An Indianapolis Democrat blasted Gov. Mike Braun’s first budget proposal as racist. Braun’s proposed budget would not fund the state’s only predominantly Black university or a state grant program designed to get more first-generation and minority students to college.

A new free preschool program is opening on Indianapolis’s east side. Martin University is launching the program Monday, September 9, for children 3 and 4 years old will be able to participate in the one-year program.

Martin University hosted a job fair Thursday to help formerly incarcerated people find employment. The university partnered with the Indiana Department of Corrections to provide more than 45 resource vendors to people reentering the workforce after incarceration.

The National Center for Racial Equity and Inclusion plans to host a health summit at Martin University on Friday, focusing on the impact of lung, breast and colorectal cancer in the Black community.

Indiana's only predominantly-Black higher education institution announced an effort to make college more accessible. Martin University will reduce tuition by 45 percent for undergraduate students and forgive some debt held by former students.

Friday in Indianapolis, Martin University honors that history with a new National Center for Racial Equity and Inclusion. It aims to foster, support and sustain equity through workshops, lectures and other programs. WFYI's Terri Dee spoke with President Sean Huddleston about that work.

Martin University's board of trustees announced Monday that Sean L. Huddleston will succeed Eugene White as president of the liberal arts institution.

The accrediting agency said the Indianapolis school must show improvements in finances by August 2016, prior to a decision on probation status scheduled for February 2017. The school says its funding comes mostly through enrollment, which has been in decline.