Columbia University, Seek to Change 90 y/o Whites-Only Fellowship in Court.

Lets be honest; How many non-whites from Iowa go

on to Columbia University?

Iowa State & County QuickFacts

	White persons, percent, 2011 (a)	93.0%	78.1%
	Black persons, percent, 2011 (a)	3.1%	13.1%
	American Indian and Alaska Native persons, percent, 2011 (a)	0.5%	1.2%
	Asian persons, percent, 2011 (a)	1.9%	5.0%
	Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander persons, percent, 2011 (a)	0.1%	0.2%
	Persons reporting two or more races, percent, 2011	1.5%	2.3%
	Persons of Hispanic or Latino Origin, percent, 2011 (b)	5.2%	16.7%
	White persons not Hispanic, percent, 2011	88.4%	63.4%

Columbia University is seeking to change the terms of the Lydia C. Roberts Graduate Fellowship that was originated in 1920, Newsday reported on Wednesday.

Lydia C. Roberts Graduate Fellowships 
Open to persons born in Iowa who have been graduated from an Iowa college or university. In addition to the stipend, the fellow is reimbursed the cost of traveling once from Iowa to New York City and back. Special provisions: holders may not concentrate their studies in law, medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, or theology, and each holder must, when accepting the award, state that it is his or her purpose to return to Iowa for at least two years after completing studies at Columbia; holders are eligible for reappointment.

The 90 plus year fellowship has stipulated that money be given only to “a person of the Caucasian race.”

Roberts left most of her $509,000 estate to the university when she died in 1920, creating the fellowship – with restrictions. Not only did Roberts stipulate that the fellowship would be for “whites only,” but the candidates must be from the state of Iowa, must not study law or several other fields. They also must return to Iowa for two years after graduating, news reports said.

University officials have since filed court papers last week seeking to change the race provisions. The New York Daily News has reported that the university has not awarded the fellowship since 1997.

Roberts was heir to her late husband’s medical patent company. 

The university said in a statement on Wednesday that it does follow gift conditions that violate anti-discrimination laws, the AP reported. 

None of the rules governing the fund, worth more than 800,000 today, can be charged. The school’s provost at the time, Grayson L. Kirk, defended the racial provision when the NAACP protested it in 1949.   >>>more<<<

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