JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Democrat activist Gwendolyn Grant was recently elected chair of Missouri’s Coordinating Board for Higher Education (CBHE) after spending years building a reputation supporting far-left causes.
Appointed to the Board in 2018 by Gov. Mike Parson, Grant is heavily involved with the Urban Neighborhood Initiative Board of Directors and the National Association for Multicultural Education. She is also president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, which has taken fire in the past for touting widely unpopular ideas such as defunding the KCPD and teaching Critical Race Theory in schools.
Last year, the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners sued Mayor Quinton Lucas and the KC City Council for controversially passing two ordinances to defund the police department by over $42 million. Grant, who served as the CBHE’s secretary in 2021, joined the lawsuit in June to combine forces with Lucas and the City Council and tried to argue that the KCPD wasn’t supposed to have the $42 million in the first place.
However, Grant, Lucas and the City Council’s efforts to defund the KCPD were stopped in their tracks as Jackson County Judge Patrick W. Campbell swiftly ruled that the budget changes were illegal.
Continuing her trend of anti-police rhetoric, Grant has also taken criticism for her baseless calls for Chief Rick Smith to resign, disregarding the fact that Smith received the 2021 Clarence M. Kelley and has been continually showered with support from the community.
With “racial equity” and diversity at the top of her priority list, Grant has been a proud supporter of the controversial Black Lives Matter organization that ignited riots and civil unrest throughout recent years. On July 5 of last year, Grant made a Facebook post scorning July 4 as the United States’ Independence Day and said black Americans “are not free.”
Additionally, Grant has supported local COVID-19 lockdowns and disregarded both the detrimental impact lockdowns have on small businesses and the negative effects lockdowns have on children who aren’t allowed to attend school. She also echoed the false narrative of “flattening the curve” of COVID-19 infections as the world comes up on year three of the pandemic.
“Gwen is a radical activist in Kansas City, and everyone knows and expects radical views from her,” Kansas City Councilwoman Teresa Loar said. “I’m just shocked that she was voted chair of the board. Her views definitely do not align with the majority of Missourians.”
As Grant’s 2022 term as Chair of the Coordinating Board for Higher Education has only just begun, Missourians can expect her to receive more criticism as her ideology varies far from most voters in the state.
