Native Hawaiian college programs across the University of Hawaiʻi system are suddenly staring at a financial cliff, after a new legal opinion from the U.S. Department of Justice and a policy review at the U.S. Department of Education put more than $12 million in higher-education funding on the line.
University of Hawaiʻi leaders said Friday that the Trump administration’s latest move has already rattled students, faculty, and staff who depend on those Native Hawaiian programs for tutoring, cultural support, and career pathways, and who now have no clear sense of what survives if the money disappears.
In a December 2 opinion, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded that several race-based Department of Education grant rules "violate the Fifth Amendment’s equal-protection component" and warned that many race-targeted provisions raise constitutional problems, according to the Office of Legal Counsel. Education Secretary Linda McMahon followed with word that the department will review programs that serve Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native students and that the agency does not plan to claw back roughly $132 million already disbursed, per the U.S. Department of Education. Which Native Hawaiian grants might be cut is still unknown, leaving universities and community partners scrambling for answers.
University of Hawaiʻi President Wendy Hensel told students and staff that the federal opinion has stirred "uncertainty and anxiety" for people whose education and jobs are tied to these dollars. State data analyzed by Civil Beat shows more than a dozen federal awards with "Native Hawaiian" in their title total about $12.3 million across the UH system. UH attorneys are now combing through the OLC opinion while administrators try to map out how a funding wind-down could hit courses, student services, and Hawaiian cultural programming.
The threat is part of a broader push this year by the Education Department to end or retool Minority-Serving Institution grants, it argues rely on race-based eligibility limits, a shift that higher-education advocates say could hammer campuses that already operate on thin margins. As reported by Inside Higher Ed, the agency has indicated it will reprogram discretionary MSI funding while still paying out certain mandatory appropriations that cannot legally be redirected.
Hawaiʻi’s congressional delegation blasted what it called a "Trump administration attack" on minority-serving institutions, arguing that targeting those programs "does nothing to improve educational outcomes" and instead threatens schools that serve communities long left behind, according to the delegation’s statement reported by Civil Beat. At the state level, Attorney General Anne Lopez has already led a multistate coalition suing to block other administration efforts to curtail the Department of Education, and her office has warned that cutting these programs would endanger Title III support that helps UH serve Native Hawaiian students, per an Office of the Governor release.
Legal questions ahead
The Office of Legal Counsel opinion argues that, in many cases, race-based provisions are inseparable from the statutes that authorize the grant programs, a conclusion that could prompt courts to strike down entire programs rather than simply trim who qualifies. That makes lawsuits all but certain, and it raises the possibility that Congress would have to rewrite key education laws if lawmakers want to preserve targeted support in a race-neutral form. Legal analysts say the outcome will hinge on whether judges embrace the OLC’s reading of recent Supreme Court precedent or look for ways to keep funding streams flowing to disadvantaged students.
What comes next
UH officials say they will share updates as the federal reviews unfold and as campuses sort through contingency plans for programs tied to MSI and Native Hawaiian funding. State leaders and higher-education advocates are expected to push both the courts and Congress to protect services that support Native Hawaiian students, even if the legal framework changes. For now, campus staff, community groups, and students are watching for the department’s next round of guidance and any court filings that could ultimately decide whether these programs survive or get cut off.
