Our Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) Tribal Colleges & Universities (TCUs) are facing challenges from the new anti Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) forces in the racist Administration of the white supremacist in the White House and his appointed minions.
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
I realized some time ago, that though I grew up knowing what HBCU’s were and are that many of my white friends didn’t. Both my parents graduated from one, as did my aunts and uncles, and I attended Howard University in my undergraduate years.
I’ve written about them here in the past, multiple times — as recently as mid February in Black Kos: Black history and education are under attack, and we are fighting back.
I wanted to also highlight the other institutions that serve student populations from minority constituencies here today as well.
First, some demographics. According to 2022 government data, HBCUs were serving 290,000 students. For Hispanics, “In 2024, about 1.4 million Hispanic undergraduates were enrolled in Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), which is roughly 60% of all Hispanic undergraduates.” For Native Americans, “In fall 2022, 17,294 students were enrolled in Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), including 17,037 undergraduates and 257 graduate students”
For a quick review, here are three short videos explaining some of the history, and importance:
What is an HBCU?
What is an HSI?
Why attend a Tribal University.
On the news front — here are some of the stories.
From HBCU Academics:
Trump executive order already impacting DEI programs for HBCUs
In a move that has sparked widespread reactions, President Donald J. Trump’s recent executive orders have forced the cancellation of the HBCUs and Registered Apprenticeship Mini-Conference, which was set to take place next week. Organized by the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions (CMSI), the event was designed to showcase the voices and experiences of HBCU leaders and students in the area of workforce development. However, Trump’s new policies targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs have effectively shut down federally funded initiatives like this one.
The executive orders, titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” and “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” were issued on January 20 and 21, 2025. These orders aim to dismantle DEI-focused programs across all federal agencies, including those that provide funding for initiatives benefiting HBCUs. CMSI announced in a statement that they have been directed to cease all work under the U.S. Department of Labor-funded Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility HUB.
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The implications for HBCUs are far-reaching. Many historically Black colleges and universities rely on federal funding to support initiatives aimed at fostering equity and access for their students. By targeting these programs, critics argue that Trump’s policies risk undermining the progress HBCUs have made in preparing students for success in the modern workforce. Advocates of these institutions view the executive orders as a direct attack on their mission to address systemic inequities.
From Inside Higher Ed:
A Tenuous Moment for Minority-Serving Institutions Under Trump
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.
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump rescinded a slew of Biden-era executive orders and actions that he deemed “harmful.” In his order disbanding the initiatives, he slammed the former president for injecting diversity, equity and inclusion work “into our institutions,” calling DEI a “dangerous preferential hierarchy.”
Among the programs Trump slashed were initiatives Biden created to support Hispanic-serving institutions and tribal colleges and foster greater collaboration between federal agencies and the institutions. Another initiative that included “breaking down barriers” to federal funding for predominantly Black and historically Black colleges also bit the dust. That same week, federal webpages with information about HSIs and tribal colleges went dark.
n his first day in office, President Donald Trump rescinded a slew of Biden-era executive orders and actions that he deemed “harmful.” In his order disbanding the initiatives, he slammed the former president for injecting diversity, equity and inclusion work “into our institutions,” calling DEI a “dangerous preferential hierarchy.”
Among the programs Trump slashed were initiatives Biden created to support Hispanic-serving institutions and tribal colleges and foster greater collaboration between federal agencies and the institutions. Another initiative that included “breaking down barriers” to federal funding for predominantly Black and historically Black colleges also bit the dust. That same week, federal webpages with information about HSIs and tribal colleges went dark.
