The group, known as ForUMES, filed the amended complaint Oct. 26 in U.S. District Court in Maryland. It names Gov. Wes Moore and several higher education officials with the University System of Maryland and the Maryland Higher Education Commission as defendants. A news conference is scheduled Tuesday in Baltimore to discuss the case.

The lawsuit traces the school's history to 1886, when it was founded as the Delaware Conference Academy. It became a land-grant institution in 1890, after the state's original land-grant school, the University of Maryland, College Park, opened in 1865 and did not admit Black students.

"UMES was supposed to be a separate but equal Land-grant college. Instead, UMES was and continues to be a woefully underfunded stepchild of the University System of Maryland," the complaint states. "Maryland deliberately underfunded UMES. This lawsuit aims to right this horrible wrong."

UMES is one of just 19 historically Black colleges and universities in the nation designated as land-grant institutions. Under the Civil War-era Morrill Act, states received federal land to sell and use the proceeds to fund agricultural colleges. The Second Morrill Act of 1890 established land-grant institutions for Black students because they were excluded from the original schools.

The lawsuit argues that part of UMES' mission is to foster research that improves lives and drives economic development across Maryland, a role the plaintiffs say has been undermined by chronic underinvestment.

The school's supporters are represented by several attorneys, including prominent Baltimore lawyer William "Billy" Murphy. A representative of his office did not return a phone call or email seeking comment Friday.

UMES officials, meanwhile, described a positive relationship with the state. University spokesperson Rudy Williams said Friday the school has "great relations with the state" and is "happy with the support that we've gotten."

"We're looking forward to continued support and good relations with the [Moore] administration and with the state," Williams said.

State funding per full-time equivalent student at UMES rose from $19,640 in fiscal 2022 to more than $26,000 in each of the next three fiscal years, according to budget documents. In April, the University System of Maryland Board of Regents approved nearly $15 million toward renovations and new construction for the campus's new School of Veterinary Medicine, which began accepting applications last week ahead of a June 2027 opening. The school will be the state's first veterinary school and the first at a public HBCU in the nation.

A spokesperson for the governor said the administration cannot comment on active litigation but emphasized its commitment to the university. Moore attended UMES' commencement in May 2025.

"In the wake of an inherited structural budget deficit, the Moore-Miller administration has kept its commitment to our state's HBCUs – investing record funding for UMES as an 1890 Land Grant University," said Rhyan Lake, the spokesperson, in an email Friday. "UMES is a shining example of one of our state's prize institutions for molding the next generation of minds, and the State will continue to invest in UMES to ensure it has the resources it needs to continue that legacy."

A University System of Maryland spokesperson declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. An alumnus of the school also declined to comment on the suit Friday.

The case lands amid broader national scrutiny of how states have funded their historically Black land-grant universities, which have long argued that dual systems created under segregation left them with fewer resources than their white counterparts. For the Lower Shore community, the outcome could shape the future of an institution that serves as a major economic and educational anchor in the region.