Biden’s HBCU Snub Is Yet Another Failure to the Black Voters Who Elected Him
The president’s broken promises suggest he’s taking a valuable bloc for granted
Joe Biden owes his presidency to Black people. This is a fact. Yet it so often feels as if his administration plans to be as cheap and empty as possible when it comes to paying us back.
Last week, it was reported that in light of an ongoing rift between Democrats over the passage of both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and a $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill designed to widely expand the social safety net, the previously planned $45 billion for historically Black colleges and universities will be reduced to $2 billion for educational programs and infrastructure of HBCUs and “other minority-serving institutions.” Newsweek’s Alyse Mesmer added that the amount could be reduced to competitive grant funding instead of direct funding to the schools.
As Kevin Cosby, president of Simmons College of Kentucky in Louisville, noted to Mesmer, it’s not only unfortunate that they plan to reduce funding to Black institutions in need, they’re not even distinguishing HBCUs specifically for assistance.
“To mix them with minority-serving institutions, which are are not historic institutions that do not have the legacy of…
