Midwest
Urbana-Champaign's 'diversity of discrimination' with scholarships violates Civil Rights Act: Law professor
A law professor helping push a complaint against the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for 42 “illegal” scholarships that “discriminated” against applicants said it’s “crystal clear” that they violate the Civil Rights Act.
The Legal Insurrection Foundation’s Equal Protection Project, a civil rights organization, filed the complaint, arguing the scholarships are in violation of Title IX or Title VI.
“We think it’s crystal clear that these do violate the Civil Rights Act,” Cornell Law School professor and founder of the Legal Insurrection Foundation William Jacobson told Fox News Digital. “For some of them, they use terms like ‘minority,’ and so we have included a definition that the school uses of ‘minority’ to make clear that that is a racial and color designation.”
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Jacobson said the scholarships appear to reflect “a systemic problem” with the university “ignoring the discrimination.”
“The fact that there were so many of them which discriminated in so many different directions,” Jacobson told Fox News Digital. “Men are discriminated against in some of them, women in other ones; Blacks in some, Whites in others. So, it’s a real diversity of discrimination going on that it raised in our mind, what is going on at this university? They could not possibly not have known about it. There is just too many of them.”
He said the preferential scholarships send a message to students not to bother applying.
“Under federal law, the discrimination is the harm. When you set up a barrier based on race or sex, you have harmed people,” Jacobson explained. “Imagine a store that had a sign, ‘No Blacks allowed.’ That is illegal and causes harm in and of itself. It does not matter if someone attempts to enter the store and is turned away by erecting the barrier.”
Jacobson said the hope of the complaint is to stop discrimination and have the Department of Education provide options to students who were barred from applying to preferential scholarships.
“If a scholarship in the past was discriminatory and they only gave one award each year, maybe the school at its own cost needs to increase that to give people who were shut out an extra opportunity to apply,” he explained. “So maybe that scholarship needs to make two, or three, or four awards available, then that would cost the school money, but I think that’s a fair remedy.”
Jacobson said in most cases, when schools are faced with “a clear complaint showing their legal violation,” they do change their eligibility requirements.
“Our first hope is that the University of Illinois, recognizing the major problem that they have, would for each and every one of these scholarships, change the eligibility requirements to open it up to everybody,” he said.
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
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Kansas
Kansas City, Kansas, becomes sister city to Concepción, Argentina, ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026
KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland, including Liberty. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.
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Kansas City, Kansas, is now a sister city to Concepción, in the Tucumán province of Argentina.
The connection that carries deep personal meaning for members of the Kansas City area’s Argentinian community, with less than six weeks until Lionel Messi and their national team play at Kansas City Stadium (GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium).
Kansas City, Kansas, becomes sister city to Concepción, Argentina, ahead of World Cup
The official Sister Cities Agreement was signed Wednesday at Sporting Park, in a ceremony that also served as the kickoff of a broader cultural and economic initiative connecting Argentina and Kansas.
Federico Carmona has lived in the United States for more than two decades. He spent Wednesday afternoon cheering and smiling.
“This is my dream,” Carmona said.
For Carmona, the moment was personal — a merging of the two places he calls home.
KSHB/ Brian Luton
“This is a blessing,” Carmona said.
He continued, “Argentina is my heart. I was born in Argentina. I have so much passion for soccer. I used to play, my kids play. We never thought that Argentina was going to be in Kansas City. So that was a big, big surprise for us.”
Claudia Luna West, chair of the Sister Cities Association and a native of Concepción, Tucumán, was one of the driving forces behind the partnership.
“It means the world to me,” Luna West said.
KSHB/ Brian Luton
She described the pairing of the two cities as a natural collaboration — like the ingredients of a perfect recipe coming together.
“Everything collaborates to be this great thing,” Luna West said.
That recipe metaphor extended to food. The event featured the announcement of a partnership between Kansas BBQ Empanadas and Jack Stack BBQ — a culinary symbol of the two cultures meeting.
“Now, empanadas aren’t going to be just an ethnic food. They’re going to be a landmark of Kansas,” Luna West said.
Mayor/CEO of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and KCK, Christal Watson, said the designation reflects the city’s diversity and its ability to connect with the world.
KSHB
“I think it’s important that we set a global stage on how diverse we are and how beautifully, wonderfully made we are with all the different cultures,” Watson said.
Watson said shared experiences — including food — are what bring communities together.
KSHB
“Food is a common link. Those are the things that get us engaged… those are the things that help us grow and be a better community overall,” Watson said. “We already have a flavor going on.”
Jake Reid, president and CEO of Sporting Kansas City, said the timing of the sister city announcement — with the FIFA World Cup 2026 approaching — felt right.
KSHB/ Brian Luton
“We’ve been planning this for so long. I think to have it on the doorstep now and be probably a month out is becoming very real and exciting,” Reid said. “They’re meant to be from… kind of everything we’ve got going on right now, for sure.”
