The University System of Georgia faces a federal lawsuit alleging chronic underfunding of three historically Black colleges, accusing the state’s public higher education system of diverting resources from HBCUs to traditionally White institutions, Higher Ed Dive reports. The lawsuit was filed by three HBCU alumni from Albany State, Fort Valley State, and Savannah State universities. State governments have historically underfunded HBCUs by not matching federal grants, a legal requirement under land-grant laws. The Georgia lawsuit follows the Biden Administration informing 16 governors last month that their states had collectively withheld public land-grant HBCUs of more than $12 billion in funding.
While race-conscious admissions in college were curtailed by the US Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University (SFFA), workplace diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) rules remained unaltered by the ruling. However, employers’ ability to promote diversity in the workplace may be limited by a case currently pending before the Supreme Court, according to an op-ed published by Higher Ed Dive. The Supreme Court is set to review Muldrow v. St. Louis next year, a case that questions the criteria of “adverse employment action” under Title VII, which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Supreme Court’s decision in Muldrow v. St. Louis may limit employer decision-making that takes into consideration factors such as gender or race.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Council on Education are collaborating to create a more inclusive classification system for colleges in 2023, The Chronicle reports. The goal is to better reflect diversity and encourage colleges to fill equity gaps, addressing challenges faced by regional and minority-serving institutions and “expanding recognition” of “different lanes of excellence,” including “institutions that are champions at racial equity and social and economic mobility but aren’t at the top of the research spending lists.”