Minority-Serving Institutions

With higher ed facing a hostile political climate, rich colleges should share their wealth with needier institutions, Eric Weinberger writes.

By Eric Weinberger

West Virginia State University, like other public institutions in the state, has to identify its DEI practices for the governor to review. But as a historically Black university serving mostly white students, university leaders say diversity is part of its DNA.

As the Trump administration targets federal DEI programming, colleges and universities with a mission to serve underrepresented students, like minority-serving institutions and tribal colleges, don’t know where they stand.

Martin University had a short-lived burst of state funding. But those funds disappeared in Governor Mike Braun’s budget proposal, unveiled on the heels of an anti-DEI executive order. One lawmaker calls it racist.