After Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s new guidance eliminated “disguised race-conscious admission,” which includes race-based scholarships, in March, factions are looking to counter the ruling. 

Renee Romine, the president of the Portage County National Association of the Advancement of Colored People, said Yost’s new guidance was disappointing but not a surprise.

“I think what’s more disappointing than [the new guidance] is the lack of respect for history,” Romine said. “Because if anyone truly knows of indigenous people and African American people in this country, they should be appalled at that.”

In the past, society has been the cause of the hurt and pain African Americans and indigenous people have endured, making the need to award scholarships important, she said.

“To award scholarships to deserving African American students is really such, to me, a small thing,” Romine said.

Awarding students scholarships and money enables students to not only pay for their education but also for them to be able to pay for their food, room and board, she said.

Romine said the National Urban League in a recent report discovered the median salary for Black families living in major urban cities is $51,374 meanwhile white families earn almost $29,000 more.

“[Black people] are still suffering in our own country and we have made so many contributions regardless of how we have been treated,” she said.

The NAACP plans to continue to provide students with scholarships as they have recently extended their scholarship reach to students attending trade schools and the police academy, Romine said.

“That’s always been a fight of ours. We’re not going to stop,” she said. “If anything, we’ll find ways to raise more money for the students because we know they need it.”

As a result of the new guidance, the university issued a statement pertaining to such which was echoed by Nicholas Starvaggi, director of Stewardship for the Division of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement, in an email response to KentWired. In the email statement, the university said it aims to continue to support students.

“We remain committed to helping every student graduate,” the statement said. “Which means offering academic, personal and financial support at every point of a student’s path to their successful career.”

The university is still reviewing the guidance from Yost’s office and its impact. The statement from the university said the university offers scholarships to reduce debt for graduates to make the college experience more affordable.

KentWired reached out to student organizations United Students Against Sweatshops and Kent African Student Association multiple times via email and did not respond to comment on the matter at the time of publication.

The Spanish and Latine Student Association responded via email to an interview request and denied to comment.

The Ohio Attorney General Office did not return repeated requests via email and phone call from KentWired for comment. 

However, a spokesperson for Yost told the Columbus Dispatch that university general counsels were notified in late January that race-based scholarships do not comply with the Supreme Court ruling.

Romine said, for those who are in favor of race-based scholarship elimination, she would like for them to do their homework, to join the NAACP and to watch them complete the work they do.

“I’m not telling you to believe me. I just want you to question yourself and ask why you think this is not something that should not be awarded to African American students,” she said.

Adriana Gasiewski is a beat reporter. Contact her at [email protected].