In March 2025, the administration opened investigations into admissions policies at Stanford and three UC campuses, and the Justice Department found UC Berkeley Law had discriminated against white and Asian applicants in admissions in 2024 and 2025. An investigation is not a finding of wrongdoing — it is the start of a process that will test whether the programs comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Sources:
- Top California school under federal investigation over race-based scholarships, student centers