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Mississippi appeal refused – Ayers v. Fordice, college admission standards and black enrollment

The refusal of the U.S. Supreme Court to consider an appeal by
plaintiffs in the long-running Ayers v. Fordice case has given
Mississippi state officials breathing room to prove that a
controversial college admissions plan is not reducing access for Blacks
to the state’s public university system.

Despite drops in the numbers of incoming Black freshmen, statistics
show that overall Black enrollment in Mississippi public universities
is higher than ever before and state officials are praising that
progress.

“We’re very pleased that our minority enrollment is increasing,” says one state university administrator.

However, this news is providing little solace to the plaintiffs in
the Ayers v. Fordice case. They consider the drop in Black freshmen
enrollments to be unacceptable and damaging.

Enrollment of African American freshmen in Mississippi’s eight
public universities dropped by 8.3 percent to 2,560 students from
1996-97 to 1997-98 while the total number of African American students
increased by 1.8 percent to 19,254 students during the same period.
From 1995-96 to 1996-97, Black freshman enrollment fell seventeen
percent while total Black enrollment increased by 3.6 percent at the
eight public universities.

In the latest development of the twenty-two year old desegregation
battle over Mississippi’s higher education system, the Supreme Court
last month declined to consider an appeal by the plaintiffs, bowing
instead to a Justice Department opinion that the case was too
“premature” for the court to review it a second time.

Plaintiffs have argued that revise college admission standards are
causing “irreparable” harm to your Black who have failed to gain
admission to Mississippi public colleges. They contend that there are
hundreds of Blacks being rejected who might have gained admission to
the college system under old admission standards.

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