This paper examines the implementation of Project 985 at Minzu University of China, an ethnic minority serving university in China. As a university established specifically for the education of ethnic minorities, the paper examines in what ways the implementation of a policy uniformly mandated to serve national higher education goals by China's Central government impacts the unique institutional philosophy and mission at one particular university. The paper focuses primarily on the ways in which the university's function to serve the needs of the nation's ethnic minority population has become diffused amid other priorities.