{"id":273831,"date":"2025-12-04T01:09:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T17:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/english-american-alliance-for-equal-rights-sues-hispanic-scholarship-fund-for-excluding-non-hispanic-students-from-flagship-scholarship-program\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T02:20:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T06:20:02","slug":"la-alianza-americana-para-la-igualdad-de-derechos-demanda-al-fondo-de-becas-hispanas-por-excluir-a-estudiantes-no-hispanos-del-programa-de-becas-insignia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/la-alianza-americana-para-la-igualdad-de-derechos-demanda-al-fondo-de-becas-hispanas-por-excluir-a-estudiantes-no-hispanos-del-programa-de-becas-insignia\/","title":{"rendered":"American Alliance for Equal Rights Sues Hispanic Scholarship Fund for Excluding Non-Hispanic Students from Flagship Scholarship Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\"><![CDATA[\n\/* Style Definitions *\/\nspan.prnews_span\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\na.prnews_a\n{\ncolor:blue;\n}\nli.prnews_li\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\np.prnews_p\n{\nfont-size:0.62em;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\nmargin:0in;\n}\n]]><\/style>\n<div class=\"xn-content\">\n<p><span class=\"legendSpanClass\"><span class=\"xn-location\">AUSTIN, Texas<\/span><\/span>, <span class=\"legendSpanClass\"><span class=\"xn-chron\">Dec. 3, 2025<\/span><\/span> \/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE\/ &#8211; Today, the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the <span class=\"xn-location\">District of Columbia<\/span> against the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (&#8220;HSF&#8221;), challenging the legality of HSF&#8217;s flagship &#8220;HSF Scholars Program.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"PRN_ImbeddedAssetReference\" id=\"DivAssetPlaceHolder4971\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/2837874\/AAFER_Hispanic_Scholarship_Fund_Complaint_As_Filed_12_3_2025_FINAL.pdf?p=original\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/2837874\/AAFER_Hispanic_Scholarship_Fund_Complaint_As_Filed_12_3_2025_FINAL.pdf?p=pdfthumbnail\" title=\"\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The complaint is attached.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint alleges that HSF violates 42 U.S.C. \u00a7 1981, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, by limiting eligibility for its HSF Scholars Program to applicants who &#8220;identify as being of Hispanic Heritage,&#8221; thereby excluding otherwise qualified students who are Asian, white, black, or members of other non-Hispanic groups.<\/p>\n<p>According to the lawsuit, the HSF&#8217;s program is not simply a gift of money but a contractual arrangement. In return for the opportunity to compete for thousands of dollars in scholarship funding and access to mentoring, conferences, and exclusive job and internship opportunities, applicants must:<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>Create an HSF account and agree to HSF&#8217;s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy;<\/li>\n<li>Grant HSF a worldwide license to use their name, image, and likeness;<\/li>\n<li>Consent to extensive collection and use of their personal data;<\/li>\n<li>Agree to a liability waiver, a class-action waiver, a jury-trial waiver, an arbitration agreement, and other binding provisions;<\/li>\n<li>Complete essays and, if seeking scholarship funds, submit financial-aid documentation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Alliance&#8217;s complaint contends that because HSF conditions access to this package of contractual benefits on a student being at least one-quarter Hispanic\/Latino, it unlawfully denies non-Hispanic students the &#8220;same right.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit is brought on behalf of two AAER members who wish to apply to the program but are barred solely because they are not Hispanic:<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>Student A, an Asian American high school senior with a 4.0 GPA who plans to enroll full-time at a four-year university and meets all non-ethnic eligibility requirements.<\/li>\n<li>Student B, a non-Hispanic white law student with a 3.63 GPA who will be a full-time third-year law student in the 2026\u201327 academic year and likewise meets all non-ethnic criteria.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Both students, the complaint explains, want to apply for the HSF Scholars Program&#8217;s financial awards, mentoring, and exclusive career opportunities, but are blocked at the threshold because they do not &#8220;identify as being of Hispanic Heritage.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>AAER asks the court to:<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>Declare that the HSF Scholars Program violates 42 U.S.C. \u00a7 1981.<\/li>\n<li>Issue a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction preventing HSF from closing the current application window or selecting winners while the Court considers the merits.<\/li>\n<li>Permanently enjoin HSF from using ethnicity directly or through proxies in the administration of its program.<\/li>\n<li>Award nominal damages and reasonable attorneys&#8217; fees and costs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span class=\"xn-person\">Edward Blum<\/span>, president of the American Alliance for Equal Rights, said, &#8220;The Hispanic Scholarship Fund is free to support students of Hispanic heritage but it is not free to exclude talented young men and women of other backgrounds from a major national scholarship program solely because they are the &#8216;wrong&#8217; ethnicity.<\/p>\n<p>Blum added, &#8220;Asian American students, white students, and black students should have the same right to compete for scholarships based on their merit, not on their ancestry.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Contact:<br \/><span class=\"xn-person\">Edward Blum<\/span><br \/><a href=\"mailto:edwardjayblum@gmail.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">edwardjayblum@gmail.com<\/a><br \/>703-505-1922<\/p>\n<p>PDF &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/edge.prnewswire.com\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=4571898-1&amp;h=490930034&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F2837874%2FAAFER_Hispanic_Scholarship_Fund_Complaint_As_Filed_12_3_2025_FINAL.pdf&amp;a=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F2837874%2FAAFER_Hispanic_Scholarship_Fund_Complaint_As_Filed_12_3_2025_FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/2837874\/AAFER_Hispanic_Scholarship_Fund_Complaint_As_Filed_12_3_2025_FINAL.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"PRN_ImbeddedAssetReference\" id=\"DivAssetPlaceHolder0\">\n<\/div>\n<p>SOURCE  American Alliance for Equal Rights<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"xn-content\">\n<p><span class=\"legendSpanClass\"><span class=\"xn-location\">AUSTIN, Texas<\/span><\/span>, <span class=\"legendSpanClass\"><span class=\"xn-chron\">Dec. 3, 2025<\/span><\/span> \/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE\/ &#8211; Today, the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the <span class=\"xn-location\">District of Columbia<\/span> against the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (&#8220;HSF&#8221;), challenging the legality of HSF&#8217;s flagship &#8220;HSF Scholars Program.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"PRN_ImbeddedAssetReference\" id=\"DivAssetPlaceHolder4971\">\n<p>&lt;a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-educacion"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273831"}],"version-history":[{"count":"2","href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273840,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273831\/revisions\/273840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}