Does the federal government have a responsibility to protect minority interests through funding PMIs?
One member of the audience pointed to recent court decisions (e.g., the Aderand and Hopwood cases) that seem to indicate a general move away from minority access and equity concerns. Many participants agreed with this observation of decreasing federal interest in and funding of minority-targeted programs. However, several audience members pointed to the need to combat this trend. An idea was offered to frame federal funding of PMIs as a moral issue, providing greater educational opportunities and training to those groups historically underserved by the education system. Another point of view was to build an argument in terms of national interest. It must be understood by the public and by legislators that PMIs are the sources of education for a minority population that represent an increasingly significant percentage of new entrants into the workforce. Therefore, it is critical that these institutions receive strong federal support to ensure that minority students receive the world cla
