HSI Administrators Express Dismay Over Proposed NSF Grant Consolidation: The Obama administration’s proposal to consolidate federal science programs for minority-serving institutions into a single competitive grant program has representatives from Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) crying foul after promises were made to dedicate specific funds to the schools that grant undergraduate degrees to half of the nation’s largest minority group.
At their Capitol Forum meeting last week, the members of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) met with their congressional representatives to lobby vigorously against the proposal as “a matter of equity and fairness.”
“This fell on us like a cold bucket of water,” said Dr. Agnes Mojica, chancellor of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico and a member of HACU’s government relations committee. “If money had been set aside for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), we should have the same opportunity. We are growing institutions, and it doesn’t seem fair to change the rules now.”
