By Zachary Schermele
Even as his administration targets diversity programs in higher education, President Donald Trump reaffirmed his commitment to supporting the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs.
He signed a largely symbolic order on April 23 in the Oval Office that rehouses a long-standing bipartisan presidential initiative on HBCUs at the White House rather than at the U.S. Department of Education. It also maintains a presidential advisory board on HBCUs within the Education Department.
“For nearly two centuries, Howard and the collective of HBCUs have cultivated talent, unlocked opportunity, and contributed mightily to every sector of American life,” the school said in a statement. “This executive order affirms the vital and visionary necessity of our work.”
The directive, part of a flurry of education-related orders Trump signed April 23, is mostly a continuation of conventional federal policy, which generally supports HBCUs. And it reinforces the Trump administration’s prioritization of historically Black colleges over other types of minority-serving institutions. Immediately after Trump took office, he rescinded similar measures meant to bolster tribal colleges and universities where at least a quarter of the undergraduates are Hispanic.
The move frustrated college officials, who said it would require a herculean effort to revive the federal support on which they have come to rely.
“We need to start from zero again,” Antonio Flores, head of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, told USA TODAY in January.
The measure is also a departure from the Trump administration’s war on so-called diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. In the past three months, the federal government has placed enormous pressure on colleges to dismantle offices and programs supporting marginalized populations, including Black students, or risk losing their federal funding.
Individually, the nation’s roughly 100 HBCUs stand to lose major sums as the White House tries to move forward with potentially devastating cuts to federal research funding sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy.
The measure April 23 came among seven orders from Trump that could impact American schools. One affected the rules governing college accreditors. Another reinforced existing federal laws around universities’ foreign gift and contract disclosures. Others were aimed at bolstering the use of artificial intelligence in the classroom and overhauling disciplinary measures in K-12 schools.