Trump to lift ban on federal funding for faith-based HBCUs

United States President Donald Trump announced he would lift a ban on federal funding for faith-based historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), saying the Department of Justice has found that restriction unconstitutional, writes Jeffrey Cimmino for the Washington Examiner.

“Today, I'm thrilled to announce another major action we’re taking to protect HBCUs,” Trump said last Tuesday at the National Historically Black College and Universities Week in Washington, DC. “Previously, federal law restricted more than 40 faith-based HBCUs and seminaries from fully accessing federal support for capital improvement projects. This meant that your faith-based institutions, which have made such extraordinary contributions to America, were unfairly punished for their religious beliefs. Did we know that? Did everybody know that? Because it was – it was hap … – that was not good.”

The Justice Department recently determined a restriction on the Department of Education’s “authority to guarantee loans for capital improvements at historically black colleges and universities ‘in which a substantial portion of its functions is subsumed in a religious mission’ violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.”
Full report on the Washington Examiner site