Pressured by DOJ, Mizzou cuts funds for Black, Hispanic, Asian, queer groups
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Mizzou reclassified five groups, removing their dedicated funding sources.
- Decision cites a July DOJ memo warning identity-based allocations may violate law.
- Groups face steep budget cuts and plan alumni fundraising and legal consultation.
The University of Missouri is pulling dedicated funding from five identity-based student groups in response to pressure from the federal government.
Group leaders told The Star they were asked to attend a meeting on Thursday, and by Friday, they were told that starting July 1, they would lose their sponsorship by the university.
“We didn’t have any warning or anything. We didn’t know what the meeting was about,” said Amaya Morgan, president of The Legion of Black Collegians.
“I can understand, from a technical standpoint, not wanting to jeopardize federal funding,” Morgan said. “But also, how do you go about protecting your students on campus who pay to go here, who already are facing huge issues with racial harassment and huge issues with inclusion and belonging?”
The Legion of Black Collegians, Association of Latin American Students, Queer Liberation Front, Four Front and the Asian American Association will be categorized as “Recognized Student Organization,” which puts them in the same category as about 650 other student groups on campus. They can apply for a limited pool of funding, but they will no longer have a dedicated source of revenue.
“The five student organizations whose funding method is changing, they were chosen because they were given funding differently from almost all of the rest of the student organizations,” said Christopher Ave, communications director at the University of Missouri.
Department of Justice memo
Mizzou said it recategorized the student organization to remain compliant with the Department of Justice’s memo on “unlawful discrimination.”
The July 29 memo defines boundaries to diversity, equity and inclusion programs and asserts that initiatives like identity-segregated spaces may violate anti-discrimination laws. It contends that any resource allocation to identity groups could be unlawful, even if it’s only perceived.
“Even if access is technically open to all, the identity-based focus creates a perception of segregation and may foster a hostile environment,” the memo says. “This extends to any resource allocation – such as study spaces, computer labs, or event venues – that segregates access based on protected characteristics, even if intended to create ‘safe spaces.’”
Ave said the university identified the five student groups as running afoul of the memo, which threatened university funding. In total, the five groups received about $140,000 for the current fiscal year. The funding will be added to the pot of money available to all Recognized Student Organizations.
LBC is the first and only Black student government in the nation, according to its website. Its president, Amaya Morgan, said the group received about $60,000 from the university last year, and as a Recognized Student Organization, it could only get about $3,000 from the university.
“The scale in which our organizations, the multicultural organizations, are operating cannot be covered by $3,000,” Morgan said.
Morgan said LBC hosts events, provides funding for organizations under its “umbrella,” mentorship programs and offers help for first-year students. Each of the targeted organizations is an “umbrella organization,” and may oversee or sponsor their partner organizations.
“Now that all of the orgs are going to be at the same level, everyone will have to apply for individual funding, so there isn’t a financial reason to have an umbrella org and under-organizations,” Tanvi Kulkarni, president of Mizzou’s Asian American Association, told The Star.
Mizzou said failure to meet the DOJ’s standards could result in funding losses for financial aid, research and other university programs. Students involved with the organization, however, said they feel like a welcoming space at their university is being threatened.
“I feel like for me, I would have never found my belonging place on campus without AAA, and I think the same goes for other members as well as members of the other organizations affected by this change,” Chelsea Trieu, secretary for the Asian American Association at Mizzou, told The Star.
Diversity and inclusion
Other students consider this the university’s latest step back on diversity and inclusion. In 2024, Mizzou dissolved its inclusion, diversity and equity division to avoid budget cuts proposed by anti-DEI state legislators. Mizzou established the office in 2015 in response to the 2015 protests against racism on campus.
Since the 2015 protest on campus, which led to the resignation of University President Timothy Wolfe and Chancellor Bowen Loftin, some students have continued to argue that Mizzou fails to protect students from racial harassment.
A Columbia Missourian article from September highlighted the exclusion of Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine from the university’s homecoming parade and disagreements between the university and Legion of Black Collegians over event names as sources of tension between Mizzou and student groups.
“It definitely feels like we’re moving backwards,” Morgan said. “The Legion of Black Collegians has been classified as a student government by the university since 1969. This is not something that came about when the term DEI came around.”
In a town hall on Monday evening, the impacted organizations outlined their plans going forward. They said they’re considering shifting their fundraising model to alumni networks, consulting with legal counsel about the DOJ’s memo and outreach campaigns.
“We are not done right now, we will keep rising, we will keep making ourselves loud, we will keep being visible on campus,” Morgan said at the Monday town hall.
