The FAMU underfunding lawsuit is moving forward after a federal appeals court revived claims alleging that the State of Florida has underfunded Florida A&M University by nearly $2 billion over several decades.<\/p>\n
In a major legal victory for current FAMU students, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that a lower court acted too soon when it dismissed the case. The appeals court did not decide whether Florida discriminated against FAMU or whether the state is legally responsible for the alleged funding gap. Instead, the court ruled that the students\u2019 claims were strong enough to survive dismissal and continue through the legal process.<\/p>\n
That distinction matters. The case is not over, but FAMU students now have another opportunity to present evidence and push forward a lawsuit that could have national implications for public HBCUs.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit, filed by current FAMU students, argues that Florida has failed to fully eliminate the effects of segregation in its public higher education system. The students claim the state has chronically underfunded FAMU when compared to historically white institutions such as the University of Florida and Florida State University.<\/p>\n
What The Court Ruled In The FAMU Underfunding Lawsuit<\/p>\n
The Eleventh Circuit\u2019s June 9 decision revived claims brought by several FAMU students against the State of Florida, the Florida Board of Governors, and higher education officials. The students brought claims under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s landmark higher education desegregation case, United States v. Fordice.<\/p>\n
The court ruled that the students had standing to bring the case and that their claims should not have been dismissed at the motion-to-dismiss stage. In plain English, the appeals court said the students deserved the chance to keep litigating.<\/p>\n
The court specifically said the district court credited the state\u2019s version of the facts too early instead of accepting the students\u2019 well-pled allegations as true, which courts are generally required to do at that early stage of a lawsuit.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing in this opinion reflects any view on the underlying merits of the students\u2019 claims,\u201d the court wrote in its decision. Still, the panel concluded that the students\u2019 claims \u201cshould\u2019ve survived\u201d the dismissal stage.<\/p>\n
The case now returns to the lower court for further proceedings.<\/p>\n
Students Say Florida Has Underfunded FAMU For Decades<\/p>\n
At the heart of the FAMU underfunding lawsuit is a long-running argument about whether Florida has treated its only public HBCU fairly.<\/p>\n
The students allege that Florida has underfunded and under-resourced FAMU in multiple ways. Their claims include general underfunding, lower per-student allocations, lower faculty salaries, fewer resources for campus facilities and infrastructure, and less support for academic research and student services.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit also challenges Florida\u2019s handling of land-grant funding. FAMU and the University of Florida are both land-grant institutions, but the students argue that Florida has not supported FAMU at the same level as UF.<\/p>\n