In the spring, Bowie State University in Maryland cut 79 staff positions in an effort to alleviate the HBCU’s $18 million deficit ahead of fiscal year 2027. Now the university plans to cut 20 faculty positions before the start of fiscal year 2028, according to a report from The Baltimore Banner.
Stacie Burgess, a spokesperson for Bowie State, told The Baltimore Banner that the cuts are a result of organizational restructuring, including the reorganization of several academic departments. The affected faculty have been given a one-year notice and will continue to teach through the current academic year.
During the fall 2025 semester, billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $50 million to Bowie State. This gift was unrestricted, enabling the HBCU’s administrators to direct the funds at their discretion. Scott’s earlier $25 million donation to Bowie State in 2020 was also unrestricted.
But in fiscal year 2026, Bowie State faced a $13.6 million shortfall, which grew to $18 million in fiscal year 2027. According to a recent letter to the campus community from President Amnita H. Breaux, the HBCU’s “structural deficit and significant financial pressures” are expected to “extend into fiscal year 2028.”
This is totally unacceptable President Breaux. It appears that you, the finance and Budgeting Department have fallen short. How in the he*l can Bowie State amass a damn budget shortfall for that amount? Where’s the yearly forensics audit? If Mrs. Breaux had any true leadership, she would be aggressively and publicly demanding an increase in FUNDING from the state of Maryland. Let’s be honest. The meagerly $97.7 million Bowie State supposed to receive over the course of ten years pale via the Coalition for Equity and Excellence in Maryland Higher Education (COE) v. Maryland Higher Education Commission as compared to what is actually owed according to the USDA study in 2023.
Moving forward, it’s time for these incompetent upper echelon HBCUs to be held accountable for failing to do their job they are compensated handsomely. As such, I challenge the School of Business faculty to use their damn skills to get to the root of this financial ineptness.