States owe $13 billion to HBCUs and other POC institutions
9th October 2023 · 0 Comments
Black Louisianans have always known that Louisiana underfunds the state’s public HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). A stroll around the campuses of any of Louisiana’s 1890 land grant institutions confirms the fact.
Visitors to Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University, Southern University in New Orleans, and the University of New Orleans can see disparities with their own eyes. One doesn’t need an architecture degree to compare the inequities between the expansive grounds, multiplex buildings, and housing units afforded students at LSU, the 1862 land grant university which remained segregated for nearly a century, and the 1890 Southern University Agricultural and Mechanical College.
While it’s true that Southern University in New Orleans gained a lakefront campus with a few more buildings in recent years, the state of Louisiana owes much more to the Southern University system.
How satisfying, then, was U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona’s September 18 letter to the governors of 16 states, calling them out for decades of funding disparities and cheating students and faculties at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) out of decent facilities, equipment, qualified personnel and a multitude of research tools.
The lack of such amenities caused students in several Louisiana HBCUs to revolt in the 1960s and 1970s. A monthlong protest at Southern University A&M at Baton Rouge in 1972 over inadequate facilities, access to research tools, the lack of student input in decision-making, and other issues led to the deaths of two students by police officers.
The education secretary produced receipts for the amount each state denied these institutions of higher learning. Overall, 16 of the country’s 19 historically Black land-grant universities have been underfunded by their states by a total of $13 billion, according to the federal analysis of per-student state spending data from 1987 to 2020.
North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, and Louisiana owed the most. These states denied the 1890 land grant universities like Southern University and A&M College – created to maintain segregation – billions of dollars.
Cardona’s letter to Governor John Bel Edwards said inequitable funding of Southern University and A&M College over the past 30 years alone totals $1,126,149,248. The education secretary wrote about the consequences of what this newspaper believes to be stolen tax dollars snatched from HBCUs and given to 1862 land grant institutions (whites-only universities and colleges) from the founding.
“Southern University and A&M College, the 1890 land-grant institution in your state, while producing extraordinary graduates that contribute greatly to the state’s economy and the fabric of our nation, has not been able to advance in ways that are on par with Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, the original Morrill Act of 1862 land-grant institution in your state, in large part due to unbalanced funding,” Cardona asserted in his letter.
“The longstanding and ongoing underinvestment in Southern University and A&M College disadvantages the students, faculty, and community that the institution serves. Furthermore, it may contribute to a lack of economic activity that would ultimately benefit Louisiana,” Cardona wrote.
The nation’s more than 100 HBCUs are located in 20 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and serve more than 300,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students.
Cardona’s letter was also signed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas J. Vilsack. The education secretary offered to help the states create an equitable funding strategy that combines state allocations and a budget commitment for a two-to-one match of federal land-grant funding for the institutions to bring parity to funding levels.
Many civil rights leaders and successful professionals attended HBCUs, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Biden-Harris administration stepped up during the pandemic to put $7 billion on the table to aid HBCUs. That funding includes $3.6 billion for HBCUs through the American Rescue Plan and other COVID relief; $1.6 billion in capital finance debt relief for 45 public and private HBCUs; and $1.7 billion in grant funding to expand academic capacity and provide support for low-income students.
Consistent with the IGNITE Act language in the FY 2023 Omnibus, the Department of Education has established the Historically Black Colleges or Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges or Universities, and Minority-Serving Institutions Research and Development Infrastructure Grant Program.
Grants totaling nearly $100 million will expand research infrastructure for students at those facilities.
Former President Donald Trump signed the HBCU PARTNERS Act (HBCU Propelling Agency Relationships Towards a New Era of Results for Students Act) into law. However, unlike his successors, he did not create grants specifically for higher education institutions serving students of color.
To his credit, Secretary Cardona is clear-eyed and on point about the disparate funding HBCUs and other institutions have had to cope with for decades. “At a time when diversity in higher education is under attack, it’s never been more important to invest in our nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Minority-Serving Institutions, community colleges, and other inclusive institutions,” he said.
We wholeheartedly agree. It remains to be seen if the Louisiana Department of Education will participate in the grant-matching program. Given the past actions of the Education Department and the Louisiana Legislature, we can only hope being exposed for the heinous act of underfunding HBCUs – they have some nerve in taking Black citizens’ hard-earned money; tax dollars – and not allocating the money equally – they will do the honorable thing. But we won’t hold our breath.
This article originally published in the October 9, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
