This story first appeared in Power Shift, The Yappie's weekly newsletter on national AAPI power, politics, and influence. Subscribe for free here.
The Trump administration diverted $47.2 million from programs bolstering Hispanic-serving institutions; Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian–serving institutions; Asian American– and Native American Pacific Islander–serving institutions; and Native American–serving nontribal institutions, per Inside Higher Education.
- The funding was reallocated to historically Black colleges and universities as well as tribal colleges.
Reaction: "Our communities should not be forced to fight over scraps when the federal government should be investing in all of them," said the Chairs of the Congressional Tri-Caucus.
- While the Tri-Caucus chairs affirmed that these institutions deserve more support, they called the diversion “a cynical ploy to pit minority communities against each other.”
Our take: It’s unclear whether the colleges that will benefit from the funding—many of which lauded the move—were aware that it’s coming at the cost of other minority-serving institutions.
- It nevertheless continues an increasingly aggressive trend of cutting federal support for designated minority-serving institutions and plays into long-standing tropes of forcing communities of color to compete against each other.
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