Today, the Justice Department announced that it has closed a compliance review of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI). The Department opened this review based on a provision of the Community Behavioral Health Care Professional Loan Repayment Program that required ISAC to set aside at least 30% of funding for applicants who are of “African American or Black, Hispanic or Latinx, Asian, or Native American origin.” After the Department notified ISAC of the compliance review, Illinois removed this DEI criteria from the Program as well as a number of other programs administered by ISAC.
“State agencies may not accept funds from the Department of Justice and then use race, color, or national origin to decide who benefits from them,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department appreciates that the State of Illinois has recognized that ISAC cannot lawfully base its funding decisions on unlawful criteria and has removed them from this program and others administered by ISAC.”
Title VI prohibits race, color, or national origin discrimination by recipients of Federal financial assistance, including the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Additional information about the Civil Rights Divisions is available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt.
