When the federal government called out the state of West Virginia last fall, it had a clear request: fund local historically Black colleges at the same level as other state schools.
“The longstanding and ongoing underinvestment in West Virginia State University disadvantages the students, faculty, and community that the institution serves,” federal officials said in a letter to Gov. Jim Justice, saying the university had been underfunded by at least $852 million over the last three decades.
Last week, Justice offered a proposal that could be seen as a response during his final State of the State address.
“We need a state-of-the-art ag lab,” Justice said. “I am proposing we put $50 million in a new state-of-the-art ag lab and locate it at West Virginia State University.”
So far, details about the lab, which will need its funding approved by the state Legislature, are scarce. In a press release, West Virginia State University said that the money would be used to support food safety programs, as well as offering space for classroom instruction.
“This new lab will significantly enhance our land-grant mission and play a vital role in educating and empowering West Virginia’s agricultural workforce,” Ericke Cage, the university’s president, said in a statement.
Cage, who was appointed to lead the university in 2022, has prioritized establishing an agricultural school, noting that West Virginia State University is the only land-grant institution in the country without a school of agriculture.
The agriculture lab, if approved, could be a step towards that goal. But while the program would help, it doesn’t fix decades of funding disparities when compared to West Virginia University in Morgantown.
The governor’s office did not respond to questions about the WVSU agriculture lab and the larger funding disparity.
But in recent years, the state has moved to address WVSU’s funding levels, with the school receiving enough funding from the state to receive 100% of available federal matching dollars for the first time in 2019. Last year, legislators passed HB 3371, which reaffirmed WVSU as one of two state land-grant institutions, a designation first given to schools in 1862 that were intended to support agriculture and other research. A separate designation was created in 1890 to support state schools created for Black students due to segregation.
Still, advocates argue that matching funding now is only one aspect of what WVSU needs. The school, which has shifted to become predominantly white in recent decades, also must receive the hundred in millions of funding it missed out on previously.
“The state of West Virginia owes the university that money, that is a fact,” said Rev. Matthew Watts, a community advocate who is calling for the state to give WVSU the missing money. “The school has been crippled and handcuffed over the years because it has not been receiving the funding it should have been allocated.”