I happen to be an avid follower of women’s college basketball — and this distressing story, regarding Haskell Indian Nations popped up in my feed. From The Kansas City Star:
Trump’s firings cost Kansas coach his job. Now, he works unpaid as team fights for victory
Less than two miles from the University of Kansas, home of one of the most storied programs in college basketball, Adam Strom, the 48-year-old coach at Haskell Indian Nations University — tiny with 978 students, beleaguered and long overshadowed — blew his whistle twice on Monday night to gather his team’s attention. “OK, it’s about that time,” he said, beginning practice. “Let’s stretch. Let’s warm-up. We’ll meet at half (court). Let’s go ladies.” Every one of his players, 17 young women from as many tribal nations — Blackfoot, Apache, Navajo, Nez Perce and more — knew the situation, one that began as wrenching, but has since turned inspiring.
On Feb. 15, they were brought to tears following their Senior Night victory, an 87-18 walloping of Kansas Christian College, when Strom informed them that, in keeping with one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders to reduce the federal workforce, he had been fired one day prior, on Valentine’s Day. His dismissal was “effective immediately.”
From The Guardian:
An uncertain future for agricultural students at Black colleges after Trump cuts: ‘a clear attack’
Dr Marcus Bernard was shocked to learn last week that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) had suspended the 1890 National Scholars program that funds undergraduate students’ education in agriculture or related fields at about 20 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Bernard is dean of the college of agriculture, health and natural resources at one of those institutions, Kentucky State University. At Kentucky State, close to 40 of the scholars have enrolled since the project’s inception in 1992. Nationwide, the program has supported more than 800 students, according to the USDA.
The 1890 scholarships have created a pipeline for rural and underrepresented students to pursue studies in fields such as animal science, botany, horticulture, nutrition and forestry. Upon graduation, they are placed in USDA positions around the nation.
The news of the program’s suspension – explained in a single sentence that briefly sat atop the program’s USDA page – sparked a flurry of inquiries at Kentucky State. Bernard said the university had been notified that incoming fall 2025 scholarship selectees would not be funded. Without the federal funds, Kentucky State couldn’t pay for those students’ education or continue current students’ scholarships.
Bernard, anxious students and families got some small relief late on Monday when the program reopened – a change noted on the website. It said that applications for the scholarship, which gives full rides to the institutions created from federal lands, would be accepted until 15 March.
However, the future of the scholarship remains unclear as much of the funding that supports the students’ research and fieldwork has been halted
I’m hoping that this story is a window on the importance of protesting.
Under pressure, White House reinstates HBCU scholars program
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the federal 1890 National Scholars Program through its Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement (OPPE), put the program on hold last week “pending further review,” but the program’s USDA website was updated Tuesday to note that the application process has resumed. Eligible students can apply through March 15.
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The new administration, under President Trump’s direct order, has sought to shutter many federal programs that are geared toward diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
[...]
“I’m pleased the Secretary has lifted the suspension of and reopened the application for the USDA 1890 National Scholars Program,” Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.) said in a statement on the reversal. “This program has been in place since 1992, and I hope we can work together to address the real challenges and real opportunities for our 1890s and our HBCUs.”
Adams is a founding member of the bipartisan HBCU caucus in Congress and a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee, and she had been a vocal opponent of the proposed change.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) also had blasted the pause before its reversal. In a statement to The Hill after the program was reopened, Ossoff said he would continue to watch for other attempts at program changes that would affect HBCU funding.
“The Trump Administration should never have paused this funding in the first place,” he said. “I will continue my oversight to ensure that Georgia HBCU students receive the support Congress directed to them.”
Question: Do you know the location of the HBCUs, TCUs and HSIs in your states?
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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Even though Black people aren’t the primary beneficiaries of so-called DEI policies, we are the target of campaigns to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion. Let that sink in. We live in a country that is so steeped in anti-Blackness that the masses are upset at the thought of “equity” for Black people. Enough so that they will hurt other groups to keep us in our place. When they say “DEI,” I hear the “n—-r” loud and clear.
These DEI lawsuits, executive orders, and outcries flooding our headlines? They’re not about “discrimination against white people” or “merit-based decisions.” They’re about maintaining the chokehold on Black economic progress. As someone who’s moved through elite spaces as a lawyer, founded and sold a successful tech company, and now leads a venture fund, I know tech is the new frontier for wealth creation. They know it too, which is why the anti-DEI movement is so focused on tech.
