The Trump administration said Friday it will not defend a decades-old grant program for colleges with large numbers of Hispanic students that is being challenged in court, declaring the government believes the funding is unconstitutional.
In a memo sent to Congress, the Justice Department said it agrees with a lawsuit attempting to strike down grants that are reserved for colleges and universities where at least a quarter of undergraduates are Hispanic. Congress created the program in 1998 after finding Latino students were going to college and graduating at far lower rates than white students.
Justice Department officials argued the program provides an unconstitutional advantage based on race or ethnicity.
The state of Tennessee and an anti-affirmative action organization sued the U.S. Education Department in June, asking a judge to halt the Hispanic-Serving Institution program. Tennessee argued all of its public universities serve Hispanic students but none meet the “arbitrary ethnic threshold” to be eligible for the grants. Those schools miss out on tens of millions of dollars because of discriminatory requirements, the suit said.
{snip}
More than 500 colleges and universities are designated as Hispanic-Serving Institutions, making them eligible for the grant program. Congress appropriated about $350 million for the program in 2024. {snip}
Former President Joe Biden made Hispanic universities a priority, signing an executive action last year that promised a new presidential advisory board and increased funding. President Donald Trump revoked the order his first day in office.
{snip}
A national association of Hispanic universities filed a motion last month to intervene as a defendant in the Tennessee lawsuit, voicing concern that the federal government would not adequately represent the group’s members.
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities said Trump’s agenda is “entirely adverse” to the group’s interests, citing the president’s aim to close the Education Department entirely. The administration is “on record denouncing programs like HSIs, that take account of and seek to redress ethnic or racial disparity,” the group wrote.
{snip}
Unlike historically Black or Native American tribal colleges and universities, which receive their designations based on their missions, any college can receive the HSI label and grants if its Latino enrollment makes up at least 25% of the undergraduate student body.
{snip}
The post Justice Dept. Declines to Defend Grants for Hispanic-Serving Colleges appeared first on American Renaissance.
American Renaissance
