By IL Public Radio/KWMU/AP
Carbondale, ill. – Southern Illinois University has agreed to open all of its graduate fellowship programs to students of all demographics.
The move announced Wednesday will avoid a lawsuit the federal Justice Department had threatened. Justice had targeted three programs that aim to draw minorities but that the feds considered discriminatory.
SIU President Glenn Poshard says the university will now prohibit paid fellowships to any group based on race, national origin, or sex.
The settlement does not affect the 28 students currently in those programs.
The SIU Board of Trustees met Wednesday in Carbondale and signed off on the two-year consent decree between the school and the U.S. government.
The resolution follows two months of negotiations between the university and the Justice Department.