And it’s not just Elon Musk. Tech bros have cultivated a false myth of meritocracy in the tech, venture, and startup spaces because it makes them feel good to explain their success in these terms instead of being steeped in the same white privilege that slave-holding ancestors leveraged to build extractive wealth (which they also claimed was accumulated by “pulling themselves up by the bootstraps”).
For example, Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, said at an event last year, “If you think of the woke DEI whole coalition as a combination of true laborers and useful idiots, and, you know, from the capitalists or people who are in some corrupt racket, that’s probably a far more powerful coalition.” Would you be surprised to learn that Peter Thiel was born in West Germany, lived in apartheid South Africa as a child, and then went on to Stanford University and law school? Like Musk, who is South African, the ideas they are espousing aren’t stemming from a commitment to talent and meritocracy over everything else. It’s a deep-seated belief in white superiority, such that any advancement of Black people (and pathways that facilitate that advancement) is intolerable.
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Countries around the world already are feeling the impact of the Trump administration’s decision to eliminate more than 90% of foreign aid contracts and cut some $60 billion in funding. Hours after the announcement earlier this week, programs were shuttered, leaving millions of people without access to life-saving care.
Some 10,000 contracts with the U.S. Agency for International Development were terminated on Wednesday, in letters sent to nongovernmental organizations across the globe.
The letters said that the programs were being defunded “for convenience and the interests of the U.S. government,” according to a person with knowledge of the content who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
Here some key projects around the world that AP has confirmed have closed:
1: In Congo, aid group Action Against Hunger will stop treating tens of thousands of malnourished children from May, which the charity said will put the children in “mortal danger.”
2: In Ethiopia, food assistance stopped for more than 1 million people, according to the Tigray Disaster Risk Management Commission. The Ministry of Health was also forced to terminate the contract of 5,000 workers across the country focused on HIV and malaria prevention, vaccinations and helping vulnerable women deal with the trauma of war.
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Arthur Johnson has lived in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward for nearly three decades, long enough to appreciate the trees that filter pollution from the big ships traveling the nearby Mississippi River and that offer shade on sweltering summer days.
When Hurricane Katrina roared through two decades ago, it wiped out 200,000 trees across the city, including many in Johnson’s neighborhood and several in his own yard. The city has struggled ever since to restore its tree canopy.
Those efforts will be set back by the U.S. Forest Service’s decision in mid-February to terminate a $75 million grant to the Arbor Day Foundation, which was working to plant trees in neighborhoods that might not otherwise be able to afford them. The program is the latest victim of a drive by President Donald Trump’s administration against environmental justice initiatives.
In New Orleans, part of the money was going to the environmental group Sustaining Our Urban Landscape (SOUL), which has planted more than 1,600 trees in the historically Black community but has now paused plans for another 900.
Those are trees that largely low-income residents otherwise couldn’t afford to plant or maintain, said the 71-year-old Johnson, who runs a local nonprofit, the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, that has helped SOUL with its work and done some tree plantings of its own in the area.
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A natalist conference featuring speakers including self-described eugenicists and promoters of race science, apparently including the man behind a previously pseudonymous race-science influencer account, and the founder of a startup offering IQ screening for IVF embryos, will be held at a hotel and conference venue operated by the public University of Texas, Austin.
Details of the conference have emerged as a prominent supporter of pro-natalist positions, tech billionaire Elon Musk, lays waste to US government agencies under the banner of his “Doge” initiative, with the blessing of Donald Trump.
Natalism in its current often rightwing iteration encourages high birth rates, and Musk has been a vocal proponent. He also maintains a large compound home near Austin, where reportedly he plans to house some of his children and two of their mothers.
The Natal conference website embeds a Musk post on X, reading: “If birth rates continue to plummet, human civilization will end.” Musk, who reportedly has at least 13 children by four mothers, was in recent days confronted on X by musician Grimes and rightwing influencer Ashley St Clair over his alleged neglect of the children he has fathered with them.
