National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO)

Background

The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education was founded in 1969 as a membership association for America’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) and predominantly Black institutions (PBI). As of July of 2025, NAFEO membership includes 106 HBCUs and an additional 80 PBI, claiming that its member institutions enroll 700,000 students and maintain 720,000 faculty. ⁴

Finances

For the fiscal year ending in June 2023, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education reported $31,414,820 in revenue, a dramatic increase from the previous year’s $293,282. This entire amount came from grants and contributions. It had $336,309 in expenses, $70,000 of which was allocated to salaries and compensation for CEO Lezli Baskerville, $107,813 for management services, and $48,606 for other professional fees. It ended the year with net revenue of $31,078,511 and net assets of $30,129,917. Its net assets the previous year amounted to $220,285. ⁵

NAFEO did not report any government funding that year. ⁶

The organization’s website does not mention any notable large donations for the 2023 fiscal year. In the prior fiscal year, ending in June 2022, it noted a $250,000 donation from the Alfred Street Baptist Church of Alexandria, Virginia. ⁷

Activities

The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education is focused on promoting historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) and predominantly Black institutions (PBI) and increasing the participation of black Americans in the education system, both as students and as teachers and administrators. ⁴

NAFEO holds generally left-of-center policy positions. In 2020 the group issued a letter to the right-of-center advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) when SFFA sued Harvard University over its racial preferences in admission. NAFEO claimed that a ruling prohibiting affirmative action would be detrimental to the American national interest by undermining diversity. Instead, it urged those affected by biased admission standards to instead attend schools that did not have such standards. ³

Projects and Initiatives

The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education’s main output is advocacy to secure funding in congressional appropriations for historically Black colleges and universities. It claims this funding is necessary because HBCUs make up only four percent of American colleges, but that they graduate a disproportionate percentage of Black graduates in a number of fields. ²

Leadership

Lezli Baskerville is the president and CEO of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, a position she has held since 2004. In a Juneteenth letter from 2023 to members and alumni, Baskerville refers to the recipients as her sons and daughters and praises alumni who have fought for racial reparations and issues of equity and economic justice. ^{8 9}