Minority scholarship program still alive in Missouri, despite governor’s order outlawing racial preferences

A Missouri college scholarship limited to minorities and “underrepresented” students flies in the face of both presidential and gubernatorial executive orders – but can be eliminated only by the Legislature.

The “Minority and Underrepresented Environmental Literacy Program” is “a scholarship designed to assist academically talented minority and underrepresented individuals pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree in an environmental course of study that will lead to employment in a field that is clearly environmentally related,” according to a state website.

The program is administered by the Missouri Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development (MDHEWD).

Both President Donald Trump and Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe have issued executive orders outlawing race-based programs in education. But Kehoe’s spokesperson tells The Heartlander the scholarship in question is impervious to the governor’s edict.

“The program you are referencing was established in statute and funded by the legislature,” Kehoe Communications Director Gabby Picard explains in an emailed statement. “For that reason, DHEWD does not have the authority to end operations of the program without legislative action.”

There can be little doubt Kehoe would end the race-based scholarship if he could.

“The principles that all people are created equal and entitled to equal protection under the law are enshrined in the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Missouri,” the governor wrote in Executive Order 25-18 in February.

“All individuals should have the freedom to pursue their aspirations and participate in society without discrimination based on immutable characteristics. …

“I hereby order all Executive agencies to comply with the principle of equal protection found in the United States and Missouri Constitutions and ensure that all rules, policies, employment practices and actions treat all persons equally.”

The order specifically banned the use of state funds “toward policies, procedures, practices, trainings, contracts, positions, organizational structures, programs, or activities that solely or primarily support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives,” and prohibited DEI from being used in state hiring decisions.

The order defines DEI as “efforts to manipulate or influence the composition of an organization based solely on race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.”

It goes on to describe DEI as “policies, procedures, practices, trainings, contracts, positions, organizational structures, programs, or activities intended to promote differential treatment of, or special benefits to, individuals based solely” on such factors, “except as authorized by state or federal law.”