Church Funds Black Student Group After University of Missouri DEI Cuts

Virginia-based Alfred Street Baptist Church has committed financial support to the Legion of Black Collegians after the University of Missouri announced it would cut funding to several student organizations.

The university claimed the decision was made after federal restrictions tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

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The University of Missouri Cuts Funding for Minority Groups

The University of Missouri announced in April that the Legion of Black Collegians, its historic Black student governing body, would lose their funding. 

Alongside the Legion of Black Collegians, the Association of Latin American Students, the Asian American Association, the Queer Liberation Front, and FourFront all lost funding due to the anti-DEI cuts.

“It was determined that the university must change the way we have been providing funds for these five student organizations to comply with federal requirements and avoid jeopardizing crucial funding for student financial aid, research, and other university programs,” Mizzou spokesperson Christopher Ave told the Columbia Missourian.

The university said the groups would still be able to apply for funding, but would no longer receive designated support from the school. For the Legion of Black Collegians, the decision struck at the center of a long-standing Black student institution on campus. 

The LBC was founded in 1968 to give Black students at Mizzou a voice in student government. The organization has described itself as a resource and advocate for Black students, supporting programming, student organizations, and campus life.

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Alfred Street Baptist Church Responds

Pastor Howard-John Wesley, Senior Pastor of Alfred Street Baptist Church, told his congregation that the church would step in to support the Black student governing body. “Blackness is under attack in the United States of America,” Wesley said during the service. “Our history, our heritage, our rights are all being pushed back under this administration,” he added, according to Baptist News Global.

“It just broke my heart as one who graduated from a predominantly white institution and knowing the value of a Black student union,” Wesley said. “We moved on it, and we helped them create a separate 501(c)(3), and now we are funding that Black student organization on the campus of that white college for the world to know. 

The move fits a pattern of community intervention that the church has built over recent years. In 2025, the congregation donated more than $132,000 to clear student debt for graduating seniors at Saint Augustine’s University, a historically Black university in North Carolina. In March, the church paid $1 million toward overdue rent for more than 300 families who were facing eviction.

Across the country, colleges and universities have been revising or dismantling DEI-related programs under growing political and legal pressure. Those changes have often been framed as compliance decisions, but for Black students, the impact can feel more personal. They face fewer resources, fewer protected spaces, and less visible support on campuses where they may already be underrepresented. 

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At Mizzou, the decision also carries added weight because of the university’s history with Black student activism. The school became a national flashpoint in 2015 after Black students protested racism on campus, leading to the resignation of then University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe.

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