Indiana High School Sports Board Hit with Lawsuit by AG for Reserving Seats for People Who Are Not White

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita sued the Indiana High School Athletic Association this week to kill a bylaw that locks two of 19 board seats for people the association calls “qualified minorities.”

The bylaws define that phrase as “an individual other than a white male or female.”

Nominating petitions for those seats have to verify the candidate’s race.

The rule, in various forms, has been in place since 1993. The current wording was first introduced in the 2001-02 bylaws.

My team and I are suing the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) to force the immediate elimination of a race-based quota that reserves two seats on its Board of Directors for “qualified minorities,” defined in the Association’s bylaws as “an individual other than a… pic.twitter.com/FfZFb2DcJz

— AG Todd Rokita (@AGToddRokita) September 24, 2026

“Hoosier students should not be governed by a sports association that picks its leaders based on race,” Rokita said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

“IHSAA’s quota tells kids that skin color, rather than merit, is an appropriate way to judge people. That lesson has no place in Indiana’s education system, and, regardless, the law does not permit it. The IHSAA exists to build character. A racial litmus test for choosing leadership on the IHSAA’s board does the opposite, and after months of delay, the Association left us no choice but to take legal action.”

The suit, filed in Marion County Superior Court, asks for a permanent injunction stripping the racial seats from the bylaws, a ban on any future race-based allocation of board seats, and a declaration that the quota violates Indiana law.

The complaint calls it an “overt racial classification” and an “express racial classification” that is “an abuse of authority conferred by law, a waste of corporate assets, and incompatible with the public purpose for which IHSAA was organized.”

White men and white women are closed out of those two seats “solely because of race.”

Rokita’s office first told the association to drop the quota in April.

IHSAA said it disagreed and would look at bylaw changes in May 2027.

After more letters and an August 25 executive committee meeting that changed nothing, the state sued.

The Pacific Legal Foundation and the Equal Protection Project had already written the association last year demanding the race and sex screens come out.

William A. Jacobson of the Equal Protection Project told Fox News, “We hope that IHSAA will do the right thing and voluntarily remedy the discriminatory bylaws provisions, but if it does not, all legal options are on the table.”

IHSAA responded that it “disagrees with any suggestion that our bylaws violate federal and state civil rights laws or in any way constitute an abuse of its nonprofit status.”

“To the contrary, the IHSAA is committed to serving all student-athletes and member schools throughout Indiana. Consistent with that mission, we value broad representation and diverse perspectives among those who help guide and support interscholastic athletics across the state.”

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