Scholarship for Black students must be reconsidered

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Supreme Court found the University of Iowa’s suit seeking to modify the terms of a scholarship gift was improperly dismissed. A Black professor left a scholarship bequest to the university in gratitude for the school educating him during the Jim Crow era, establishing a scholarship for “Black students majoring in the physical sciences, preferably chemistry.” The terms of the scholarship must be dissected upon remand since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Students for Fair Admissions that universities could not use race-based preferences in admissions. The school may not simply repurpose it for first-generation students, however, and “an advocate for the donor’s intent” must be involved in the modification process.