Alcorn State’s Benefits From Ayers Fund Begin
LORMAN, Miss.
A new $12-million dining hall soon will be under construction at Alcorn State University. “It will be built right across the street from the library and will be the centerpiece of the new Alcorn,” says ASU President Clinton Bristow Jr. It won’t be the only construction project on the campus for long though. Numerous other projects will be under way soon, including new buildings and improvements to existing ones.
“There are three capital programs on campus this year, totaling about $20 million, and all are Ayers projects,” Bristow says.
Jake Ayers filed a lawsuit in 1975 against the state, saying its three Black colleges had received less funding than the mostly White institutions.
The first payment from the Ayers fund went to Alcorn recently, as it has met the 10 percent diversity standard required under the settlement. Jackson State University and Mississippi Valley State University have not met that requirement. (see Diverse, Dec. 1, 2005)
“Ayers funds are now guaranteed, almost $28 million over the next 20 years,” Bristow says. “That’s endowment money that gives us financial strength and leverage to plan how to improve our academic programs.”
In addition to the dining hall, a new biotechnology facility will be constructed and the school of business will undergo a major redesign.
Another major addition to campus, funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is an ecology and research center.
“And, for our friends in historic preservation in Natchez, we have secured money to renovate three historic structures on the campus,” Bristow says.
