HUD Warns Colleges: End Racially Segregated Dorms or Face Consequences
by Victoria Manning
From Virginia Tech to the University of Wisconsin, separate but equal is still illegal.
It's 2026, yet colleges and universities across the nation still push racial segregation on campus. Higher education institutions have spent the last decade building racially segregated dormitories under a friendlier name—"black living learning communities."
Now President Trump's Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is ordering them to end housing segregation or face the consequences.
On June 23, Craig Trainor, Assistant Secretary for HUD's Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, issued a Dear Colleague letter with a clear warning to higher education institutions. "Racial segregation was a moral abomination when it was demanded by the majority in certain regions of the United States many decades past. It is no less morally outrageous when it is demanded by other racial groups today."
Trainor points out that the 1968 Fair Housing Act prohibits segregating dwellings based on race. He warns that HUD "will ensure maximum accountability for . . . violating the Act." HUD encourages whistleblowers to report these racist practices so they can be investigated.
Colleges across the nation have used living learning communities (LLCs) to openly segregate student dormitories by race without consequences for at least the past decade. In 2018, Virginia Tech started a university sanctioned segregated dormitory for black students called the Ujima LLC.
After the Trump administration's executive order banning divisive diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, Virginia Tech eliminated the Ujima segregated dorms at the end of the 2025-26 academic year. That decision didn't sit well with the far-left Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which organized a protest to reinstate racial segregation on campus.
Virginia Tech made the right decision to end its segregated housing, at least for now. Other schools across the nation continue to push these racist practices, thumbing their nose at the Constitution and the federal government.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison has the Essence Learning Community, advertised as a way for students to learn about the "Black diaspora and impacted peoples." Photos and videos reveal only black students living in these dorms. One student told a local news outlet, "Coming back to Essence – after being in classes [that are] predominantly white – was really comforting to have people that look like me."
While Marquette University in Milwaukee is a private school, it receives federal grant funding and is subject to federal laws. Marquette has a black LLC called Umoja where students "participate in events such as retreats and programming designed to support their identity."
The University of New Mexico also has a black LLC that claims to be a "welcoming and inclusive living space where black students can share their experience of navigating academia while establishing community." Just next door, the University of Arizona also has a black LLC.
Cal State in Los Angeles has a black LLC called Halisi. While the school advertises that anyone can apply to live in Halisi, social media shows it's just black students that live there. One black student said he wanted to join Halisi because he wanted to be around people who look like him.
Thanks to HUD leadership and enforcement of the Fair Housing Act, these unlawful practices will come to an end. That's a promise from Assistant Secretary Trainor:
No euphemism, woke rationalization, or appeal to "safe spaces," "affinity housing," or "cultural celebration" will shield universities from liability where intentional unlawful discrimination is found. We will pursue every available remedy to bring discriminatory institutions into compliance, including, without limitation, compensatory and punitive damages, civil penalties, and injunctive relief.
Imagine an American university allowing an exclusively white LLC for students—there would rightly be outrage. Segregating by race at water fountains was wrong, segregating by race in dorms is also wrong. As Chief Justice Roberts put it in a Supreme Court opinion, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."
Victoria Manning is a Senior Investigative Researcher for Restoration News specializing in education freedom, immigration, and military issues. She is the author of Behind the Wall of Government Schools. Victoria served 8 years as an elected member of the Virginia Beach School Board and has a master’s degree in law. She also brings the perspective of a military spouse to her reporting.
