UConn Hartford is now a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), meaning at least a quarter of the student body identifies as Latino, but Campus Dean Mark Overmyer-Velázquez said that designation comes with an asterisk.
“This fall, we reached the demographic threshold [but] in the current presidential administrative climate, it is complicated,” Overmyer-Velázquez said.
With HSI status, UConn Hartford would have had access to federal Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) grant funding.
However, in September 2025, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it would end discretionary funding to several Minority-Serving Institutions grant programs “that discriminate by conferring government benefits exclusively to institutions that meet racial or ethnic quotas.”
Hispanic-Serving Institutions, or HSIs, are nonprofit higher education institutions that have 25% or more total undergraduate Hispanic or Latino full-time students, among other criteria. That designation is granted under the Higher Education Act of 1965 and is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
But last summer, the U.S. Department of Justice Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the “25-percent racial quota” required for an HSI qualification “violates the Constitution” in a letter.
“To further our commitment to ending discrimination in all forms across federally supported programs,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a press release, “the Department will no longer award Minority-Serving Institution grants that discriminate by restricting eligibility to institutions that meet government-mandated racial quotas.”
This meant about $350 million in funding supporting institutions serving predominantly Black, Asian American, Native American Pacific Islander and Hispanic students would be reallocated to programs that do not include “racial and ethnic quotas.”
Overmyer-Velázquez said this funding is a huge loss, because the grant funding provides sustainable support for students that are often first-generation students of color in need of these resources to be successful.
“It's a step backwards,” Overmyer-Velázquez said. “These designations, and the funding that's connected to them, helps us get into the community and support students to identify college in the first place… then for us to help them succeed after graduation, so they can get jobs and they can contribute and give back to their communities and society.”
UConn Hartford is not the only institution in Connecticut to lose out on this funding.
The campus joins two other UConn campuses designated as HSIs: UConn Waterbury and UConn Stamford. It also joins CT State Community College, Southern Connecticut State University and Western Connecticut State University, according to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. Albertus Magnus College also achieved HSI status in 2023.
Nevertheless, Overmyer-Velázquez said UConn Hartford is recognizing the milestone to reaffirm its dedication to its Hispanic Huskies.
“We've always been a Hispanic Serving Institution in our own right,” Overmyer-Velázquez said.
Overmyer-Velázquez said UConn Hartford does all it can to recognize its Hispanic students. The campus offers a psychology course that focuses on the Hispanic experience, employs Latino staff members that can provide support, and creates space for student-led initiatives like the Latino Student Association.
“We hope that what we'll do is to continue that,” Overmyer-Velázquez said. “When the time comes that the status becomes officially recognized federally, and there's options for federal funding that we'll be able to apply for and get that to help our students.”
Learn more
UConn Hartford is celebrating its new designation on Thursday, April 2 with a day of Hispanic cultural pride, featuring traditional food, music, dance, and activities. The “Somos Huskies” event is taking place at the Zachs Atrium in the Hartford Times Building from 12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
