How The 2023 Farm Bill Could Stop the Shortchanging of 1890 HBCUs

From The Hill …

The nation’s 19 HBCU land-grant institutions have been shortchanged by billions of dollars in state and federal dollars that they were owed due to rampant, persistent racial discrimination. Congress has an opportunity to rectify these inequities this year through the renewal of the Farm Bill, which was last reauthorized in 2018.

The Farm Bill is the main vehicle by which the federal government supports the teaching and research of the nation’s 111 land-grant colleges and universities, a system that was first established by the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862. Black Americans were excluded from these institutions, however, which led to the passage of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1890, which created land-grant institutions for Black students. Yet while federal land and funds were set aside for the 1890 land grant institutions, allowing these schools to raise funds to grow their endowments and expand their campuses, no guaranteed land or funding was provided to them — discrimination that has persisted. 

In addition to not endowing historically Black land-grant schools with land or money, the federal government also let states off the hook in meeting their financial obligations. From the beginning, most states have failed to provide the 1:1 matching funds required by law, with some states only stepping up to the plate in the last year under heightened public scrutiny. 

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