HBCUs are celebrating Trump's recent order. What will it change?
HBCUs are celebrating Trump's recent order. What will it change? The largely symbolic order rehouses a longstanding, bipartisan presidential initiative on HBCUs with the president rather than within the U.S. Department of Education.
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Mixed reactions to Trump's order to dismantle Education Department
Residents in Columbia, Missouri, and New York City reacted to President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at dissolving the Education Department.
WASHINGTON – Even as his administration targets diversity programs in higher education, President Donald Trump reaffirmed his commitment to supporting the nation's historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs.
He signed a largely symbolic order on April 23 in the Oval Office that rehouses a longstanding, bipartisan presidential initiative on HBCUs at the White House, rather than at the U.S. Department of Education. It also maintains a presidential advisory board on HBCUs within the Education Department.
The order was celebrated by many HBCUs, including Howard University, where former Vice President Kamala Harris studied and gave her concession speech after she lost her bid for the presidency last year.
"For nearly two centuries, Howard and the collective of HBCUs have cultivated talent, unlocked opportunity, and contributed mightily to every sector of American life," the school said in a statement. "This executive order affirms the vital and visionary necessity of our work."
Read more: Trump issues mandates on HBCUs, school discipline, foreign gifts, accreditation
The directive, part of a flurry of education-related orders Trump signed April 23, is mostly a continuation of conventional federal policy, which generally supports HBCUs. And it reinforces the Trump administration's prioritization of historically Black colleges over other types of minority-serving institutions. Immediately after Trump took office, he rescinded similar measures meant to bolster tribal colleges and universities where at least a quarter of the undergraduates are Hispanic.
The move frustrated college officials, who said it would require a herculean effort to revive federal supports on which they've come to rely.
"We need to start from zero again," Antonio Flores, the head of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, told USA TODAY in January.
Read more: Trump axed support for tribal and Hispanic-serving colleges. They're not happy about it.
The measure is also a departure from the Trump administration's so-called war on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. In the last three months, the federal government has placed enormous pressure on colleges to dismantle supports for marginalized populations, including Black students, or risk losing their federal funding.
Individually, the nation's roughly 100 HBCUs stand to lose major sums as the White House attempts to move forward with potentially devastating cuts to federal research funding sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Energy.
Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.
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