The University of St. Thomas lost a second grant in the last month related to teacher preparation after the U.S. Department of Education terminated the funding last week, saying the program was related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work.
St. Thomas loses second grant for aspiring teachers amid federal DEI cuts
The St. Paul university lost a $6.8 million federal grant for teacher preparation earlier this month.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 24, 2025 at 9:43PM
St. Thomas was in the fifth and last year of administering the grant to about 20 graduate students per year; the total award was $2.8 million.
It comes about two weeks after the school learned another $6.8 million grant was cut after the Trump administration deemed it was related to DEI. St. Thomas officials said the program was open to any student, regardless of their background.
The latest grant, called the Teacher Quality Partnership grant, “was designed to remove financial barriers to teaching careers by allowing partnering charter schools to provide living wage stipends” to students completing student teaching internships required for licensure, President Rob Vischer said in an email Friday.
“As we’re all aware, DEI work continues to be under enormous scrutiny,” Vischer said in the email. “We are monitoring guidance from the relevant agencies and courts closely and will make sure that we are in compliance with applicable law.”
Vischer’s email also says that Pope Francis has warned Catholic universities that they shouldn’t simply “replicate the walls typical of the societies in which we live” but must instead get their hands dirty to make change in the world, in the spirit of the Bible’s teachings.
Aspiring K-12 teachers in Minnesota typically student-teach for a semester to gain classroom experience and earn their state teaching license but aren’t paid for their work. In recent years, there’s been a national push to help students get through that period financially through stipends or other funding.
“The university is working with partner schools to fully understand the impacts [of losing the grant] and assess the options to address them,” a St. Thomas spokesman said Monday.
The other grant St. Thomas lost was a three-year grant that provided $10,000 scholarships to graduate students pursuing their teaching licensure and stipends to undergraduates while they’re student-teaching in special education and elementary education.
Groups say they’re already looking to cut staff, give up office space and scale back services with no certainty when funding could resume.
