CONGRESSMAN DANNY K. DAVIS CONDEMNS DOJ ACTION UNDERMINING MINORITY SERVING INSTITUTIONS AND EDUCATIONAL EQUITY

Chicago, IL - Congressman Danny K. Davis issued the following statement today in response to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel opinion declaring key Minority Serving Institution (MSI) programs unconstitutional, prompting the Department of Education to halt or curtail their operation:

"Today's action by the Department of Justice denies both the constitutionality and the necessity of targeted, compensatory efforts designed to expand educational access for Black, Hispanic, Asian American, Native American, and other historically marginalized communities.

This decision wipes away formal recognition of the very real and well-documented legacy of racism, slavery, Jim Crow segregation, systemic poverty, and structural barriers that continue to shape educational opportunity in America.

To suggest-by any stretch of the imagination-that the playing field in education is equal is simply false."

Minority Serving Institutions educate roughly five million students-nearly one-third of all undergraduates in this country. These institutions are not symbolic. They are proven engines of economic mobility. They meet students where they are, support low-income and first-generation students, and strengthen entire communities.

When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Higher Education Act, he made clear that no student should be turned away from college because their family is poor. Today's actions are deeply at odds with that promise.

Background:
Following the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel opinion, the Department of Education will no longer operate or will significantly curtail several programs, including: Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions; Hispanic-Serving Institutions-STEM; Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institutions; Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions; Predominantly Black Institutions formula grants; Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions; the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program; and Native Hawaiian Career and Technical Education programs. Components of TRIO programs, including the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, are also affected.

Congressman Davis has long championed policies that expand access to education and confront structural inequality as essential to economic mobility and a healthy democracy.