A recent decision made by the Department of Education could affect HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions all over the country. Despite his earlier commitment to supporting HBCUs, last week Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced that the department would be eliminating $350 million in funding for minority-serving institutions due to the Trump administration believing this type of funding is racist. The $350 million in funding went to seven grant programs looking to expand minority enrollment in various programs such as science and engineering.
Black Enterprise obtained a quote from McMahon further explaining the reason behind suspending the funding.
“Stereotyping an individual based on immutable characteristics diminishes the full picture of that person’s life and contributions, including their character, resiliency, and merit,” McMahon said before saying that she wanted to “re-envision” the grant programs to continue supporting “underprepared or under-resourced students.”
This decision was met with major criticism from both members of Congress and the public. According to Senator Patty Murray, the Trump administration as well as McMahon is “putting politics ahead of students simply looking to get ahead and is sowing chaos in our nation’s schools,” in a quote reported by The New York Times.
“These are longstanding programs that Congress has authorized and provided funding for on an annual basis that the Trump administration—empowered by the yearlong slush fund spending bill passed in March—is unilaterally deciding to eliminate funding for at the end of the year. This is another important reminder of why Congress needs to pass funding bills, like the one the Senate marked up this summer, that ensure Congress—not Donald Trump or Linda McMahon—decides how limited taxpayer dollars are spent,” she added.
In another lawsuit, the Department of Justice opted not to protect institutions that mostly served Latino students, stating that those institutions are unconstitutional.
According to Amanda Fuchs Miller, the president of higher ed consultancy Seventh Street Strategies, the Department of Education’s decision is unconstitutional itself, per her Insider Higher Ed.
The plan “violates the statute and violates Congress’s power of purse to appropriate funds and that the department has to spend them the way Congress appropriates,” she said, before noting that the “executive branch can’t just declare these programs unconstitutional… That would be the role of the courts.”
It is still unspecified how many minority-serving institutions that will be affected by the suspension of funding. There are more than 800 colleges and universities designated as minority-serving institutions, including 107 HBCUs.
