Some of the most prominent conservative civil rights advocates in the nation are calling on Congress to end Minority-Serving Institutions programs, calling them a “clearly unconstitutional set of federal programs that we believe Congress should defund and repeal.”
Gail Heriot, Peter Kirsanow, and Daniel Morenoff, leaders of the American Civil Rights Project, recently sent a letter to lawmakers asking them to end the programs.
“These programs are patently unconstitutional and should therefore be repealed. Federal money is being doled out to colleges and universities based on the race or ethnicity of their students,” wrote the trio. Heriot and Kirsanow also sit on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
The civil rights advocates also have proposed alternative legislation that would redirect MSI funds toward need-based financial aid, specifically by enhancing the Pell Grant program.