Legion

On Friday, April 3, 2026, the University of Missouri's Division of Student Affairs informed five multicultural umbrella organizations that their dedicated funding would be eliminated effective July 2026. The affected organizations are:

The Legion of Black Collegians (LBC) — the only Black student government in America, founded in 1968
The Association of Latin American Students (ALAS) — founded in 1991
The Asian American Association (AAA)
The Queer Liberation Front (QLF)
Four Front — an Indigenous student organization

In addition to losing their funding, LBC was stripped of its student government status — a designation it held since 1969. All five organizations will be reclassified as generic Recognized Student Organizations (RSOs), competing with 600+ other student clubs for a limited funding pool with yearly caps.

On Monday, April 6, the Missouri Students Association (MSA) confirmed that the administration had also dissolved the Multicultural Fee — the dedicated funding mechanism that students themselves voted to create in 1992. MSA's own auxiliary, Fillings in the Space (FITS), was told the same day it could no longer receive student fee revenue either.

Sources: KOMU 8 (Apr 5, 2026), ABC17 News (Apr 6, 2026), Columbia Missourian, MSA Press Release (Apr 6, 2026)

Student government status wasn't a symbolic title. It was a structural mechanism for accountability. As a recognized student government, the university was required to meet with LBC and hear them out on issues affecting Black students. Without that status, the administration has no formal obligation to listen, consult, or respond to the concerns of Black students through LBC.

LBC President Amaya Morgan described it directly: as long as LBC was a student government, the administration was required to meet with them and work with them on issues. Losing that status, she said, "gives them more of a reason to toss us to the wayside."

Source: TheGrio (Apr 8, 2026)

LBC's annual budget was approximately $60,000, confirmed by LBC Vice President Desmond Jones. This funded events that regularly drew hundreds of students across the university.

As a Recognized Student Organization, the new limits are:

$1,500 per event cap
$3,000 per semester cap
$2,000 travel expense cap per year

For context, the Asian Night Market alone costs over $10,000. ALAS's Trip Around Latin America costs over $5,000. These signature events — open to the entire student body — are now impossible under the new caps.

Funding is also not guaranteed. RSOs must apply and compete with 600+ other student organizations for a limited pool.

Source: ABC17 News (Apr 6, 2026) — LBC VP Desmond Jones

Five umbrella organizations were directly defunded. But the impact extends far beyond those five.

Under LBC's umbrella alone, 18 organizations are impacted, including:

Seven of nine Divine Nine (NPHC) organizations: Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Delta Sigma Theta, Phi Beta Sigma, Zeta Phi Beta, and Sigma Gamma Rho

NAACP Unit #4731
National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ)
African Student Association
Minority Mental Health Matters
Minority Association of Pre-Health Students
Black Book Mizzou, Zou Bounce, ZouShake, Mizzou Black Creatives, USNursing, and the Association of Black Psychologists

ALAS oversees 8 additional clubs. AAA oversees 8 additional clubs. Four Front oversees 9 sub-organizations. MSA's auxiliary FITS was also impacted on April 6.

Sources: lbc.missouri.edu/umbrella-organizations, ABC17 News (Apr 6, 2026)

University spokesperson Christopher Ave stated that the decision was made to comply with a July 2025 memo from the U.S. Department of Justice restricting the allocation of university resources based on "protected demographic characteristics." Ave called the memo "federal law."

His exact words: "These practices must be discontinued to align with federal law as outlined in the memo."

Source: TheGrio (Apr 8, 2026), KOMU 8 (Apr 5, 2026)

No. The DOJ memo explicitly describes its own recommendations as "non-binding suggestions" and "not mandatory requirements." It is guidance, not legislation. It has not been passed by Congress. It has not been signed into law.

Six major law firms have confirmed it does not carry the force of law.

A federal judge has already ruled that the Education Department's anti-DEI guidance was unlawful.

The university's spokesperson calling this memo "federal law" is a mischaracterization. As ALAS wrote in their statement: "It is important that we distinguish that a memo is not a federal law, thus this decision was at the hands of the University of Missouri and the University alone."

