Senate Dems pushing back against Trump effort to resegregate higher ed

Senate Democrats are pushing the Trump Department of Education, led by former WWE CEO Linda McMahon, who bought the job, to reverse its decision from last fall to halt federal funding for the bulk of our federally-defined minority-serving institutions, which, when you see that the Trumpers are doing that, you’re not at all surprised.

“We urge you to allocate Title III and V discretionary and mandatory funds as Congress intended so that these institutions, which educate millions of working-class Americans, can continue to successfully serve every student they enroll and continue to be economic engines for the communities they serve across this nation,” a group of senators, including Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, our Democrats from Virginia, wrote in a letter to McMahon, which was made public on Friday.

Minority-serving institutions are defined as colleges and universities that enroll a significant percentage of students from minority groups.

This includes, but is not limited to, HBCUs – Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

The nine MSIs in Virginia include five HBCUs – Hampton University, Norfolk State University, Virginia State University, Virginia Union University and Virginia University of Lynchburg.

The others: Northern Virginia Community College (68% of the student population identifies as people of color), Marymount University (62% POC population), VCU (56% POC population), Virginia Tech (44% POC population).

What the Trump regime did last fall was declare unilaterally that it was going to cut funding earmarked for non-HBCU MSI colleges and universities, because the Trumpers have decided that such funding is unconstitutional.

“The department has carefully scrutinized our federal grants, ensuring that taxpayers are not funding racially discriminatory programs, but those programs which promote merit and excellence in education,” McMahon said in a statement announcing that decision, adding:

“The Trump administration will use every available tool to meaningfully advance educational outcomes and ensure every American has the opportunity to succeed in life.”

So, good news, short term, anyway, for HBCUs, at the expense of students of color at the other colleges and universities.

You see what’s going on here?

“It can both be true that you are providing funding to institutions that deserve funding, and you are working to ensure that the institutions that you hold in high prestige resegregate,” said Dominique Baker, associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware, in a comment to Inside Higher Ed on the MSI funding issue.

Yeah, this is separate-but-equal writ large that they’re doing here.

The move by the Trumpers is “a nice way” for them to claim “they hold no racial animus, because look at all the money that they’ve given to HBCUs,” Baker said, at the same time as they crack down on DEI efforts at predominantly white institutions.

Kinda wish our senators had put it that way, instead of focusing the language in their angry letter on legalese.

“This decision is yet another example of this administration attempting to circumvent Congress and its obligations to follow the law,” the senators wrote in their letter. “Unilaterally deciding that long-standing programs are unconstitutional, absent a ruling from the judiciary, sets a dangerous precedent and disrupts needed support that colleges and students rely on.”

It would be OK to be more direct: the Trump administration doesn’t want students of color going to White schools.