Alcorn State First to Receive Endowment Money From Ayers Settlement
JACKSON, Miss.
Alcorn State University has received $1.7 million in endowment money as part of the settlement of Mississippi’s college desegregation lawsuit.
The state College Board approved the distribution last month.
Alcorn, one of three historically Black universities in Mississippi, earlier received $1.4 million, its 28 percent share of $5 million allocated to the publicly funded endowment.
Officials said it would soon receive its 28 percent share of $1 million in a privately funded endowment. This disbursement was the first time endowment funds were allocated to any of the schools.
Alcorn became eligible for the funds this year, its third year in a row with a non-Black enrollment of more than 10 percent.
Settlement of the case provided that Alcorn, Jackson State University and Mississippi Valley State University would each get a portion of what will one day be a $70 million publicly funded endowment once they sustain 10 percent non-Black enrollment for three consecutive years.
Jackson State and Mississippi Valley have not reached that mark.
The separate, privately funded endowment that is supposed to reach $35 million currently holds $1 million. It will be distributed in the same manner.
