Lincoln University campus building.
Former and current students of Lincoln University are suing the state of Missouri for $548.7 million in a lawsuit that alleges the state shortchanged the Jefferson City-based HBCU from 1987 to 2020, St. Louis Public Radio reports.
The lawsuit – filed Oct. 7 in U.S. District Court of Western Missouri – accuses the state of failure to comply with the Morrill Act, which requires states to match federal funding for colleges and universities known as 1890 land-grant institutions. The lawsuit seeks $548.7 million, which the lawsuit indicates is the documented shortfall of $223.7 million and interest of $324.9 million.
Donald Calloway, Jr., a lead attorney in the lawsuit, told St. Louis Public Radio that if the lawsuit is successful, the money could be used to enhance Lincoln University’s programs and infrastructure. The lawsuit indicates that the money would be put into a special fund that is not controlled by the university, its board, its foundation or any state agency.
The lawsuit filed against Lincoln University – not to be confused with the HBCU of the same name in Pennsylvania – represents the start of a larger effort by the 1890 Project that seeks compensation for decades of documented underfunding of historically Black land-grant colleges in 16 states, according to Inside Higher Ed. The 1890 Project states the federal government – under President Joe Biden – documented that the total shortfall in state matching funds owed to the nation’s 1890 land-grant institutions is $12.8 billion for the period of 1987 to 2020. Calloway is the founder of the 1890 Project and says more litigation is planned.
“The ramifications of the underfunding are very present today, and just because it goes back some time doesn’t mean that we don’t have an obligation to fix it,” Calloway, a former Missouri legislator, told The New York Times of the lawsuit in Missouri. “It is a very clear breach of the state’s statutory and contractual obligation.”
The effort represents one of several legal efforts in the 21st century to remedy systemic state underfunding that HBCUs suffered in the 20th century and beyond. One of the more notable lawsuits in this regard took place in Maryland and resulted in a $577 million settlement for the state’s four HBCUs in 2021.
Jamaal Abdul-Alim is a longtime education writer who resides in Washington, D.C. He occasionally teaches journalism and has completed fellowships at the University of Michigan, Columbia University and New America.
