Scholarship fund freeze draws criticism
Published 6:00 am Sunday, August 30, 2026
A memorial for retired Western Kentucky University professor Edward Bohlander is held July 27, 2018, at Jody Richards Hall.
(Daily News File)
A scholarship fund at Western Kentucky University that was frozen as WKU and the College Heights Foundation worked to comply with a state law has drawn criticism from the family that created it.
House Bill 4, passed last year by the Kentucky General Assembly, bans diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at public higher-education institutions. Schools were given a June 30, 2025 deadline to come into compliance.
At WKU, this resulted in the elimination of several campus initiatives and freezes on financial aid programs and scholarships, including the Ed Bohlander Scholarship Fund.
A professor of sociology, Bohlander began teaching at WKU in 1973 and spent 35 years at the university. The fund was organized after his death in 2018.
Crystal Bohlander, Ed Bohlander’s wife, did not respond to a request for an interview. But in a widely-viewed Facebook post made on Aug. 4, her late husband’s birthday, Crystal Bohlander stated she kept news of the freeze quiet to “allow those in charge every reasonable opportunity to recognize what had happened and right this wrong.”
“We did not change the scholarship,” the post reads. “We did not abandon its purpose. We did not mislead the donors or alter the terms after their money was accepted. We have worked to preserve honestly the memorial that so many people trusted us to protect.”
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A WKU webpage with information about the fund says a $1,000 scholarship would be awarded to students majoring in criminology or sociology, with preference given to sociology majors and to first-generation college students. At the top of the page, the fund is listed as “hidden/frozen for HB4.”
Donald Smith, who leads the College Heights Foundation, stated via email to the Daily News that the criteria for the fund previously listed preferences based on race and ethnicity, criteria which are banned under HB4.
“The law prohibited any institution, or any affiliated organization that supports the institution, from providing any resources in support of any of the restricted criteria as prohibited by the legislation,” Smith stated. ” … Even private funds in support of any of the restricted criteria are prohibited by the legislation.
“If the law were to change in the future, the University and the College Heights Foundation would pursue the opportunity to resume awarding affected scholarships in a manner consistent with the original donor intent,” Smith stated.
Smith also stated that donors were made aware of modifications that would bring the fund into compliance, but nothing has happened since HB4 took effect last year.
About Jack Dobbs
Jack covers city government for the Daily News. Originally from Simpson County, he attended Western Kentucky University and graduated in 2022 with a degree in journalism.
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