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MINNEAPOLIS — At the University of St. Thomas, 185 students recently found out their scholarships have been canceled by the federal government.
The university’s president Rob Vischer said Friday night the school received an email from the U.S. Department of Education that explained how a grant program that awarded the university $6.8 million was being cancelled.
“Honestly, this was quite surprising to us,” President Vischer said.
He told KARE 11 the surprising aspect of this decision was that the grant program was recently flagged by the Trump administration as a DEI initiative (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) that goes against the administration’s goals.
President Trump has stated that he believes DEI is unfair and that federal funding decisions should be made based on merit and not by race.
Vischer believes this grant program could be altered to meet the Trump administration’s requirements because diversity was not the main goal of this program.
“Under the Biden administration grant applicants were required to explain how use of the funds could advance diversity in the teaching profession, which we of course did,” Vischer said. “The core of the grant we don’t think is a priority that is changed. We still need more special ed and elementary teachers. So, we are hoping to have the opportunity to show how the grant complies with these new requirements and priorities.”
The university is planning to appeal this decision to cancel the grant program.
U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minnesota) is also planning to challenge this decision in Washington. She argues since this grant money was already approved by Congress years ago the president doesn’t have the authority to cut it.
“It’s a grant that has already worked its way through the legal process. So, it puts St. Thomas in a terrible position,” Senator Smith said.
President Vischer said the university is working to make the best of this difficult situation.
“Regardless of how this appeal turns out we are committed to making sure that our students are able to finish the Spring semester of classes,” Vischer said.
According to a university spokesperson, students enrolled in this grant program receive $10,000 a year in scholarship money to help cover the cost of tuition. In 2023, the University of St . Thomas received $6.8 million to fund this grant. A university spokesperson said about half of that money has been spent on scholarships for students.
President Vischer said he and other leaders are preparing for the possibility that even more grants could be cut by the federal government.
“For so many of these grants during the Biden administration, we were required to explain how funding could also advance diversity. The work we did to build a successful grant application last year is now the reason why grants are being canceled.”
