CARBONDALE, Ill.
Federal prosecutors are threatening to sue Southern Illinois University over three small graduate school scholarship programs aimed at women and minorities, saying they were discriminatory.
SIU “has engaged in a pattern or practice of intentional discrimination against Whites, non-preferred minorities and males,” the Justice Department said in a letter. A copy of the letter was obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The graduate scholarships, or fellowships, violate Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, the department said. The letter demands SIU discontinue the fellowship programs or its civil rights division will sue the university by Nov. 18.
One U.S. senator from Illinois says the move may be more about boosting President George W. Bush’s sagging approval ratings than about discrimination.
“It strikes me as a completely unnecessary and divisive move and one that I think may be pretty cynical in its motive,” Democratic Sen. Barak Obama says.
Bush’s popularity has been steadily sliding as casualties from the Iraq war keep climbing. The president’s approval rating is now at 37 percent in the latest AP-Ipsos poll, an all time low point of his presidency.
