3

The University of Nebraska ended recently the Project RAÍCES – Re-envisioning Action and Innovation through Community Collaborations for Equity across System because of funding cuts and threats from the U.S. Department of Education for further cuts. The reason for this: the program’s use of “Equity” in its acronym.

The Trump administration has been targeting anything to do with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D.E.I.).

“Proponents of these discriminatory practices have attempted to further justify them—particularly during the last four years—under the banner of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (‘DEI’), smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline,” said Craig Trainor at the U.S. Department of Education.

The RAÍCES program, which started in the fall of 2024, was created to get more high school seniors into teaching. All over the nation, there is a growing teacher shortage, with over 600 unfilled positions across Nebraska alone, according to Freddie Cross with the Nebraska Department of Education. Schools across the nation desperately need teachers and the program was geared toward fixing this problem.

“Fewer students are choosing careers in education, or they become disenchanted before their careers are fully launched. Without them, schools face a growing shortage of schoolteachers, particularly in districts with increased ethno-racial and linguistic diversity. To bolster teacher ranks, Nebraska launched Project RAÍCES, a pilot program to help recruit, retain and diversify the next generation…,” said Joel Brehm with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Protect RAÍCES gave full-ride scholarships to 16 students across Nebraska who committed to enrolling in a teaching degree program, including ones from Lincoln High School, Columbus High School, Schuyler Central High School, South Sioux City High School and Wakefield High School.

But as of last week, all of these students have lost their scholarships. Among the six former Lincoln High Students, were As’raa Al-ilami, Diana Lopez-Sagarminaga and Ali Waly.

All six of these students joined RU4L club early into their time at Lincoln high. This opened the door for them to later be given the RAÍCES scholarship, fully paying for a teaching degree at UNL. This scholarship included text books, meal plans and housing.

During the summer, all 16 of the students that received the scholarship took a two-week course. This rigorous course  was to give them a small head start in their higher education and a sample of what college could look like.

They went through their first semester of college as normal students, with just a little less stress. They didn’t have to worry about paying for college, so they could focus all their attention on learning.

But as of this February 20, all their funding has been revoked. Because they received a full-ride scholarship, they had not accepted any other grants or scholarships. Now, they may be forced to rely on student loans, and lots of them, to pay for college.

But because of their passion for teaching, these students won’t let these setbacks hold them back. They are currently working hard to figure out ways to continue their education. When their stories were released to the public, the university offered to pay for part of their education and there is currently a way for anyone who would like to donate and help them on their journeys to become teachers.