(Crankers) President Donald Trump’s Department of Education is cutting discretionary funding to colleges that push ‘racial or ethnic’ quotas. This particularly affects colleges that are part of the Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI) grant programs.
Trump’s administration believes the grants violate the law because it focuses on the “racial or ethnic” quotas only, rather than being available for all potential students.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon released a statement saying: “Discrimination based upon race or ethnicity has no place in the United States… To further our commitment to ending discrimination in all forms across federally supported programs, the Department will no longer award Minority-Serving Institution grants that discriminate by restricting eligibility to institutions that meet government-mandated racial quotas.”
McMahon’s statement further said: “Diversity is not merely the presence of a skin color. Stereotyping an individual based on immutable characteristics diminishes the full picture of that person’s life and contributions, including their character, resiliency, and merit… The Department looks forward to working with Congress to reenvision these programs to support institutions that serve underprepared or under-resourced students without relying on race quotas and will continue fighting to ensure that students are judged as individuals, not prejudged by their membership of a racial group.”
Reports say up to $350 million in discretionary funds are being pulled back, but it’s unclear if that money will be used for something else – or maybe nothing at all.