Tennessee Sues to End Program Funding Colleges With High Hispanic Enrollment

Wall Street Journal ^ | June 11, 2025 | Douglas Belkin

[karpov]

A lawsuit filed in federal court in Tennessee on Wednesday seeks to end a program designed to funnel tens of millions of dollars to colleges and universities with a large percentage of Hispanic students, charging it is racist and unconstitutional.

The suit was filed by the state of Tennessee and advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions against the U.S. Department of Education. In 2023, the advocates’ suit against Harvard University led to the Supreme Court ruling it unconstitutional to consider race in university admissions.

A federal funding program designates schools as “Hispanic-Serving Institutions” if they have at least 25% Hispanic-student enrollment. The suit alleges that this sets an arbitrary ethnic quota that excludes many schools in Tennessee.

“Discriminating against colleges, universities, faculty and students based on race violates the fundamental principle of equal protection under the law,” said Edward Blum, president of SFFA. Blum spearheaded the Harvard case.

The Education Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Congress created the HSI program in the 1990s to improve the educational attainment of Hispanics. Today, there are some 600 U.S. schools designated as recipients, largely concentrated in California, Florida and Texas. The schools represent about one-third of total undergraduates in the U.S., according to the Postsecondary National Policy Institute.

[karpov]

Stop special funding for HBCUs also.

[Gene Eric]

>> The suit alleges that this sets an arbitrary ethnic quota that excludes many schools in Tennessee.

that detail should have been captured in the title and first sentence

[No name given]

I couldn’t agree more.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Slam-dunk. Surprised it hadn’t already been shut down.

[Regulator]

Not just that but the fact that the colleges actively discriminate in admissions precisely so they CAN be an HSI.

No more gringos! The federal government hates them and will not give you money for them!

That’s the way it works here in California. Unless you got a real sob story of your own, forget about your kid getting into a university here. You can have a 4.4 GPA but if you aren’t “first generation”, the new proxy for Mexican/Illegal Alien, you’re done. Borrow some cubic cash and go to Oregon State.

[ByteMercenary]

I don’t see how the state can act on the high hispanic percentage but the state can most certainly act to limit enrollment to USA citizens first. Any openings not filled with a USA citizen after primary enrollment can then be filled with non-citizens.