The Conservative Threat to Race-Based Funding for Minority-Serving Institutions

Conservative activists are urging Congress to slash the more than $1 billion it sends each year to colleges for serving students of color, and to spend that money instead on programs that help all disadvantaged students, regardless of race. The federal grants set aside for minority-serving institutions are unconstitutional, discriminate against white students, and serve as a perverse incentive for colleges to recruit and admit students based on their race, several conservative scholars argue. The American Civil Rights Project, a conservative think tank, has drafted legislation to eliminate the minority-serving institution (MSI) designation that about 830 colleges have.