Sources: DOJ AG Memo (Jul 2025), NewsOne (Apr 7, 2026), ALAS Instagram statement (Apr 6, 2026)

Yes. Spokesperson Christopher Ave told the Columbia Missourian: "The organizations will not be defunded."

However, ALAS directly contradicted this: "This change is effectively a de-funding of our organization."

And on April 6, MSA — the undergraduate student government body — described the action as a "dissolution of the Multicultural Fee," confirming that the dedicated funding mechanism itself was eliminated, not just reallocated.

When an organization goes from $60,000 in guaranteed annual funding to competing with 600 clubs for $3,000 per semester — that is a defunding, regardless of what the university calls it.

Sources: Columbia Missourian (Apr 5, 2026), ALAS Instagram (Apr 6, 2026), MSA Press Release (Apr 6, 2026)

The Legion of Black Collegians was founded in 1968 in response to the use of Confederate flags and the playing of "Dixie" at football games. The name came from a conversation among Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brothers. Michael Middleton (BA '68, JD '71) recalled: "Howard Taylor said, 'We need a legion of black collegians.' We said, 'That sounds pretty good. Let's form one.' That became the name."

Key milestones:

1969 — LBC officially recognized as a student government. Delivers 15 demands to the administration.

1977 — LBC creates the Big Eight Conference on Black Student Government (now the Big 12 Conference) — building the national infrastructure for Black student government across major conferences.

1990 — Led by LBC, 150+ students march to Jesse Hall. MLK Jr.'s birthday becomes a campus holiday.

1992 — Students vote in a referendum to fund LBC directly from mandatory activity fees. LBC's budget grows from $2,378 to $17,000. LBC becomes the official Black student government.

1998 — 12,000 sq ft Black Culture Center opens, named for Lloyd Gaines and Marian O'Fallon Oldham.

2015 — LBC members form Concerned Student 1950. A hunger strike and football boycott force UM System president Tim Wolfe to resign. LBC co-founder Michael Middleton is named interim president of the UM System.

2018 — UM System commits $8.5 million to the Missouri Compact for Inclusive Excellence, calling LBC "a strong partner in the diversity and inclusion efforts at MU."

Eight years after calling LBC a "strong partner," the university stripped its status and funding.

Sources: MU Archives (muarchives.missouri.edu), Mizzou Magazine (Winter 2019), KOMU 8

In 1938, Lloyd Gaines applied to the University of Missouri School of Law and was denied admission because he was Black. He took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court and won. The Court ruled in Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938) that the state had to provide equal education to Black students within its borders.

Shortly after the ruling, Lloyd Gaines disappeared. He has never been found. The university moved to dismiss the case.

The Gaines case is considered a precursor to Brown v. Board of Education (1954). The Black Culture Center at MU is named in his honor: the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center.

Nearly ninety years later — same campus, same pattern of resistance to Black presence and belonging.

Source: Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, 305 U.S. 337 (1938)

No. Universities across the country are dismantling DEI infrastructure in response to the Trump administration's executive orders and memos. Schools including Brown, Harvard, MIT, and the University of Alabama have shuttered DEI initiatives to protect federal funding.

But the University of Missouri is the first to strip a Black student government of its official status and dissolve a student-voted funding mechanism. That makes this a test case. If this interpretation stands unchallenged, the same logic could be applied to every NPHC council, every multicultural umbrella organization, and every cultural center on any public campus that receives federal funding.

Sources: TheGrio (Apr 8, 2026), NewsOne (Apr 7, 2026)

Yes. On March 2, 2026 — a full month before the defunding — the Missouri Students Association (MSA) Senate passed Senate Bill 65-22: "A Resolution Demanding Accountability for Administrative Inaction on Racial Equity at the University of Missouri-Columbia" by a vote of 31-0-1.

The administration was fully aware of the student government's formal position on racial equity and moved forward with the defunding anyway.

On April 6, MSA released a formal press statement confirming the dissolution of the Multicultural Fee and asking whether the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center, the LGBTQ Resource Center, the Multicultural Center, the Women's Center, and the Veterans Center would be affected next.

