CHICAGO — Seven current and former students at Lincoln University of Missouri sued the state on Wednesday, alleging it violated the U.S. Constitution and federal civil rights law by systematically underfunding the historically Black university for decades.
The complaint, filed in federal court in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri Central Division, seeks compensatory damages under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act for what plaintiffs describe as “educational and economic injuries” caused by decades of underfunding. It also seeks an injunction requiring Missouri to fully match Lincoln University’s federal land-grant funding in the future.
Some of the funding they are requesting would include campus repairs, faculty hiring, student services, financial aid and agricultural research programs.
Lincoln University, in Jefferson City, is the state’s first historically Black land-grant institution. The University of Missouri is the state’s predominantly white land-grant institution.
The plaintiffs allege Missouri appropriated less per student to Lincoln than to the University of Missouri in most fiscal years between 1987 and 2020. They cited a September 2023 letter in which the U.S. agriculture and education secretaries calculated that Missouri had underfunded Lincoln by $361.6 million over that period, based on federal higher education data.
According to the complaint, Missouri provided no state matching funds for Lincoln’s federal land-grant allocation from fiscal 2000 through 2007, and supplied only a portion of the required match in subsequent years. Lincoln allegedly diverted about $43.5 million from its general operating budget between 2000 and 2016 to cover the state’s share, and returned nearly $8 million in federal funds from 2016 through 2018 when it could not meet matching requirements.
Missouri fully matched the University of Missouri’s land-grant allocations during the same period, the complaint said.
The University of Missouri declined to comment, citing “ongoing litigation.” Lincoln University of Missouri did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
The lawsuit names the State of Missouri, the state Coordinating Board for Higher Education, Governor Michael Kehoe, Higher Education Commissioner Bennett Boggs and University of Missouri System President Mun Choi as defendants.
State officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit argues the funding gap perpetuates the legacy of Missouri’s formerly segregated higher education system, under which the University of Missouri served white students and Lincoln was established for Black students.
“Lincoln is constantly putting Band-Aids over bullet wounds because they do not have the resources to fully address the blow,” Makhi Jaff, a plaintiff, said in the lawsuit.
Plaintiffs include alumni who attended Lincoln in the 1980s and 1990s, a former student who left without a degree in 2024, and four current students. They describe deteriorating residence halls, limited dining and health services, scarce course offerings, inadequate advising and financial hardship.
One student stated in the lawsuit that she lost weight because dining services closed before band practice ended. Another student said a scholarship she expected to cover her education was withdrawn, requiring her to take loans and work up to 30 hours weekly.
