“This is only the beginning of a long fight,” according to Democratic North Carolina Congresswoman Alma Adams. She is addressing the Executive Order to pause federal loans and grants. There is an overwhelming concern in the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) community that many key programs focused on race and equity will be impacted.
Adams, a ranking member of a House Subcommittee on Higher Education and the founder and co-chair of the bicameral HBCU Caucus, issued a statement to Black Press USA once a federal judge temporarily blocked President Trump’s funding freeze. Adams, whose state houses 11 HBCUs, the largest number in any given state, says, “President Trump is dismantling equity in education with the stroke of a pen by rescinding federal initiatives for MSIs.”
HBCUs are 200-year-old institutions that are one of the largest segments of this nation to create the Black middle class. Adams passionately expressed, “He’s [President Trump] jeopardizing the futures of countless students.”
According to the Trump White House, the pause is meant as a review period for federal loans and grants to organizations and agencies. A White House official assured this reporter that Historically Black Colleges and Universities are fine. However, if African American history or “woke” programs are taught with federal funds, those monies will be extracted from the school and or program.
Walter Kimbrough, the interim president of Talladega College, exclusively told Black Press USA the initial announcement of the funding freeze “was a shock to the HBCU community, which has continued to enjoy broad, bipartisan support.” However he sharply questioned “how can you be an HBCU without African American history?
Trump White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller also gave the press an example of teaching “critical race theory,” which he says would lose the federal funding. “The pause on the federal loans and grants will involve “a politically appointed individual…who simply reviews and approves the expenditure so that we have democratic control over the operations of government,” emphasized Miller who further claimed, “This doesn’t impact any programs that Americans rely on.”
Adams, a former alumni of North Carolina A&T and a former professor of an HBCU, believes this examination of federal funding is ”putting HBCUs, which are already underfunded but vital to our communities, directly in harm’s way.” Meanwhile, Kimbrough wants the 111 presidents of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities to meet with President Trump.
“We are eager to meet with the new administration to remind them of the consequential role HBCUs make to our nation, and to solicit their support and further investment.”
April Ryan is an NNPA Newswire reporter.