DAYTON, Ohio
The decision by the U.S. Department of Education’s
Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to close its active Title VI
investigation into the state of Ohio’s treatment of Central State
University (CSU) triggered mixed reactions ranging from praise to sharp
criticism in and around the Wilberforce, Ohio campus.
OCR Assistant Secretary Norma V. Cantu notified Ohio Gov. George
Voinovich in a February 17 letter that her office had “closed” its
investigation into the discrimination case that has spanned two
decades. The department had reopened its investigation in March 1997,
at the height of legislative threats to merge or shut down the school.
OCR deputy assistant secretary Raymond C. Pierce emphasized the
action does not mean the complaint is resolved. OCR will continue to
monitor the state of Ohio’s efforts to rebuild Central State and
incorporate it as a full partner among Ohio’s public higher-education
institutions, he said.
“There is no determination that the violation has been corrected,” Pierce said.
But that statement was met with skepticism among some CSU officials and supporters.
The OCR found in 1981 that Ohio had violated federal civil-rights
laws in its funding and treatment of CSU. It concluded that the state’s
decision to build and enhance Wright State University — just eleven
miles away — amounted to discrimination against CSU’s students and
faculty. The complaint was never resolved, and Ohio became the only
state among those cited by the OCR during the period to have never
submitted a plan to resolve the complaint.
