EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – A program at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (SIUE) that trains underserved students may be at risk due to the Trump administration.
“It’s a big slap in the face of libraries, higher education and intellectual freedom,” said Elizabeth Kamper, an information literacy librarian and associate professor at SIUE.
The “Diverse Librarian Career Training & Education Program” was created to assist students from the following schools:
- Summer High School
- Edwardsville High
- East St. Louis Charter High School
According to reports, the federal institute notified the university on April 9, citing that “the program is no longer consistent with the agency’s priorities and no longer serves the interest of the United States.”
Kamper said that the cuts to SIUE’s program feel personal.
“It seems so personal that what we are doing is personally going against the agenda of the president,” Kamper said.
Aiming to teach students the value of libraries and encourage careers in that discipline, about $250,000 for the program came from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
According to Kamper, the IMLS grant helped SIUE’s program launch in 2021, serving dozens of students.