MSA's closing statement: "Silence, delay, and dismissal by university leadership will be treated as active harm, and commits to sustained legislative, public, and institutional pressure until accountability is achieved."

Source: Missouri Students Association (@msamizzou), official press release (Apr 6, 2026)

The University of Missouri has a documented history of resistance to Black presence, followed by crisis-driven concessions, followed by quiet rollbacks:

1938 — Denied Lloyd Gaines. Lost at the Supreme Court. He disappeared.
2010 — Cotton balls scattered outside the Black Culture Center. Prosecuted as a hate crime, reduced to littering.
2015 — Protests forced a presidential resignation. The university promised reform.
2018 — Committed $8.5M to Inclusive Excellence. Called LBC "a strong partner."
2024 — DEI department dissolved. "Welcome Black BBQ" forcibly renamed.
2025 — "Black 2 Class Block Party" cancelled because the word "Black" was in the title.
2026 — LBC stripped of student government status. All multicultural orgs defunded. Multicultural Fee dissolved.

The university's athletic revenue in FY2025 was $182 million. It approved a $250 million stadium renovation and hiked ticket prices 50%. Only 3.8% of faculty are Black (85 out of 2,231).

You can recruit Black excellence on Saturday and defund Black belonging on Monday. But don't call it compliance. It's a choice.

Sources: Mizzou Magazine, KOMU 8, MU Athletics revenue reports, MU institutional data

Legion of Black Alumni is an independent, alumni-led organization created in direct response to the university's decision. It is not affiliated with, controlled by, or funded by any university administration.

We are incorporating as a 501(c)(6) organization in the state of Missouri — a membership-supported alumni association with the legal standing to lobby, advocate, and act on behalf of Black alumni and students at the University of Missouri.

A 501(c)(6) is not a charity. It is an organized body. Membership dues fund operations. The Black Gold Fund supports students directly. And the legal structure gives us the power to engage university administration, state legislators, and federal agencies — not as individuals writing emails, but as an institution with standing.

01 — The Black Gold Fund. An alumni-controlled fund, fully independent of the university. Our goal: double LBC's previous budget and send a clear financial message.

02 — The Legion Legal Council. A coalition of Black lawyers who graduated from the University of Missouri, organized to pro bono advise, represent, and speak when moments like this demand it.

03 — The LBC Presidents Club. Every LBC president and executive board member since 1968. A living archive of leadership and institutional memory.

04 — The Gathering. An annual event beyond homecoming — alumni return for mentorship, celebration, fundraising, awards, and graduation honors.

05 — The NPHC Alumni Advisory Council. Alumni from all nine Divine Nine organizations, guiding current chapters and connecting them to national programs.

Sign up below. Fill out the registration form so we know who you are, where you are, and how you want to help.

If you're a lawyer — indicate your interest in the form. Additional questions about your bar admissions and practice areas will appear so we can activate you as part of the Legion Legal Council.

If you're a former LBC president or executive board member — register through @noirmizzou on Instagram, where a dedicated form for LBC leadership history is being coordinated.

If you're a Divine Nine member — indicate your interest in the NPHC Alumni Advisory Council in the form. Additional questions about your organization and chapter membership will appear.

Email the Board of Curators: boardofcurators@umsystem.edu — demand accountability and a detailed continuity plan for multicultural programming.

Follow @LegionOfBlackAlumni for updates on how to support LBC and other campus organizations, as well as alumni efforts.

We are moving fast:

This week: Alumni registration form circulating. Donation links for the Black Gold Fund going live. Legion Legal Council forming.

This month: 501(c)(6) incorporation filing with the Missouri Secretary of State. City-based chapters organizing in Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbia, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington DC, and more.

This year: Lloyd Gaines Scholarship launching. First annual Gathering planned. Updated African-American experience publication in development. Student recruitment pipeline activating.

We will not be defunded. We will not be reclassified. We will not be banned.

We govern ourselves accordingly.