bluphiiijsu
Creative Director
Sept. 5, 2001
Critics take aim at Ayers settlement
By John Porretto
The Associated Press
OXFORD. ? Opponents of a college desegregation settlement plan hammered away at what they perceived as the pact's unfairness ? although the criticism came from different directions.
U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers Jr. on Wednesday opened a hearing to opponents of the $500 million settlement designed to end 26 years of legal arguments over desegregation of higher education in Mississippi.
Proponents wrapped up their testimony with an endorsement of the plan from John Moore and LeVerne Younger, attorneys with the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.
"We have reached an agreement that will push the state's higher education forward," Younger said.
Moore said the government believes the settlement is reasonable and adequate.
Biggers, for his part, kept questioning what burden the $500 million proposal would have on taxpayers and how it addressed duplication of programs among the colleges. Proponents have told him that the state is committed to the funding and officials believe the settlement improves citizens' access to higher education.
Lillie Ayers, the widow of Jake Ayers who filed the lawsuit in 1975, was scheduled to speak later Wednesday. She has said the plan does not go far enough to desegregate Mississippi's public universities.
She said the case is not about money. She said the settlement ? as written ? duplicates programs at schools such as Mississippi Valley State University and Delta State University, which are about 40 miles apart in the Delta. Biggers had raised that same issue.
Earlier Wednesday, state Sen. Ron Farris, R-Hattiesburg, said the proposed settlement was reached without regard to historically white universities.
He cited as unfair a proposal that would provide more than $70 million to the three historically black universities for increasing their enrollment of white students by 10 percent. Farris said the other five colleges got no such rewards for improving minority enrollments.
Farris said the other five schools are also struggling to keep faculty and ensure classes are available students.
Farris said the creation of programs at the three historically black schools was akin to "horse-trading ... simply to reach a settlement."
The lawsuit challenged alleged discrepancies in programs and funding at the three historically black colleges. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed in 1992 and ordered Mississippi to remedy the situation.
Since a remedial order in 1995, the state has spent about $83 million on improvements at the three historically black universities.
This year, the Legislature committed to $15 million annually over the next five years for campus improvements. The money is tied to the settlement.
Biggers has said he has "serious reservations" about the settlement. The plan calls for campus improvements, endowments and new programs at the historically black universities.
The proposal also requires the three universities to reach at least 10 percent non-black enrollment for three consecutive years before they can control the endowments.
Critics take aim at Ayers settlement
By John Porretto
The Associated Press
OXFORD. ? Opponents of a college desegregation settlement plan hammered away at what they perceived as the pact's unfairness ? although the criticism came from different directions.
U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers Jr. on Wednesday opened a hearing to opponents of the $500 million settlement designed to end 26 years of legal arguments over desegregation of higher education in Mississippi.
Proponents wrapped up their testimony with an endorsement of the plan from John Moore and LeVerne Younger, attorneys with the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.
"We have reached an agreement that will push the state's higher education forward," Younger said.
Moore said the government believes the settlement is reasonable and adequate.
Biggers, for his part, kept questioning what burden the $500 million proposal would have on taxpayers and how it addressed duplication of programs among the colleges. Proponents have told him that the state is committed to the funding and officials believe the settlement improves citizens' access to higher education.
Lillie Ayers, the widow of Jake Ayers who filed the lawsuit in 1975, was scheduled to speak later Wednesday. She has said the plan does not go far enough to desegregate Mississippi's public universities.
She said the case is not about money. She said the settlement ? as written ? duplicates programs at schools such as Mississippi Valley State University and Delta State University, which are about 40 miles apart in the Delta. Biggers had raised that same issue.
Earlier Wednesday, state Sen. Ron Farris, R-Hattiesburg, said the proposed settlement was reached without regard to historically white universities.
He cited as unfair a proposal that would provide more than $70 million to the three historically black universities for increasing their enrollment of white students by 10 percent. Farris said the other five colleges got no such rewards for improving minority enrollments.
Farris said the other five schools are also struggling to keep faculty and ensure classes are available students.
Farris said the creation of programs at the three historically black schools was akin to "horse-trading ... simply to reach a settlement."
The lawsuit challenged alleged discrepancies in programs and funding at the three historically black colleges. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed in 1992 and ordered Mississippi to remedy the situation.
Since a remedial order in 1995, the state has spent about $83 million on improvements at the three historically black universities.
This year, the Legislature committed to $15 million annually over the next five years for campus improvements. The money is tied to the settlement.
Biggers has said he has "serious reservations" about the settlement. The plan calls for campus improvements, endowments and new programs at the historically black universities.
The proposal also requires the three universities to reach at least 10 percent non-black enrollment for three consecutive years before they can control the endowments.