The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced on March 14 that several institutes for higher education, including the University of Alabama, are under investigation for alleged violations of the Civil Rights Act. 

UA was listed as one of seven schools that are being investigated for either allegedly offering “impermissible race based scholarships” or engaging in “race-based segregation,” according to a release from the OCR which announced investigations of 52 different institutes of higher education. In their press-release, the OCR said that six universities were being investigated for “alleged impermissible race-based scholarships” and only one was being investigated for “race-based segregation,” but it doesn’t clarify which college of the seven is being investigated for “race-based segregation.”

In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard that race-based admission policies violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. 

The ruling caused a large stir in the education sphere, since most institutes of higher education at the time professed a dedication to using policies now deemed a constitutional violation to increase diversity within their universities. 

In her dissenting opinion, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson professed concerns that the change would widen the already existing gaps for minorities in education and income. 

“History speaks. In some form, it can be heard forever,” wrote Jackson. “The race-based gaps that first developed centuries ago are echoes from the past that still exist today.  By all accounts, they are still stark.”

Currently, according to statistics provided by Pew Research, both Black and Latino populations have a lower percentage of adults who have received a bachelor’s degree or more in higher education. 

Following his inauguration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs for groups receiving federal funding. Then, on Feb. 14, Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary for the office of civil rights at the Department of Education, released a letter titled “Dear Colleague” which reiterated the administration’s policy and stated that “The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions.” 

Currently, none of UA’s listed scholarships reference race or DEI initiatives, though two of the scholarships do give priority to students “whose enrollment would enhance the diversity of the College of Education’s student population.” UA has already removed a scholarship which did focus on specifically supporting students of color.

In addition to new federal rules, a new state law banned state funding for DEI programs. Following the law coming into effect, campuses state-wide closed DEI offices, with many of them replacing them with new offices serving a similar function, but without a specific focus on race. 

UA closed down the Safe Zone, a center that promoted LGBTQ+ support and programming and removed access to campus offices to the Black Student Union. UA also stopped awarding the National Recognition Scholarship, which was offered to Black, Latino and Native American students that attended high school in a rural area or small town, held a cumulative GPA of 3.3 and had either scored in the top 10% of PSAT test takers or earned a 3-plus on 2 or more AP exams. 

UA replaced the scholarship with the UA Competitive Achievement Scholarship, which has no race specific requirements. 

Alabama top stories in brief

House passes bill to increase legal penalties for undocumented immigrants

• HB3 would specifically increase penalties for crimes and offenses where the victim was a minor and the person committing the crime or offense was an undocumented immigrant. 

• If passed into law, it would effectively bump the conviction of an undocumented immigrant for any felony up to the next classification, and in the case of misdemeanors, regardless of class, it would require that they be charged for a Class C felony. 

Alabama plans second execution for 2025

• James Osgood, who was convicted of the 2010 murder of Tracy Brown and sentenced to death, has been scheduled to be executed in late April. 

• Osgood will be the second execution of 2025, following the execution of Demetrius Frazier by nitrogen gas in February. 

DOJ drops lawsuit against Alabama Secretary of State

• The U.S. Department of Justice along with several voting rights groups filed to dismiss their suit filed against Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen for a plan to conduct last minute updates to the voter rolls. 

• The initiative was meant to remove noncitizens from the rolls, however, several legal citizens of Alabama were caught in the sweep and joined with several voting rights groups to file suit.

• A judge halted the program, finding that it violated the National Voter Registration Act because it failed to conduct its large-scale changes at least 90 days before the federal election.

• The plaintiffs in the case cited Allen’s end of the program as their reason for filing for a dismissal. 

• The DOJ said they were giving “Alabama the time and space to develop a legal, efficient, and effective process to remove non-citizens from their voting rolls,” in their filing.

New round of briefs filed call for retrial of Toforest Johnson

• A series of new briefs were filed by criminal justice advocates and signed by former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones and former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley, asking the Jefferson County Court Judge Kandice Picket to grant a request by Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr for a retrial of Toforest Johnson, who has been on death row for nearly 30 years.

• Johnson was sentenced to death row after he was convicted in 1998 of killing Deputy Sheriff William G. Hardy, who died in a shooting in 1995.

• Johnson’s case has been a focal point for many criminal justice advocacy groups for years now, and has drawn national attention, with much of the controversy resting upon the key witness, Violet Ellison, who was paid a reward by the state for her testimony and who was a witness in other criminal cases.

• One of the jurors who sentenced Johnson to death row wrote a guest article that was published on AL.com calling for his release and citing the fact that jurors were unaware Ellison was rewarded for her testimony. 

• An appeal arguing that the prosecutors failed to turn over all relevant evidence in the government’s possession that could help the defendant was dismissed by Alabama courts, but later remanded back to those courts in 2017 by the U.S. Supreme Court, who ruled the dismissal improper.

• During their second appeal, evidence for the payment given to Ellison was discovered, and state attorneys argued that there was no evidence Ellison knew she would be rewarded, and therefore the payment was irrelevant. A reward for up to $10,000 for information leading to a conviction was offered by then Gov. Fob James. 

• Alabama’s Attorney General’s office continues to argue against permitting a retrial for Johnson, stating that “Johnson previously litigated the same or similar grounds as those presented in the amended successive petition.”

At least three confirmed dead in wake of tornadoes as officials take stock

• Following the tornadoes on March 15, damage from the storms is still being assessed, but at least two deaths have been confirmed in Dallas County and one in Talladega County.

•  The National Weather Service has confirmed at least five tornadoes touched down, but a total of 15 to 17 potential tornado tracks are currently under investigation, and confirmation could take a few days. 

• Workers with the Alabama American Red Cross are working with officials to assist those affected. 

Announcements

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