Oklahoma Democrats Call Out HBCU Underfunding: ‘Langston University Students Deserve Better’

Democrats are sounding the alarm concerning the underfunding of HBCU s. Addressing a disparity between HBCUs and PWIs has been the focus of Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack since 2023. They addressed letters to 16 governors around the country, citing that HBCUs have been subject to a $12 billion disparity in funding.

“Unacceptable funding inequities have forced many of our nation’s distinguished Historically Black Colleges and Universities to operate with inadequate resources and delay critical investments in everything from campus infrastructure to research and development to student support services,” Cardona previously said in a statement .

In Oklahoma, the issue was put in the spotlight after the House passed HB 2893, which would grant $80 million to Oklahoma State University for a new life science facility.

“For years, at the Oklahoma State Legislature, we have asked for equity in funding for Langston University, a historically black land grant institution,” Democratic Representative Regina Goodwin said, according to The Black Wall Street Times . “Instead of the minimum 1 to 1 federal to state dollar match, Langston University has received approximately .46 cents to every federal dollar.”

“I am disappointed in the legislature’s choice to exclude appropriations for Langston University in the state’s budget,” Democratic Representative Jason Lowe added. “Recently, it was discovered that Historically Black Colleges and Universities have been drastically underfunded in comparison to non-HBCUs.”

Langston has been underfunded by over $400 million since 1987, according to the US Department of Education.

The university was founded in 1897 and was originally called the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University. It was created after the second Morrill Act in 1890, which directed states that received land-grant funding to either admit students of color in their universities or create separate institutions.

Lowe and Goodwin advocated for Langston to receive $65 million in funding, which was reduced to $2.5 million.

“The governor states that this is a top ten state and also that we have a $5 billion surplus,” Lowe said, according to KFOR . “We have enough money to get this done. Langston University students deserve better.”

“It leaves you almost without words,” Goodwin added.