A business boot camp at Missouri State University that excluded White males is now offering the program to everyone “irrespective of their race and/or sex” after a government watchdog organization urged the state Attorney General to investigate for discrimination.
The Spring 2023 Early-Stage Business Boot Camp was an eight-week course offered exclusively to “aspiring and/or women small business owners who have recently started or are in the idea phrase.”
White males were ineligible to apply.
An aerial shot of Missouri State University. (missouristate.edu)
On Tuesday, the Equal Protection Project (EPP), filed a complaint to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, urging him to investigate.
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The group alleged that MSU was “engaging in racial- and gender-based discrimination through its sponsorship, promotion, and hosting of a small business training ‘boot camp’ that limits participation” to women and people who identify as “BIPOC” – an acronym for non-white “Black, Indigenous and Persons of Color.”
Applications for the Spring 2023 Early-Stage Business Boot Camp in its original language. (Missouri State University)
On Thursday, the program’s original webpage with the exclusionary language appeared to have been taken down.
Missouri State University has taken down the original webpage. (Missouri State University)
MSU told Fox News Digital that the Early-Stage Business Boot Camp Program “is designed to assist new and aspiring small business owners in establishing and growing their business.”
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“The Spring 2023 program was funded by the U.S. Bank Foundation and, on a one-time basis, focused on minority and/or woman-owned businesses,” MSU said. “On an ongoing basis, the efactory will continue to offer the Early-Stage Business Boot Camp Program at no cost to the participants, and irrespective of their race and/or sex.”
Despite the change, the EPP said it would continue to press the AG’s office to investigate.
“It is not enough for MSU to say ‘oops’ – particularly since this is not the first time MSU has promoted a racially-restrictive program,” EPP founder William Jacobson said in a statement. “We will continue to urge Attorney General Andrew Bailey to conduct a thorough investigation as to how such open discrimination took place at a major state university, and who knew what and when.”
He added: “A broader investigation into face-focused and race-focused and race-restricted programming at MSU is needed. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Missouri AG’s office and MSU for additional comment.
