HBCU enrollment has increased since the end of many diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at predominantly White institutions.
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has become a bad term in the world of conservative politics, led by President Donald Trump.
President Trump’s administration has threatened to strip government funding from schools that do not end their DEI policies.
As a result, a prominent Black family has moved their $1 million endowment from the University of North Carolina to Howard University, an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), because the endowment would not be able to use diversity in choosing the beneficiaries of the endowment.
By switching the endowment to an HBCU, the money is almost guaranteed to go to a Black student because non-Black students are in the minority at Howard.
And to force the endowment to go to non-Black students would likely go against Trump’s anti-DEI efforts.
Jane Winik Sartwell of The Raleigh News & Observer reported, “A prominent Black family is pulling a $1 million scholarship fund from UNC Wilmington after the school said it could no longer gear their money toward African American students.
“The change stems from the UNC System’s Equality Policy, which bans diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at public universities.
“The 30-year-old endowment scholarship was available to North Carolina students with an interest in medicine and a ‘commitment to the African American community.’ It’s named for Dr. Leroy Upperman, a prominent physician and education advocate in Wilmington for more than 50 years. The university’s Upperman African American Cultural Center was named in his honor in 1996…
“Each year, Upperman’s endowment, now valued at $1 million, generated approximately $50,000 in scholarship money, according to UNC Wilmington. At any given time, that supports approximately four students at the university. Since 2003, when the university started collecting data on it, 36 students have received the scholarship.”
Many programs that have benefited non-White people have been eliminated because of threats from the Trump administration and its belief that White men are the true victims of discrimination in America.
Black history has been eliminated from government websites and predominantly Black congressional districts have been eliminated in favor of predominantly White conservative districts.
Throughout the DEI controversy, RegalMag.com has covered the issue extensively.
On March 21, 2025, Giam Pierre of RegalMag.com reported, “The Department of Defense’s removal of Jackie Robinson’s military profile to comply with President Donald Trump’s crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) created an uproar among many Americans, regardless of color.
“The criticism apparently has worked because the baseball pioneer’s profile has reappeared.
“On March 20, The Associated Press reported, ‘A Department of Defense webpage describing baseball and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson’s military service was restored Wednesday after it was missing earlier in the day.
‘The development came after pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members were taken down—the Pentagon said that was a mistake—amid the department’s campaign to strip out content singling out contributions by women and minority groups, which the Trump administration considers ‘DEI.’
“The profile for the man who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 highlighted the pioneer’s Army service during World War II.
“Robinson entered Major League Baseball after his stint in the military and his time playing baseball for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues.
“Former Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey hand-selected Robinson over other Negro League stars like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson because of Robinson’s resume.”
On Jan. 23, 2025, Hollis Bernard of RegalMag.com reported, “The power of the Black community centers on its economic power.
“Public transportation in Montgomery, Ala. did not integrate because the White power structure finally found Jesus.
“It changed because the lack of the Black dollar led to fewer dollars in the pockets of White business owners.
“While many supporters of President Donald Trump have vowed to boycott companies like Costco for not ending their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, civil rights leader and media personality Rev. Al Sharpton has announced a boycott too.
“Sharpton has called for a boycott of companies that have ended their DEI programs at the behest of President Trump and other far-right politicians who believe a diverse workforce discriminates against White men.
“On the contrary, many proponents of DEI have said that diversity programs do not lower standards.
“DEI supporters say diversity programs cast a wider net, opening job opportunities to candidates not already within the bubble or circle of elite White Americans.
“Sharpton said, ‘Why do we have DEI? We have DEI because you denied us diversity, you denied us equity, you denied us inclusion. DEI was a remedy to the racial institutionalized bigotry practice in academia and in these corporations. Now, if you want to put us back in the back of the bus, we gonna do the Dr. King-Rosa Parks on you.’
“The New York native added, ‘You must have forgot who we are. We are the ones that you took everything and we here.’”
In a RegalMag.com op-Ed about the Black community’s boycott of Target for eliminating their diversity efforts on Nov. 11, 2025, Todd A. Smith wrote, “One of the truisms of business is to know thy audience, fanbase or consumer base.
“Target has endured some difficult times since eliminating its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at the behest of President Donald Trump.
“But the problem is that billionaires like President Trump are probably not Target’s target audience, and the lower- to middle-class African-American demographic that they upset with their DEI decision probably is their consumer base.
“And once African-Americans have written off a company, they often take their trillions of dollars with them and give it to that company’s competitors, especially if some of those competitors are African-American-owned companies.”
