{"slug":"trump-hbcu-executive-order-historically-black-colleges","title":"HBCU Funding Cuts and Broken Promises: Trump's Record with Historically Black Colleges","date":"2017-02-01","lastUpdated":"2020-07-01","description":"Trump repeatedly made high-profile gestures toward Historically Black Colleges and Universities while simultaneously cutting or underfunding the programs they relied on. His 2020 budget cut $85 million from programs that directly served HBCUs. A 2017 executive order promised to move HBCU affairs to the White House, but funding mechanisms, campus safety grants, and key assistance programs were reduced or eliminated. HBCU presidents publicly described being misled.","summary":"Trump used HBCUs as a political prop — signing executive orders promising prioritization while his budgets cut the funding those schools depended on. His administration cut the HBCU STEM research program, redirected grants, and proposed eliminating subsidized student loans on which HBCU students disproportionately relied. HBCU presidents who came to the White House for the high-profile signing ceremony were criticized by other HBCU advocates for lending legitimacy to a performance.","category":"civil-rights","severity":"major","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/us/politics/trump-hbcus.html","title":"Trump's HBCU Executive Order Was Supposed to Help. Some Worry It Will Hurt.","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/02/is-trumps-executive-order-on-hbcus-good-for-hbcus/517895/","title":"Is Trump's HBCU Executive Order Actually Good for HBCUs?","publisher":"The Atlantic"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/02/10/trumps-2021-budget-cuts-billions-education-affects-programs-key-hbcus/","title":"Trump's budget cuts billions in education, affects programs key to HBCUs","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://www.diverseeducation.com/home/article/15089583/trump-budget-cuts-85m-from-programs-hbcus-rely-on","title":"Trump Budget Cuts $85M From Programs HBCUs Rely On","publisher":"Diverse: Issues in Higher Education"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["HBCU","education","civil-rights","first-term","Black-Americans","higher-education"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2017-02-27","title":"Trump signs HBCU executive order","summary":"Trump signs an executive order moving the White House Initiative on HBCUs from the Education Department to the Executive Office of the President, framed as giving HBCUs higher priority. HBCU presidents attend the signing ceremony at the White House. Critics note the order does not include any funding commitments and may inadvertently expose HBCUs to new legal risks."},{"date":"2017-05-01","title":"Administration proposes eliminating subsidized student loans","summary":"Trump's proposed budget eliminates the federal subsidized student loan program — under which the government pays interest while students are in school. HBCU students, who disproportionately come from lower-income backgrounds, rely on this program at higher rates than students at majority-white institutions."},{"date":"2018-01-01","title":"Title III funding stagnates","summary":"Title III Strengthening Institutions grants — the primary federal program providing operational support to HBCUs — receive flat or reduced funding, failing to keep pace with inflation or enrollment growth."},{"date":"2020-02-10","title":"FY2021 budget proposes $85M in HBCU-impacting cuts","summary":"Trump's fiscal year 2021 budget proposal cuts $85 million from programs that HBCUs disproportionately rely on, including graduate education grants, TRIO, and GEAR UP."},{"date":"2020-07-01","title":"Trump hosts HBCU leaders as election nears","summary":"As the 2020 election approaches, Trump holds additional meetings with HBCU leaders and announces new funding commitments, framed as outreach to Black voters. Critics note the commitments come in the final months of the campaign after years of budget cuts."}],"location":{"name":"Washington, D.C.","lat":38.9072,"lng":-77.0369},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"reported","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who depend on federal funding and programs reduced under Trump; HBCU institutions with constrained budgets","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"President of the United States","institution":"White House"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2020-07-01","summary":"Updated with election-year HBCU outreach and context."}]}}