Students and graduates of Lincoln University have sued Missouri, alleging that the state systematically underfunded its historically Black land-grant institution while providing fuller support to the predominantly white University of Missouri.
The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, invokes Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Constitution. Seven current and former students say the disparity damaged their education, diminished the value of their degrees and left Lincoln without resources that should have supported buildings, faculty, student services and agricultural research.
The allegations have not been tested in court. The plaintiffs rely in part on a 2023 federal analysis that estimated Missouri had underfunded Lincoln by $361.6 million between 1987 and 2020. They also allege that the state supplied no matching funds for Lincoln’s federal land-grant allocation from 2000 through 2007 and only part of the required match in later years.
According to the complaint, Lincoln diverted about $43.5 million from its general operating budget between 2000 and 2016 to make up the state share. When it could no longer do so, the university returned nearly $8 million in federal funds from 2016 through 2018. Missouri began providing a full match in 2022, but the plaintiffs say that did not repair the accumulated loss.
The suit seeks compensatory damages and an injunction requiring the state to provide the full match in future years. Lincoln University itself is not a plaintiff. Missouri officials and the University of Missouri system have said they will not comment on pending litigation.
The case is at the pleading stage. The court has not decided whether the funding system was discriminatory, whether each defendant can be held liable, or what relief may be available.
