Donor pulls scholarships after University of Arkansas Fayetteville posts Ten Commandments
A furious donor yanked scholarships and future gifts after the school caved to Christian Nationalism—and he’s right to do it
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An Arkansas law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in public spaces has now cost one college a lot of money.
I’ve been writing about these attempts to shove Christianity into classrooms for a while now, but here’s the short version of what happened in Arkansas: Their law required every public school, and institution of higher learning, and government facility to display a copy of the Ten Commandments. Those posters didn’t even need a disclaimer explaining the supposed historical relevance of the Decalogue.
Similar laws have already been struck down by the courts and this was was even more egregious than those, which is why a coalition of church/state separation groups filed a lawsuit against it. They represented a number of families with kids in the public schools.
In August, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction, putting the law on hold, at least in the districts attended by the students involved in this case. The church/state groups warned the other districts in the state that they, too, would be sued if they hung the Ten Commandments posters, but one school district did it anyway.
The judge soon told that district to take down the signs. The same thing played out in a different district just this week.
But so far, all those injunctions have been directed at K-12 districts. Until the law is fully ruled unconstitutional, there’s nothing stopping the 11 public colleges in Arkansas from putting up the posters, at least until they’re sued over it.
That’s what the University of Arkansas Fayetteville decided to do earlier this month after they received a large batch of donated Ten Commandments posters:
“The University recently received about 500 donated posters of the ‘Ten Commandments’ and is beginning to install the posters in university buildings and facilities as required under Act 573 of 2025,” said John Thomas, director of media relations and core communications.
In administrators’ minds, they had no choice but to put up the posters because the law required it, even if it might lead to a lawsuit. That donation, however, has already had a very serious consequence.
Andy Kinslow is a graduate of the school who ran an architecture and design firm called Kinslow, Keith & Todd in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (It’s now known as Ethos Architects.)
He’s successful enough that, for years, he’s been funding scholarships for the university’s Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, which is where he graduated from in 1980.
A 2025 Honors Recognition brochure says the “Andrew A. Kinslow and Russell W. Kirkpatrick Diversity Award for Design Excellence” is given to a “rising second-, third-, fourth-, or fifth-year student who demonstrates commitment to diversity and inclusion.” It’s worth $1,500/year.
He also funds an “Interior Design Scholarship” for $1,000/year.
Maybe you think that’s nice but nothing crazy. But not only was Kinslow giving $2,500/year in scholarships, he literally included the school in his will. That would presumably mean a much larger chunk of change for the university when the time comes.
But according to an article from the Arkansas Advocate, Kinslow began to reconsider all those gifts when the school said the application for his diversity scholarship needed to be modified to comply with anti-DEI laws.
When Kinslow learned the Ten Commandments posters were going up on campus, it was the final straw. The school will no longer be the recipient of his generosity because they’re too busy rewarding religious zealots and bigoted Republicans to focus on what students actually need.
As a “very strong believer of separation of church and state,” UA alum Andy Kinslow said he was angry to learn about the posters. Kinslow, who grew up in Arkansas but now calls Oklahoma home, said he was already contemplating ending his financial support of the university after being told one of his scholarships that referenced diversity needed to be modified to comply with state and federal law.
Learning about the Ten Commandments posters “was the tipping point” that made him decide to pull both of his scholarships from the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design and remove the department from his will.
“Why would I give money to an institution that is not fighting this law when there are lots of other places that the money could go that would be appreciated,” Kinslow said.
…
Kinslow said the law, which feels like “someone trying to impose their belief system on everyone else,” represents “religious overstep into public institutions that should be there to serve everyone and not just their interests.”
“I’m very proud to have gone to the University of Arkansas, but I’m really saddened that this is happening,” he said.
Kinslow did not respond to a request for comment. But he’s doing what any donor in a similar position ought to do: withholding donations to any school that complies with Trump edicts and caves to right-wing politicians. Complaining isn’t enough; you have to kick these schools right in the pocketbooks. Administrators will never learn their lesson otherwise.
(That article also mentions that a student at the college, Nathan Gray, is helping organize an in-person teach-in so that people on campus can hear arguments about why this law is unconstitutional.)
What’s happening in Fayetteville isn’t just about some posters or a scholarship application. It’s about whether universities will stand for principle or cower under the threat of political intimidation. By obeying an unjust, unnecessary, anti-educational law, this school decided to abandon its very reason for existence. That’s complicity. Every Ten Commandments plaque hung in a hallway is a signal that the institution is run by people who care more about indoctrination than education. So they deserve exactly what they’re getting: At least one donor with the courage to walk away in disgust. And hopefully many more where that one came from.
Kinslow’s withdrawal isn’t vindictive. It’s visionary. He’s calling on decent people at the school to stop rewarding religious ideologues. Universities are supposed to defend enlightenment values against the encroachment of dogma. This one doesn’t want to do that, so they don’t deserve his largesse.
The lesson here is brutal but necessary: If institutions won’t fight for the separation of church and state, then the rest of us have to fight with whatever tools we have. In Kinslow’s case, that’s his wallet. He’s not taking money away from students. He’s just giving it to other ones. He’s making sure the people who receive his scholarships are attending a school that treats education, not religious bullshit, as a priority.
Republican heads would explode if Islamic posters were going up in public universities, but seem to think it's okay if Christians force their way into institutions paid for with everyone's tax dollars. It's really a measure of just how insecure Christians are regarding their faith that they keep looking to government to backstop them.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦’𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑧𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑖𝑔𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑.
Hitting them where it counts: their bank accounts. There still needs to be a lawsuit, however.