About 70 presidents of the nation’s 104 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are scheduled to meet the end of February with President Donald Trump, part of his administration’s initiative to advance — and in some cases, keep afloat — the schools.
The discussions, to be co-hosted by Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), will take place at the Library of Congress on Feb. 28, the same day Trump is set to give his State of the Union address.
The meeting reportedly will involve Howard University alumna Omarosa Manigault from Trump’s office of public engagement, who is working on the Executive Order regarding the HBCUs that Trump is expected to sign.
Though HBCUs had seen funding increase by $1.5 billion annually by the end of President Obama’s eight years in office, his administration got mostly failing grades from HBCUs, Politico reported in May.