The American Alliance for Equal Rights is suing the Hispanic Scholarship Fund for excluding non-Hispanic students from the Insignia Scholarship Program.
SOURCE: American Alliance for Equal Rights
AUSTIN, Texas , December 4, 2025 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Today, the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (“HSF”), challenging the legality of HSF’s flagship “HSF Scholarship Program”.
The lawsuit alleges that HSF violates 42 USC § 1981, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, by limiting eligibility for its HSF Fellows Program to applicants who “identify as being of Hispanic heritage,” thereby excluding qualified students who are Asian, white, black, or members of other non-Hispanic groups.
According to the lawsuit, the HSF program is not simply a cash handout, but a contractual agreement. In exchange for the opportunity to compete for thousands of dollars in scholarship funds and access to mentorship, lectures, and exclusive job and internship opportunities, applicants must:
Create an HSF account and accept the HSF Terms of Use and Privacy Policy;
Grant HSF a worldwide license to use its name, image and likeness;
Consent for the collection and extensive use of your personal data;
Agree to a waiver of liability, a waiver of class action, a waiver of jury trial, an arbitration agreement, and other binding provisions;
Complete essays and, if you are seeking scholarship funding, submit documentation of financial aid.
The Alliance’s complaint argues that because HSF conditions access to this package of contractual benefits on a student being at least one-quarter Hispanic/Latino, it illegally denies non-Hispanic students the “same right”.
The lawsuit is filed on behalf of two AAER members who wish to apply to the program, but are excluded solely because they are not Hispanic:
Student A, an Asian-American high school senior with a 4.0 GPA who plans to enroll full-time at a four-year college and meets all non-ethnic eligibility requirements.
Student B, a non-Hispanic white law student with a GPA of 3.63 who will be a full-time junior law student in the 2026–27 academic year and who also meets all non-ethnic criteria.
Both students, the complaint explains, want to apply for the financial awards, mentorship, and career opportunities exclusive to the HSF Scholars Program, but are blocked at the threshold because they do not “identify as being of Hispanic heritage.”
AAER asks the court to:
Declare that the HSF Scholars Program violates 42 USC § 1981.
Issue a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction preventing HSF from closing the current application window or selecting winners while the Court considers the merits.
Permanently require HSF to use ethnic origin directly or through representatives in the administration of its program.
Award nominal damages and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.
Edward Blum, president of the American Equal Rights Alliance, said: “The Hispanic Scholarship Fund is free to support students of Hispanic descent, but it is not free to exclude talented young men and women from other backgrounds from an important national scholarship program solely because they are of the ‘wrong’ ethnicity.”
Blum added: “Asian-American students, white students, and black students should have the same right to compete for scholarships based on their merit, not their ancestry.”
