Ohio AG’S office advises against scholarships based on race
Office cites Supreme Court decision on college admissions.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office has told Ohio’s universities they should reconsider using race as a factor in scholarship awards and eliminate race in admission considerations following a 2023 Supreme Court decision.
The 2023 decision, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, has forced universities to review the role of race in admissions processes and many U.S. universities have already made changes, including, most recently, schools in Florida.
“Although the Court did not expressly prohibit race-based scholarships, it indicated that ‘eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.’ Racebased scholarships discriminate on the basis of race in awarding benefits,” said Bethany Mccorkle, communications director for the Ohio AG’S office. “Therefore, it would follow that such programs are unconstitutional.”
It’s not clear how many racebased scholarships are available at Ohio universities. Many scholarships are offered based on athletic ability, GPA, ACT or SAT score, class rank, status as a first-generation college student or essays.
One Ohio State University scholarship, the Land Grant scholarship, offers a full ride to students with Pell-eligibility and academic ability with a goal of offering it to two students in each of Ohio’s 88 counties.
Very few of Ohio’s public universities admit students based on race, according to the Common Data Set, a list of standardized questions about students at each university. The questions are a collaboration from the College Board, Thomson Peterson’s and U.S. News & World Report, and include a set of questions about how admissions decisions are made.
The public Ohio universities that reported using race in the 2022-23 school year on the Common Data Set were Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati, but both said that has been discontinued. The CDS data shows that when race was used, it was less important than GPA and test results, and considered the same as a recommendation at both universities.
“I think it’s important to note that even though there is a combination into one authority, all the properties that make up the parks owned by the city of Springfield will be retained by the city of Springfield. We are not getting rid of our parks,” Estrop said.
“Those remain the property of Springfield, as will other parks that may be developed in the future.”
Estrop emphasized the importance of parks and recreation to the community.
“Recreational opportunities are so important for people within a community,” Estrop said. “And we have some quality recreational opportunities here, and we’ve been adding to them. I applaud this move and think it will take us in a very positive direction.”
Castillo said progress is being made on the redevelopment of Davey Moore Park.
“We met with the playground company for the playground at Davey Moore, and they will be starting work next week. We also have a meeting scheduled with the skateboard company that will be installing the skateboard park at Davey Moore,” she told city commissioners.
The playground is to include a boxing theme as a tribute to Davey Moore, the former boxing champion from Springfield.
Work for a pump track at the Sherman Avenue Park is also underway. The pump track provides an asphalt track with banked turns and hills that bikes, scooters and skateboards can use. Asphalt work will likely start the third week of April, Castillo said.
The Community Development Department secured Block Grant funding for both the Davey Moore and Sherman Avenue Park projects. The skatepark at
Davey Moore is budgeted at $300,000, and the Sherman Avenue pump track has a budget of $350,000, provided through federal Block Grant funding.
The merger transition positions the departments to bring uniform maintenance practices to each of the 30 parks in Clark County, to reduce overlapping services and programs and to create less confusion for park goers.
Collectively, NTPRD and the Clark County Park District manage roughly 2,000 acres of parkland, more than 50 miles of multiuse trails and roads, as well as 12 nature preserves, 164 acres of wetlands and more than 12 miles of river.
The combined park system will also manage the Carleton Davidson Baseball Stadium, the Chiller ice rink, Springfield’s skateboard park and Splash Zone, all recreation hubs currently managed by NTPRD.
The merger was previously slated to be complete in July 2023, but it was delayed when officials said more planning was needed. It was then scheduled to be completed by Dec. 31 but was delayed for the consolidation of finances.
The park districts have merged before. In 1999, the city of Springfield’s park district and the county’s park district formed a joint district and had a contract to fulfill programming and maintenance through the joint district. That move kicked off a 13-year, $17 million capital campaign that included the $6 million Splash Zone Family Aquatic Center, the $2.6 million Carleton Davidson Baseball Stadium and the $8.5 million NTPRD Chiller ice arena.
That combined district was led by two governing boards and two directors. The partnership ultimately split into the Clark County Park District and NTPRD in 2009 because of financial hurdles after several attempts at passing a levy failed.