MADISON – Senator Eric Wimberger (R-Gillett) released the following statement after the Wisconsin Supreme Court declared the state’s Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant Program to be unconstitutional:
“Today, the state Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the policy outcome of my bill, Assembly Bill 669, which Governor Evers vetoed and legislative Democrats opposed, to end discriminatory and race-based scholarships in Wisconsin. Giving benefits based solely on race presumes someone has individual personal characteristics simply because they belong to a race category. That is stereotyping and racism at their plainest and simplest.
The Higher Education Aids Board could not identify to the Court any objectives or benefits it hoped to achieve through the policy. The Court is right today to call race-based government policies for what they are: odious.
Unfortunately, there are still other state programs that give benefits based on race. I will continue to fight against those policies and pursue equality under the law.”
