Tennessee Sues US Education Department Over Grants for Hispanic-Serving Colleges [View all]

Source: US News and World Report/Reuters

June 11, 2025, at 5:16 p.m.


(Reuters) - Tennessee's Republican attorney general and the group behind the U.S. Supreme Court's decision barring race-conscious college admissions filed a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging a U.S. Department of Education program that awards grants to universities if Hispanics comprise 25% or more of their student bodies.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and Students for Fair Admissions, a group founded by affirmative action opponent Edward Blum, argued in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Knoxville that Congress unconstitutionally exceeded its authority by creating a program that discriminates on the basis of race.

"A federal grant system that openly discriminates against students based on ethnicity isn’t just wrong and un-American—it’s unconstitutional,” Skrmetti said in a statement. The Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The group's arguments would appear to align with the efforts by Republican President Donald Trump's administration to eliminate programs it views as furthering the objectives of diversity, equity and inclusion, which the White House calls discriminatory. The lawsuit takes aim at the Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program, which Congress created as part of Titles III and V of the Higher Education Act with the goal of supporting colleges and universities that serve a significant percentage of Hispanic students.

Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2025-06-11/tennessee-sues-us-education-department-over-grants-for-hispanic-serving-colleges