How Mississippi’s HBCUs are navigating Trump’s federal funding cuts ...Middle East

Wendy White, director of the Jackson Heart Study Undergraduate Training and Education Center at Tougaloo College, has experienced what financial markets and world leaders have all felt this year: whiplash. 

In April, the Trump administration paused funding to the center, which is the nation’s largest and longest-running training program for early-career scientists and hub for research on heart disease in African Americans. 

In total, 36 college students lost their scholarships. Five staff members, including White, lost their jobs. As a result of the cuts, the center planned to end its undergraduate training program later this summer. 

Then came the whiplash. The administration reversed its decision in May. Relief. 

White is “cautiously optimistic” about the $1.7 million grant’s renewal and the future of this program that has been the crown jewel for this small, private, historically Black liberal arts college in Jackson, Mississippi. 

“It’s been a roller coaster of emotions ranging from gratefulness to frightening,” White said. 

Since January, federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation have slashed millions of dollars in grants and contracts to comply with federal directives to end research on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as the study of misinformation. 

Some colleges have lost federal funds in President Donald Trump’s first 100 days of office. Others are trimming already lean budgets and launching fundraising campaigns to prepare for the worst, according to Inside Higher Ed.  

While Trump has signed executive orders supporting HBCUs to “promote excellence and innovation,” the cuts to federal agencies and programs have had a chilling effect at these schools, which are already dealing with decades of underfunding. HBCU professors and graduates say the losses have greater potential for harm and eliminate professional opportunities for students. 

Millions of dollars are potentially at risk. This year, Jackson State University received $7.2 million in federal research from NIH. Tougaloo College received $10 million.  

Low hanging fruit

White and other professors believe their grants were pulled because of words like  “race” or “gender” in the award’s abstract. 

“[These federal agencies] are going for the low-hanging fruit,” Bryon D’Andra Orey, political science professor at Jackson State University, said. “Our grants are on the chopping blocks simply because they are under this umbrella of D.E.I.” 

Orey received an email in late April from JSU’s Office of Research that his $510,000 National Science Foundation Build and Broaden (B2) grant was terminated. In 2021, the grant was awarded to study the emotional and psychological toll of racial discrimination and trauma on African Americans participating in democratic and political activities such as voting and activism. 

The research produced new insights on understanding racial disparities in the United States. It has also led to collaborations with prominent research institutions such as the University of Michigan. The collaboration brought resources, professional development, staffing and support that JSU lacked. 

Since the grant was awarded four years ago, 21 students have taken the seminar and graduated. It has provided exceptional learning opportunities and exposed students to new career possibilities, Orey said. 

“I’ve had students who have taken my classes apply to law schools, competitive Ph.D.  programs at Ivy leagues and get into congressional public policy and advocacy work,” Orey said. “They get to see career avenues other than federal government jobs.” 

A whole new world 

Michael J. Cleveland, a graduate of Tougaloo College, benefited from these types of programs and mentorship. Cleveland trained as an undergraduate from 2014-2017 through the Jackson Heart Study program. He had opportunities to shadow medical professionals at hospitals and clinics. 

In his sophomore year, he decided becoming a doctor wasn’t for him. Cleveland received guidance from his professors to pursue apprenticeships in community and public health research in Jackson. 

The course work and curriculum as an undergraduate set him apart from his peers at Morehouse School of Medicine when Cleveland applied to get his master’s degree in public health. It eventually led him to become the first African American healthcare executive administrative fellows at Salem Health Hospital and Clinic System in Oregon. 

The need for public health professionals of color in healthcare and medical settings is more important than ever, Cleveland said. 

“Being a JHS scholar opened me up to a whole new world,” said Cleveland, who is now the chief operating officer of Care Alliance Health Center, a community health center in Cleveland, Ohio. “I’ve accomplished all of who I am at 30 because of this program.”  

Future of research

Last month, Trump signed a new executive order that pledged to continue two existing White House efforts to support HBCUs during his first term in office. 

The White House Initiative on HBCUs aims to increase funding, improve infrastructure and provide access to professional development opportunities for students in fields such as technology, healthcare and finance. And the President’s Board of Advisors on HBCUs will include appointed members who will sit in the U.S. Department of Education and is meant to guide the administration’s efforts on supporting these institutions. 

“[The administration] is saying something on paper and in theory, but their actions aren’t aligned,” White said. “You can’t say you support [HBCUs] when you are cutting student loans, financial aid, research and other programs that support these students and institutions.” 

While the future of this program remains unclear, she warned of the larger, overlooked impacts of potential cuts to this undergraduate program: It could mean the end to a unique collaboration between two HBCUs and a predominantly white institution in the state. 

When the Jackson Heart Study began in the late 90s, it brought Jackson State University, a public HBCU, Tougaloo College and University of Mississippi Medical Center, a predominantly white medical school, together to create a first-of-its-kind partnership. 

The goal was to provide funding in research for the colleges, and promote careers in public health to students. Eliminating this partnership could undermine NIH’s credibility and a symbol of racial progress in Mississippi, White said. 

“We’ve spent more than two decades focusing on overcoming that legacy of medical mistrust for people in this city,” White said. “A move like this could set back decades of science and health research for this country. I just want us to ask, what are we doing about this?”

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