UNCW Scholarship Honoring Late Physician Dr. Leroy Upperman Could Move To An HBCU After Request Was Made To Change Requirement – AfroTech
A scholarship fund honoring the late physician Dr. Leroy Upperman will have to find a new home.
Upperman passed away in 1996, but his commitment to education remains upheld by his family. In 1995, the family helped establish the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Upperman African American Cultural Center, WHQR reports. Additionally, the family has supported students at the university by awarding scholarships.
According to WHQR, the scholarships required an interest in areas related to African American students. They were primarily awarded to a student of color, though that wasn’t a requirement. The university has maintained a Black student population of nearly 5% for more than 10 years, per the outlet, though that number was under 4% in fall 2025, with a higher rate for graduate students (12%).
Students who received the scholarship were also mentored by Upperman’s daughter, Linda Upperman Smith.
The family increased its commitment to $1 million in 2025, and through its endowment, $40,000 (about 4%) in scholarships can be distributed annually. However, students at the University of North Carolina Wilmington will no longer receive the award. The university has requested changes to the scholarship’s requirements, particularly the removal of a line that reads, “Special consideration will be given to students who have demonstrated experience in or commitment to working with [fill-in-the blank] community.”
“I was told that because of the change in the Board of Governors’ DEI guidelines, I could rewrite the award to take the African American part from the scholarship,” Upperman Smith told WHQR.
“I discussed it with my adult sons, and we decided the climate may never change. There’s no way that we’re going to not follow my father’s wishes for the money to go to an African American student, so we’re not changing the wording,” she added.
The university had replaced a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy with an equality policy in 2024, creating “a lot of gray area” regarding scholarships, says the school’s Vice Chancellor for Advancement Eddie Stuart. There are currently 18 scholarships at the university that it claims are no longer in compliance with policy changes.
“We realized that only through compelled speech can you really evaluate someone’s interest in or commitment to it, because you would have to ask them, and you couldn’t use race as a proxy, so you’re kind of stuck,” Stuart specifically said in regard to the Upperman scholarship.
Upperman Smith will now move the scholarship to an institution more likely to award it to a Black student. The family is currently considering Howard University, where Dr. Upperman had attended medical school.
“One thing about Black folks: we have always figured out a way to make things work,” Upperman Smith said, according to the outlet.
