In this week’s episode of The Department of Education Is High-Key Racist, Education Secretary Linda McMahon canceled $350 million in federal funding for HBCUs and colleges focused on minority students. Why? Because, according to her, they’re inherently racist.
According to the New York Times, McMahon released a statement explaining the decision. “Stereotyping an individual based on immutable characteristics diminishes the full picture of that person’s life and contributions, including their character, resiliency, and merit,” the statement read. McMahon added that the Education Department would “re-envision” the grant programs to continue supporting “underprepared or under-resourced students.” Which, to me, sounds like the grants are going to be refocused on helping poor, white students get the leg up that the Trump administration clearly believes they need.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, released a statement critical of the move. “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,” the statement read. Murray added that the Trump administration was “putting politics ahead of students simply looking to get ahead, and is sowing chaos in our nation’s schools.”
“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.”
From the New York Times:
The $350 million was the total of seven grant programs aimed at supporting minority enrollment in science and engineering programs, strengthening predominantly Black institutions, Asian American- and Native American-serving colleges, and developing Hispanic-serving institutions, according to an Education Department news release.
Hundreds of two- and four-year institutions qualify as “minority-serving institutions.” These include historically Black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions, which support colleges where at least 25 percent of the undergraduates are Hispanic. Tribal colleges and universities, as well as Alaska native and native Hawaiian-serving institutions, could also face cuts.
Ms. McMahon’s decision follows an announcement in July from D. John Sauer, the U.S. solicitor general, that the Justice Department would not defend a lawsuit from the state of Tennessee and Students for Fair Admissions that challenged the constitutionality of government programs that support Hispanic-serving institutions. Students for Fair Admissions is an Arlington, Va.-based group that successfully pushed for the Supreme Court to end affirmative action.
“White people are the real victims of racism” has generally been the theme of the Trump administration’s policy moves, as this is only the latest attack on Black and Brown students by the Education Department. In March, the Education Department sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to several universities informing them that they could lose federal funding for engaging in “illegal DEI.” In a congressional hearing about what constitutes “illegal DEI,” Linda McMahon revealed she had no idea what the Tulsa Race Massacre was. Considering her time spent as CEO of WWE, I’m sure she assumed it was one of Hulk Hogan’s finishing moves in the ’90s.
The Education Department teamed up with the Justice Department in May to form a Civil Rights Fraud Initiative. The initiative isn’t to protect students from civil rights violations, but to investigate schools suspected of implementing DEI initiatives. The Trump administration has continually weaponized federal funding to pressure schools into falling in line with their vision of higher education, and sadly, it’s working. Several colleges ended the long-held tradition of affinity graduations earlier this year, DEI departments have been shuttered, and multiple university presidents have resigned from their roles due to the Trump administration’s anti-DEI agenda.
While a federal judge recently struck down the Education Department’s anti-DEI guidance, that clearly hasn’t stopped them from trying to make life harder for Black and brown students.
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