For Carmona, the day was a long time coming.
“We can’t wait for all this to happen,” Carmona said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Dusty May, Michigan basketball get ovation at Pistons playoff game
Coach Dusty May and members from the Michigan basketball national championship team got an ovation during Game 2 of Pistons-Magic, April 22, 2026, at Little Caesars Arena.
The most notable Michigan basketball returnees are Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney. The most exciting, proven players came from the transfer portal in Moustapha Thiam (Cincinnati), J.P. Estrella (Tennessee) and Jalen Reed (LSU). The most intriguing prospects came from the high school ranks, and five-star Brandon McCoy (Sierra Canyon) tops the list.
But in terms of potential glue guys and those who could make a sneaky impact on next year’s roster, it’s two holdovers from the 2025-26 national championship team who could be flying under the radar more than anybody.
“Oscar Goodman and Ricky Liburd, I think they’ve even gotten buried in terms of attention below the incoming freshman class,” assistant coach Mike Boynton Jr. told the Free Press when he joined the “Hail Yes!” podcast earlier this week. “Oscar’s been in our program for two years. He knows our system really, really well.
“He has an opportunity to be a nice rotational player for us, a guy who fills an energy, rebounding, versatile defender [role] … think of the energy and versatility that we were able to use Will Tschetter with. Shoots it well, brings great energy, tough enough to guard multiple positions, so it gives you great versatility in a system that requires it.”
Goodman, a 6-foot-7, 235-pound forward from New Zealand, was buried on the depth chart this past season behind Aday Mara, Morez Johnson Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg and Tschetter in what was a crowded frontcourt. But he didn’t look overmatched when he was on the court.
His highlights were a few high-flying dunks, as Goodman, who appeared in 16 games, averaged 1.4 points and 1.3 rebounds in 5.2 minutes per contest. Goodman joined in the program in January 2025 and was able to serve on scout team in practice for the back half of Dusty May’s first season with the program, then was a freshman last year who got his first complete season of experience.
Goodman is strong enough to play the four but athletic enough to play the wing, a position he may need to fill more than initially expected without many natural 3s on the roster.
U-M can go a few ways, with someone like McKenney running the wing in a small ball lineup or someone like Goodman manning the spot in a larger lineup, and if his early years are any indication, May will likely try both options.
“He’s not a one-trick pony kind of guy,” Boynton said of Goodman.
Meanwhile, Liburd, who redshirted in 2025-26 after coming in as an unheralded three-star out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, impressed coaches behind the scenes and appears poised to crack the rotation next season.
The 6-foot-4 wing came up frequently last season as a standout on the scout team and, after putting in time behind the scenes, could be a real piece to U-M’s new puzzle.
“He’s flown under the radar as much as anybody because he was new to our program and didn’t play at all,” Boynton said. “He’s a guy who’s got the ability to both defend one-through-four from his size, quickness, strength, physicality and he can also play offensively in any of our perimeter spots, as well.
“He can be a floor-spacer, he can be a shot-creator, he’s a guy who’s really good on the move as a cutter and offensive rebounder. I think both of those guys are names people should just right now pencil in and keep their eyes on early in the year to see how they progress.”
Boynton said the hope is that Michigan can get those guys “a lot of reps” on the team’s foreign trip this summer (which hasn’t been officially reported but appears almost a certainty to happen sometime in late August) to find out how they fit with the new pieces and see the leap they’ve taken from one year to the next.
Boynton isn’t the only one with high hopes for this team. Assistant coach and general manager Kyle Church recently joined Brian Boesch on “Defend The Block” and lauded where the Wolverines stand with their roster largely complete. He spoke of the importance of players who help keep the culture going from one year to the next, which Goodman and Liburd both intend to do.
“I think we have a very, very competitive roster. I think a potential top-five, top-10 type roster,” Church said. “No matter who joins us or doesn’t join us, we’re really excited about the position we’re in.
“To have some guys that [joined] more with the future in mind and keep that continuity is going to be so important.”
Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
The San Antonio Spurs had their backs to the wall, so they had a Game 7 mentality from tip-off, and they cruised their way to the finish line against the ravenous Minnesota Timberwolves. The Spurs are now going on tour and the winner of a Game 3 in a best of seven series when it’s tied advances 73.7 percent of the time, per the NBA’s Facts and Figures.
Both sides were implacable, defending the lane like it was a scared temple and neither had much breathing room until the levy broke for the Spurs in transition. San Antonio’s defense was more potent, holding them to their lowest output of the season (35 points) in the first half, which included a stretch where it forced Minnesota into a stream of bad shots.
Usually, even playoff games with a large difference get close, but the Spurs didn’t permit such shenanigans because Victor Wembanyama’s help defense was omnipresent, despite 10 less blocks, and his teammates were just as unforgiving, hounding the ball before it crossed half court and controlling the boards.
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