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NBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Hispanic colleges targeted by lawsuit push back in court
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities is joining a legal fight over the fate of a federal program aimed at addressing educational disparities in higher education. This week, the association, better known as HACU, filed a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit that seeks to dismantle the Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) program — which provides federal grants to universities and colleges with a student body that is over 25% Latino. The program created by Congress provides grants to universities already educating the majority of the nation's Hispanic college students to expand their ability to help 'Hispanic students and other low-income individuals complete postsecondary degrees.' HACU is now part of the effort started last month by the Students for Fair Admissions — the same group behind the legal challenges that resulted in the Supreme Court striking down college affirmative action programs in 2023 — and the state of Tennessee to sue the Department of Education over the HSI program. They allege it ' discriminates based on ethnicity ' and are calling on the federal court to deem it unconstitutional. The association representing Hispanic universities also alleges that the lawsuit unfairly characterizes the HSI program, since the added resources from the grants benefit the entire student body of the institution. "We want our side of the story to be heard by the court before they decide on the case," Dr. Antonio R. Flores, president and chief executive officer of HACU, told NBC News on Friday. Flores said HSI-designated schools don't automatically get grants based on the number of Hispanic students on their campus. They must 'compete among themselves' to access the money and must prove that the majority of their students are low-income and that they 'spend less money per student than their peer institutions.' "This is not about preferential treatment. It is about equitable resource allocation for institutions,' Flores said. In court filings Thursday, Students for Fair Admissions and the state of Tennessee did not oppose HACU's motion to join the case as a defendant. The Department of Education has not yet responded to the complaint in court. It also did not respond to an email from NBC News seeking comment on Friday. To identify which colleges and universities serve the majority of the nation's Hispanic students, Congress defined Hispanic-Serving Institutions as those that have at least 25% of its full-time student population be of Hispanic or Latino descent. The HSI designation is based on geography and demographics, Fran Fajana, an attorney at LatinoJustice representing HACU in this case, told NBC News. 'It's not because the institution went out of its way to recruit a lot of Latino students.' The percentage of Latinos with a college degree still lags far behind white students. In 2022, about 21% of Latino adults over 25 had a bachelor's degree, compared to 42% for non-Hispanic whites, according to census figures. Students for Fair Admissions, which is led by conservative activist Ed Blum, referred to the 25% requirement as an ' arbitrary ethnic threshold" when it published a news release about the lawsuit on June 11. "This lawsuit challenges a federal policy that conditions the receipt of taxpayer-funded grants on the racial composition of a student body," Blum said in a statement last month. The Office of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in another statement from that the "rule leaves many needy students out in the cold." "The HSI program's discriminatory grant standards are just as illegal," Skrmetti said in the statement. Their lawsuit is part of a series of legal challenges brought forward in recent years — following the Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action — against schools, scholarships, internships and other educational programs that mention race or ethnicity in their criteria. Once an institution is competitively awarded a grant, there is no requirement in the HSI program limiting how those resources are distributed across the school, Fajana said. "Whether they've gotten the resources to expand their science program laboratories [or]capacity building," she said, "those resources are not limited to Latino students." A 2023 study from the Urban Institute found that the investments made by HSI-designated institutions increased the number of students of all races and ethnicities who completed college and obtained bachelor's degrees. "What is at stake?" Flores said, "Success in advancement of, not just the Latino community, but all of the students who go to HSIs and benefit from the funding."
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
JWU hopes to become Hispanic Serving Institution despite Trump's calls to end DEI policies
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Schools and universities across the country are being forced to make a decision after the U.S. Department of Education warned them to either cut their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs or risk losing federal funding. 'The department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation's educational institutions,' Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education, wrote in a letter dated Feb.14. However, some Johnson & Wales University (JWU) students believe the lack of diversity and inclusion is isolating. 'It's hard to feel like you belong,' junior Taytum Camacho said. That's why Camacho and her friends brought back the defunct Latine Student Alliance, which provides a space for other students to connect. RELATED: Trump gives schools a deadline to end DEI programs 'We all come from different backgrounds, and it's so exciting for us to bond over music and food and different events,' Camacho explained. 'I think because I wasn't able to experience it made me want to give it to other students, and I think that's something that's going to last far beyond when I graduate and when all my friends graduate.' It's one of the many steps the university is taking to become a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), which is defined as a university where a quarter of students identify as Hispanic. Currently, about 15% of JWU students identify as Hispanic. JWU's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Faculty Fellow predicts it will take anywhere between five to 10 years to reach the 25% benchmark. JWU's biggest challenge is competition between universities to get students to enroll. 'There's been a freefall in births in the nation's birthrate, which means there are fewer seniors graduating high school,' JWU Arts and Sciences Professor Christopher Westgate said. The university is focusing on community outreach and offering new programs to bring students in. JWU is also working with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), which provides scholarships and internships, as well as career and leadership development programs, to HSIs and emerging HSIs. 'It's not a DEI program. We don't exclude anyone. Everyone is welcome to apply and be part of our programs,' HACU President Antonio Flores said. Flores said 67% of Latino college students go to HSIs, which is why the President Donald Trump's efforts to get rid of DEI policies is concerning. He points to the U.S. Department of Labor's projection of a significant increase in the Hispanic workforce over the next decade as a reason for why these resources and programs are critical. 'If we don't educate this new labor force at a level that is competitive, especially in STEM disciplines, we are going to be in trouble as a nation, not just the Latino community,' Flores explained. But Trump disagrees, calling DEI policies and programs discriminatory and costly. 'DEI would have ruined our country,' Trump said. ' It was really hurting our country badly, costing a lot of money too. You see the kind of money we're talking about? Hundreds of millions of dollars for nonsense.' Download the free to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
