OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Jason Lowe, D-Oklahoma City, and Rep. Regina Goodwin, D-Tulsa, held a press availability on the underfunding of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, specifically Langston University.
“I am disappointed in the legislature’s choice to exclude appropriations for Langston University in the state’s budget,” Lowe said. “Recently, it was discovered that Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have been drastically underfunded in comparison to non-HBCUs. I have been advocating for Langston to receive the same level of funding as other colleges and universities in our state for some time now. While this is discouraging, we will not stop fighting for equal funding for Langston University.”
Last fall, the United States Department of Education and the US Department of Agriculture released a report showing HBCUs were underfunded by $12 billion compared to non-HBCUs.
“As racism prevented black students from being educated in historically white land grant colleges and universities, after 1862, The Second Morrill Act of 1890 was enacted into law to mandate that historically black land grant colleges and universities receive a just and equitable division of all funding for Land Grant institutions,” said Goodwin. “For years, at the Oklahoma State Legislature, we have asked for equity in funding for Langston University, a historically black land grant institution. Instead of the minimum 1 to 1 federal to state dollar match, Langston University has received approximately .46 cents to every federal dollar. The land grant institution, Oklahoma State University receives approximately $3.1 state dollars to one federal dollar. The US Dept. of Education reports just since 1987, Langston University (LU) has been underfunded by $419 million dollars. Despite decades and decades of LU inequities in funding and their request of $65 million dollars this year, the Oklahoma State Legislature budgeted $80 million dollars for OSU and approximately $2.5 million for Langston University. Related to agricultural science studies and research, Langston University students have been woefully shorted of dollars, services, facilities and an equitable education. The inequities are despicable. The OK State Legislature and the OK State Regents of Higher Ed should right these wrongs.”
One report shows Langston University was underfunded by $160 million in the last decade.
“It is quite evident that Langston University has been underfunded for years,” said Sen. George Young, D-Oklahoma City. “The report from the federal level of our education governing arm has raised that issue. The fact is there has been for years concerns about the state, also failing to fund Langston University fairly and adequately. We are moving now to the level of calling upon the State Regents to perform the necessary audits to ascertain more accurate data as to what level the funding has fallen short. But in the meantime to make some attempts at correcting this error in the current budgetary cycle, we call upon the Regents and Chancellor to provide information to address and correct this monumental error.”
HBCUs have a much higher rate for upward mobility than non-HBCU institutions, which many reports suggest could be due to the higher rates of mentorship, support, and experiential learning opportunities. HBCU enrollment has shown to have a positive impact on bachelor’s degree completion and household income for Black Americans.
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