Attorney General Todd Rokita announced today his office is suing the Indiana High School Athletic Association, Inc. to force the immediate elimination of a race-based quota that reserves two seats on IHSAA’s Board of Directors for “qualified minorities,” defined in the Association’s bylaws as “an individual other than a white male or female.”
“Hoosier students should not be governed by a sports association that picks its leaders based on race,” Attorney General Rokita said. “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 lawsuit asks the court to:
- Permanently enjoin IHSAA from reserving Board of Directors seats based on race;
- Prohibit any future bylaw or policy that allocates board seats directly or indirectly based on race; and
- Declare that the existing minority-quota provisions violate state law.
IHSAA has maintained some version of its racial quota since 1993. Under the current 2026-27 bylaws, two of the Association’s 19 board seats are closed to white men and white women solely because of race. Nominating petitions for those seats must verify the candidate’s racial eligibility.
IHSAA is an Indiana public-benefit nonprofit whose stated mission is educational: keeping athletics subservient to academics and developing student character. It regulates interscholastic sports for more than 400-member high schools. Attorney General Rokita’s lawsuit alleges that an express racial classification of this kind is an abuse of authority conferred by law, a waste of corporate assets, and incompatible with the public purpose for which IHSAA was organized.
The office of attorney general first demanded IHSAA eliminate the quota on April 23, 2026. IHSAA refused to act and said only that it might consider bylaw changes in May 2027. After additional notice and an August 25 Executive Committee meeting that produced no change, the suit was filed.
A copy of the complaint is available here.