A federal appeals court has refused to reinstate a discrimination case against Savannah State University by four White football recruits who were offered athletic scholarships by a White head coach but didn’t receive them from the coach’s Black replacement.
In 2010, Robert Wells, who is White, verbally offered scholarships to the recruits, only one of whom ― Forrest Hill ― was a Georgia resident.
SSU replaced Wells with Julius Dixon, who is Black, several weeks before national signing day when scholarships can be officially offered and accepted.
Dixon offered all the scholarships to Black recruits from Georgia who qualified for lower in-state tuition and thus cost less to the football program.
In a civil rights suit against the university, Dixon and other SSU officials, a lower court judge dismissed all claims by the three out-of-state White recruits. A jury sided with Dixon on Hill’s remaining discrimination claim, finding that race wasn’t a motivating or substantial factor in the new coach’s decision not to award Hill a scholarship.
The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously upheld that outcome.
Claims by the non-residents were properly dismissed because they were not “similarly situated” to Black Georgia residents eligible for in-state tuition, the panel said.
