One month after the release of the student-run magazine, Nineteen Fifty-Six, the University of Alabama (UA) permanently cuts its funding, suspending the magazine and claiming its mission to amplify Black voices violates federal guidelines on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
The university also suspended Alice, a fashion and wellness student-run mag that primarily features women. The suspension of the magazines are a result of the university citing a July 2025 memo from the United States Attorney General Pam Bondi stating that educational institutions that receive federal funds are restricted from practicing discrimination.
“It’s hurtful,” says Kendal Wright, editor-in-chief of Nineteen Fifty-Six. “It’s already hard enough coming to a university as a minority, and then to have spaces that were established for you to be yourself and tell your own stories, be removed.” Students are protesting the university’s decision to ban the magazines.
UA is one of several colleges across the country that have closed their DEI offices and ended programs serving minority students in response to newly introduced state laws and the Trump administration’s interpretation of anti-discrimination. The recent suspensions are not new to Black students at UA, as administrators took similar actions in July 2024 after Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed an anti-DEI law preventing state funding from being used to support DEI offices and programs that promote so-called “divisive concepts.”
Ironically, Nineteen Fifty-Six released its Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 issues without any university suspension for possibly violating the state’s anti-DEI restrictions, Wright confirms.
“The University remains committed to supporting every member of our community and advancing our goals to welcome, serve and help all succeed,” says Alex House, a UA spokesperson. “In doing so, we must also comply with our legal obligations. This requires us to ensure all members of our community feel welcome to participate in programs that receive University funding from the Office of Student Media.” However, previous issues of Nineteen Fifty-Six show multiple non-Black students on the editorial team.
“Suspending student-run magazines that center women’s voices and Black culture is not a neutral administrative decision, it’s the direct result of the Trump administration’s relentless assault on diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education,” says Michael Holloman, director of communications for American Pride Rises. “The Trump administration’s directives are nothing more than a coordinated attempt to bully universities into silence, shut down conversations that challenge power and close pathways to opportunity for anyone who doesn’t fit into their narrow vision of America.”
“Dear Black students, you do matter” has been the opening statement of each issue since the launch of the publication in September 2020. Tionna Taite, University of Alabama alumna and founder of Nineteen Fifty-Six shares that Black and other minority students “needed a place to have their voices heard, share their perspectives freely without feeling judged” and the magazine filled that void on campus.
The magazine is named in honor of Autherine Lucy Foster, the first African-American student to officially enroll at UA in 1956. Today, Black students account for only 12.9 percent of the student population at the university.
While Black students on UA’s campus are creating their own opportunities in journalism, they continue to break barriers within the university’s long history of desegregation. Before Nineteen Fifty-Six, history was made in 2000 with Joseph Bryant, the first Black student to serve as editor of The Crimson White, 106 years after the paper was established. In 2023, Ashlee Woods, former editor-in-chief of Nineteen Fifty-Six, became the first Black woman to lead UA’s student paper. Today, only three students have ever served in the role.
“I encourage students to fight for their rights,” says Taite. “1956 was a pivotal year for Black students at UA and Nineteen Fifty-Six is a pivotal magazine for UA students of all races and backgrounds,” referring to the magazine’s purpose to educate and “produce socially conscious, ethical and well-rounded citizens.”
Nearly 3,000 UA students, alumni and supporters have signed a petition on Move.org to urge administrators to reinstate the two publications. “Universities are not powerless at this moment” states Holloman. “Administrators have a responsibility, and a moral obligation, to defend the rights of their students. All students deserve institutions that champion their voices, protect their rights, and uphold the values of inquiry and inclusion that higher education is built upon.”
“Alumni are disappointed but not surprised,” Taite points out. “They understand the importance of Nineteen Fifty-Six and they want to continue to support both magazines.”
The editorial team for the magazine had been looking forward to releasing its Spring 2026 edition. However, with the current suspension, Wright tells ESSENCE that no future issues can be released under the name Nineteen Fifty-Six as the Office of Student Media at UA owns the publication.
The university plans to provide funding for a new student magazine with a “broader scope” and shares that they will “never restrict our students’ freedom of expression.”