The conference, scheduled for 28-29 March, is being organized by Kevin Dolan, who the Guardian identified in 2021 as the person behind a Twitter account that was prominent in the far-right “DezNat” movement, and last year as the organizer of the first conference. It is the second time the conference has been held, and once again, the speakers roster runs from provocateurs who emerged from the “fascist fitness scene” to practitioners of “liberal eugenics”.
Patrik Hermannson, a researcher at Hope Not Hate, a UK anti-hate nonprofit, said that the pro-natalism beliefs informing the Natal conference was one of the crucial planks of “the modern race science movement”.
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The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) is closing its southern Africa office in the wake of the Trump administration’s aid cuts.
In a statement, a spokesperson said the office in Johannesburg would close and the WFP would consolidate its southern and east Africa operations into one regional office in Nairobi, Kenya.
The spokesperson said the UN food agency had launched a long-term plan to streamline its structure in 2023, but as “the donor funding outlook becomes more constrained, we have been compelled to accelerate these efforts”.
The spokesperson said food programmes would continue:
“Our commitment to serving vulnerable communities is as strong as ever, and WFP remains committed to ensuring our operations are as effective and efficient as possible in meeting the needs of those facing hunger.”
The WFP did not say how much funding it had lost from USAid, but it received $4.4bn (£3.5bn) in assistance from the US last year, about half its total annual budget and more than four times the amount given by the second biggest donor, Germany.
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Voices & Soul
“… The last Rangers/
In flight against/
The last lawless/
Latin-blooded immigrant… “
Justice Putnam
”It Was A Dark and Stormy Night”
by Black Kos Editor, Justice Putnam
Henry Smith was a former slave who was tortured and murdered at a public, heavily attended and promoted lynching on 1 February 1893 at the Paris Fairgrounds in Paris, Texas. His capital crime was one very familiar for the times, trumped up charges of rape and murder, a drunken confession and a summary judgement by a mob for a lynching.
I won’t go into detail about the grotesque torture Smith suffered while hands were bound and a noose around the neck, I won’t describe how the mob burned him alive and the shouts of joy at every moan from his pain.
I really don’t see how these are different times. I don’t see any difference in the capacity of a mob’s behavior in the late 1800’s with the behavior of the MAGA mob today. Cruelty has always been the point, and a mocking disregard for anyone expressing any kind of humanity to a fellow human being.
The times may not be different. We may be living under the same yoke of hate that enslaved a race and blamed them for it. We may be confronted with the unthinkable, we might even be confronted with the familiar, and we may be tested as our ancestors were tested. We may be forced, as so many others were forced before us, to decide if death is preferable to slavery. The odds may be stacked against us and against all we hold dear and love. We may come to believe hope is but mere folly, and a better tomorrow will never be a better today. But I’m still not giving up.
It Was A Dark and Stormy Night
by
Justice Putnam
It was a dark a
And stormy night
As I sloshed along
The gale-washed streets
Of a Sam Shepard Paris, Texas
The wooden senoritas
Dressed in their virginal white
The local Padre righting
The fallen-in-the-wind-nativity
The lizards scurrying
Across the rain-lashed
Wind-beaten stones
And sand
The flag of
The Texas Republic
Tattered in
The gusting torrent
Laying claim to
A deeper truth
A deeper meaning
A deeper consideration
Of all that is
And is meant to be
The last Rangers
In flight against
The last lawless
Latin-blooded immigrant
Escaping through
The wind
And the rain
And the dark
To a new destiny
Where the wind
And the rain
And the dark
Are but distant memories
And the tears of yesterday
Becomes the giddy laughter
Of child-like tomorrows
And all of humanity
Is lighted by the
City of Light Paris
While the
Sam Shepard Paris
Is darkened by
The nocturnal blowings
Of wind
And rain
And the extinguished candles
Of a forgotten today.
© 2010 by Justice Putnam
and Mechanisches-Strophe Verlagswesen
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