Lincoln University students, alums sue Missouri for nearly $550M, alleging state illegally underfunded the HBCU
TheGrio...
The lawsuit cites a 2025 Trump Administration executive order urging states to honor the Morrill Act of 1890, which requires states that host land-grant HBCUs to match federal funding for those institutions.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities have well-documented cases of having their funding pulled or outright withheld over the years. One group in Missouri that calls Lincoln University home is looking to recoup funds they believe belonged to the school and were being illegally withheld.
Alumni and current students of the HBCU in Jefferson City, Missouri, are suing the state for nearly $549 million, seeking to test a 19th-century federal law that sought equitable public financing for schools established as havens for Black thought and education after the Civil War and Reconstruction.
“The ramifications of the underfunding are very present today, and so just because it goes back some time doesn’t mean that we don’t have an obligation to fix it,” former Missouri legislator Don Calloway said regarding the lawsuit. Calloway is representing the plaintiffs. “It is a very clear breach of the state’s statutory and contractual obligation.”
The suit was filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, alleging the state violated the Morrill Act of 1890, which requires states to match federal funding for federally chartered land-grant HBCUs dollar for dollar. Citing a 2023 Biden Administration letter to land-grant institutions about funding, Calloway and the plaintiffs allege Lincoln University is owed more than $350 million alone.
“Missouri had underfunded Lincoln University by $361,569,760 between fiscal years 1987 and 2020, calculated from the federal government’s own Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System,” the lawsuit states. In total, plaintiffs are seeking to establish a $549 million fund to address the issue, including “the documented shortfall of $223,780,941, stated in the nominal dollars of the fiscal years in which it accrued, together with prejudgment interest of $324,972,497.”
Calloway heads the 1890 Project as other land-grant HBCUs have been more than vocal about their underfunding. Federal data revealed that the state of Tennessee owes Tennessee State University $2.1 billion.
In April 2025, the Trump Administration released an executive order geared toward HBCUs. One of the provisions mentioned included an “encouraging” of states to provide “the required State matching funds for 1890 Land-Grant Institutions” and establishing a “framework for addressing barriers to accessing Federal funding to ensure that HBCUs receive the maximum funding to which they may be entitled.”
Calloway believes most states have failed to uphold said funding for HBCUs.
“The aggregate is about $12.6 billion across all of those institutions,” he told NPR in St. Louis. If the plaintiffs are awarded funds through the lawsuit, Calloway hopes they go toward enriching Lincoln University programs or campus needs and not be treated like a “slush fund.”
“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. This federal consent decree makes sure that every year going forward, Lincoln is funded on parity with the University of Missouri,” he said.
The office of Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe declined to comment on the lawsuit, as it is named in the suit along with the state, its higher education board, and three officials as defendants. Officials at Lincoln University did not comment on the suit.