U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced Wednesday that she was halting $350 million in federal funding for some of America’s most diverse colleges and universities, saying programs aimed at supporting specific enrollment requirements for minority students were inherently racist.
“Stereotyping an individual based on immutable characteristics diminishes the full picture of that person’s life and contributions, including their character, resiliency and merit,” Ms. McMahon said in a statement, adding that the Education Department would seek to “re-envision” the grant programs to continue supporting “underprepared or under-resourced students.”
Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that the decision showed the Trump administration was “putting politics ahead of students simply looking to get ahead, and is sowing chaos in our nation’s schools.”
“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,” Ms. Murray said in a statement. “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.”
The colleges and universities that have been receiving these funds were not immediately clear. Grant recipients were being notified of the changes, an Education Department spokeswoman said.
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.