I say someone should take the state back to court for not properly distributing the Ayers case $503 million over 17 years. After the court settlement the state placed that "certain percentage of minority enrollment" qualification on the money disbursements.....thus the schools never have enough minorities to even get the money....Give the HBCU's the money they are owed then let's see how they fair......( I posted some background info below)
http://m.usatoday.com/detail.jsp?key=1085570&rc=News
Gov. Haley Barbour's proposal to merge Mississippi's three public historically black universities is sparking debate over the racial undertones it presents and raising new questions over the state's underfunding of those colleges.
Barbour has proposed combining the smaller Mississippi Valley State and Alcorn State universities into Jackson State University. The campuses would continue to exist, he said.
The Republican made the recommendation last month as part of his budget proposal for fiscal 2011, but has acknowledged savings would not be realized for at least a year.
Many lawmakers, including leaders of the Legislative Black Caucus, have vowed to block any merger that involves the state's historically black colleges.
"I am opposed to any measure that would reduce access and opportunity to quality education at any level," said House Universities and Colleges Committee Chair Kelvin Buck, a Democrat.
Many of the questions about the proposal focus on its legality under the 2002 Ayers settlement, which ended a 27-year-old federal lawsuit filed in 1975 by the late Jake Ayers Sr., the father of a Jackson State University student.
The lawsuit alleged that the state of Mississippi, through its funding process discriminated against Alcorn State, Jackson State and Valley State.
In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed that the state still had vestiges of segregation in its university system and sent the case to the lower courts to arrange a settlement. Under the deal, the Mississippi Legislature agreed to provide $503 million to the three colleges over 17 years.
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said Barbour's proposal goes against everything the state has been trying to accomplish since agreeing to the Ayers settlement.
"In the eyes of a lot of Americans it appears that the black colleges are being attacked once more," he said.