Several students and alumni of one of the nation’s oldest HBCUs are suing the government of Missouri for severely underfunding the university over a period of decades. The plaintiffs are seeking more than half a billion dollars from the state, to be dedicated to the university in compensation for the decades of underpayments.
Missouri accused of double standard in university funding
A group of seven current students and alumni of Lincoln University are suing the state of Missouri, arguing that the government has intentionally underfunded the HBCU for decades. The group of plaintiffs, which does not include the university itself, alleges that Missouri has violated the Second Morrill Act of 1890, which requires “just and equitable” state funding for Black land-grant universities. Despite the law, Missouri has not funded Lincoln University at a comparable level to the University of Missouri, the only other land-grant university in the state. Missouri has additionally tied funding for Lincoln to performance criteria that were not required of the University of Missouri. The lawsuit names the state of Missouri as a defendant, alongside Missouri officials including Gov. Mike Kehoe; Bennett Boggs, commissioner of higher education and workforce development; University of Missouri System President Mun Choi; and the Coordinating Board for Higher Education of the State of Missouri.
Lawsuit seeks $549 million for Lincoln University
The suit is seeking to force Missouri to pay Lincoln University nearly $224 million in funds that were withheld from the university between 1987 and 2020, as well as $325 million in prejudgment interest. The $549 million sum, if awarded, is intended to be paid out by Missouri over a period of no more than three years and put into a fund to be administered by a special master appointed by the state. The money would be dedicated to funding faculty positions, increasing student services and making repairs to Lincoln’s campus, as well as allocating 20 percent of the awarded money to the university’s endowment. Don Calloway, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, stated of the $549 million, “I should say we hope that some of it goes to staff and staff enhancements, particularly in certain instruction areas. But the main thing we’re looking for is injunctive relief, a federal consent decree that makes sure that every year going forward, Lincoln is funded on parity with the University of Missouri.”
HBCU funding policies under Presidents Biden and Trump
HBCU funding has been a debated issue within the political sphere, with Presidents Biden and Trump both claiming to have allocated unprecedented levels of money to the schools, even as critics point toward caveats about what type of funding is included in those numbers and where the money comes from. Trump, for example, has been criticized for cutting federal funding for Hispanic-serving and other minority-serving institutions and diverting those funds to HBCUs and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities. The lawsuit is partially based on actions of the last two administrations. The Biden administration concluded in 2023 that 16 states with land-grant HBCUs, including Missouri, had collectively underfunded those schools by more than $12 billion between 1987 and 2020, providing figures that formed the basis for Lincoln’s underfunding claim. Meanwhile, in an April 2025 executive order establishing a White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, President Trump also included a clause “encouraging States to provide the required State matching funds for 1890 Land-Grant Institutions.”
Based on Trump’s call for states to properly fund HBCUs and Biden’s conclusion that state governments have not been doing so for decades, the current and former students suing over Lincoln University’s funding are seeking justice for their school. The lawsuit could not only result in a major financial boost for Lincoln, but it could also ensure that the Missouri HBCU and other similar schools receive fair treatment.
