The U.S. Department of Agriculture has suspended its 1890 Scholars Program, a scholarship initiative supporting students from rural and underserved backgrounds at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), according to the program’s website.
Designed to boost agricultural studies at the nation’s 19 historically Black land-grant universities, the program previously covered full tuition, room, and board for participants, with $19.2 million awarded to 94 students in 2024.
A banner on the program’s website now states it is “suspended pending further review.”
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The USDA has not yet provided a comment on the decision.
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Critics, including Representative Alma Adams of North Carolina, co-chair of the Congressional HBCU Caucus, have condemned the suspension.
“This is a clear attack on an invaluable program that makes higher education accessible for everybody,” Adams stated.
The timing of the suspension remains unclear, but a Reuters review found the notice has been on the program’s website since at least February 16.
This comes as President Donald Trump intensifies his crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs after assuming office for a second term.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Education issued a two-week deadline for universities nationwide to dismantle all DEI programs or risk losing federal funding.
The directive, outlined in a four-page letter dated February 14, 2025, was signed by Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor.
Citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the letter emphasized that the decision not only banned racial preferences in college admissions but also set a broader legal precedent against race-based policies.
Educational institutions were warned to comply with civil rights laws, with the letter stating: “If an educational institution treats a person of one race differently than another because of race, it violates the law.”
The Department also criticized universities for promoting what it described as “racial segregation” through DEI initiatives, including race-based graduation ceremonies, calling such practices a “shameful echo of a darker period in this country’s history.”
“The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions. The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent,” the letter added.
