Opposing the Diversion of Funds from HBCUs to PWIs

WHEREAS, When the Second Morrill Act of 1890 focused on former Confederate states that failed to provide education to Black Americans, and stated affirmatively that land-grant institutions would provide higher education for all races; and 

WHEREAS, Opposite congressional intent, states used federal and state funds to create and maintain predominately white public institutions to the detriment of historically Black colleges; and 

WHEREAS, The tax dollars paid by Black Southern populations were used to fund educational opportunities and reinforce generational wealth-building for white citizens; and 

WHEREAS, In September 2023, the United States Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and the United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack sent letters to the governors of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia, citing data from the National Center for Education Statistics showing the gap in funding between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs); and 

WHEREAS, The September 2023 letter noted a "longstanding and ongoing underinvestment" in the land-grant HBCUs such as Alabama A&M University, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Fort Valley State University, Kentucky State University, Southern University and A & M College, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Alcorn State University, Lincoln University, North Carolina A & T State University, Langston University, South Carolina State University, Tennessee State University, Prairie View A & M University, Virginia State University, and West Virginia State University, that "disadvantages the students, faculty, and community that the institution[s] serve;" ; and 

WHEREAS, As reported in Nourishing the Nation While Starving: The Underfunding of Black Land-Grant Colleges and Universities, "[b]etween fiscal years 2011 and 2022 alone, Black landgrant universities lost nearly $200 million in resources because states declined to provide matching funds while they fully funded their white land-grant universities"; and 

WHEREAS, As explained in ICYMI: As HBCU Funding Garners More Attention, Experts Hope For Lasting Change, "[t]he historic underfunding of HBCUs has led to a variety of issues, including neglected infrastructures and faculty salaries that are not on par with those across the nation"; and 

WHEREAS, States have deprived HBCUs of an equitable distribution of funds and land-grant HBCUs have not received the more than $13 billion they should have received in the last three decades or so, and funds that should have gone to HBCUs instead went to PWIs equating to funding gaps upwards of $1 billion to $2 billion; and 

WHEREAS, As set forth in a 2023 Center for American Progress report, "[e]quitable funding for research, extension, and education programs at special-mission land-grant universities would help maximize the innovative potential of the land-grant system while increasing workforce diversity and boosting college attainment for Black and Native American students"; and 

WHEREAS, HBCUs remain a vital postsecondary education option for African American students, educating 10% percent of all African American postsecondary students and producing almost 20% of all African American graduates, thus making HBCUs critical institutional resources, even as admissions to higher education institutions remain under scrutiny. 

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP calls for Federal, State and Local Governments to fairly restore previously allocated monies, and equitably fund all HBCUs. 

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NAACP will file or join litigation, which seeks to demand the remedy and compensation for states' underfunding of HBCUs.