The Department of Homeland Security has eliminated race-based admissions requirements for the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative (CSPI), the scholarship program that trains college students to become U.S. Coast Guard officers.

This change targets racial preferences embedded in CSPI, which previously prioritized applicants from schools meeting specific diversity quotas. The move is part of an ongoing administration effort to remove race-based considerations from federal hiring and training pipelines.

“Racial quotas in this program are a direct violation of the Constitution’s equal protection requirements,” said James Percival, DHS General Counsel, in a statement. “By eliminating these unconstitutional diversity measures, we are ensuring military readiness and upholding the law.”

The CSPI program, which provides scholarships for students to earn college degrees while serving as Coast Guard officers with E-3 benefits after graduation, will now focus exclusively on merit-based selection. The initiative previously accepted candidates from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions (ANNHIs), and Native American Non-Tribal Institutions (NATIs). The new policy removes racial preferences from the admissions process.

Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division emphasized that “access to opportunities like the Coast Guard’s pre-commissioning initiative should be based solely on merit, not the racial composition of your college.”

This decision aligns with the Supreme Court’s ruling in SFFA v. Harvard, which declared race-based discrimination in higher education unconstitutional and supports the administration’s commitment to constitutional principles and military readiness.