NAACP Calls for Bluefield State Investigation
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — West Virginia should investigate employment practices at Bluefield State College because of the school’s lack of minority faculty and staff, according to a resolution approved by state NAACP members last month.
The resolution was one of several approved during the final day of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s 55th annual state convention, a two-day meeting held at Huntington’s Radisson Inn.
Bluefield State was for years the only historically Black college in the United States with no Black faculty members, according to the unanimously approved resolution. The institution receives $1.1 million in federal grants annually for being a historically Black college.
“The president of Bluefield State, Dr. Robert Moore, has not seriously and sincerely taken adequate steps” to hire Black professors, and the school has discouraged minority employment, according to the resolution.
Last year, Bluefield professor Garret Olmsted, claimed he was fired after criticizing the administration for its failure to recruit Black students and faculty. An administrative law judge ruled in November that the school had to rehire Olmsted (see Black Issues, Nov. 26, 1998).
Bluefield State at the time had two Black professors and only 205 Black students out of a student body of 2,500, according to published reports. An 11-member task force had been appointed in November 1997 to advise Moore on recruiting minority faculty and students. At that time, the school had no Black faculty or administrators (see Black Issues, June 11, 1998).
University of Georgia to Admit Student Suing Over Rejection
ATHENS, Ga. — The University of Georgia has decided to admit 19-year-old Jennifer L. Johnson in hopes of settling a lawsuit in which she says her application was rejected because she’s White and a woman.
“It’s my understanding from the attorneys that this should render this particular lawsuit moot,” says university spokesman Tom Jackson. “We’re doing so on the advice of the attorney general and the chancellor.”
Johnson’s lawsuit is the third filed against the university by Atlanta attorney Lee Parks, who says the Athens school illegally uses race as a factor in its admissions. But despite the university’s offer, Parks says Johnson plans to attend freshman orientation at Mercer University, her second choice, and adds that he does not intend to drop the suit.
The lawsuit says a set of university-developed criteria called the Total Student Index penalized Johnson, who applied to the school last October. She scored 4.10 on the index, which looks at grades, test scores, extracurricular activities, and a family’s educational background. To be accepted at the university, applicants must score at least 4.66 on the index.
Johnson would have received an extra 0.5 of a point if she had been a minority and a 0.25 of a point if she had been male, Parks says. That would have raised her score to 4.85.
HBCU Chancellor Says Demographics of Student Body Must Change
DURHAM, N.C. — North Carolina Central University (NCCU) must compete for the best students regardless of race in order to survive, according to Chancellor Julius L. Chambers.
Last month, in his annual state-of-the-university address, Chambers told faculty and staff that the mission of historically Black schools has changed.
“We no longer have a monopoly,” he said. “The pool of candidates is more diverse and more demanding. You have to realize there are outside forces and changing demographics and those changes will affect what you do, whether you exist, and how you succeed.”
Chambers noted that Black students who attend the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University say they picked their college based on the strength of their programs and the level of success they thought they would have. Last year, approximately 83 percent of the university’s enrollment of 5,580 students were Black.
“We are an institution that appeals to each and every student no matter [what their] race, religion, or gender. Not only are we constitutionally required, but we are morally required,” Chambers said.
Chambers, who was named chancellor in 1993 after resigning as chief executive of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, also said his university must catch up with technology found at other North Carolina universities.
“Over at UNC, they are preparing for next year where every student has to have a [laptop] computer,” he said. “Where is NCCU?”
Chambers made the statement several weeks after it was announced that he will take a short leave-of-absence early this fall to undergo an as yet-undisclosed, but reportedly minor, medical procedure.
Black Lawmakers Urging Voters to Reject State Lottery
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Some Black lawmakers are speaking out against Gov. Don Siegelman’s lottery plan on grounds that it excludes many poor students from scholarship grants, a problem the governor’s office says can’t be solved right away.
“It hurts me to my heart to come out and say this,” says Rep. John Rogers (D-Birmingham), a longtime supporter of a lottery, “but I can’t sit back and watch my people get nothing.”
The lottery proposal goes before voters Oct. 12. Siegelman says the lottery would raise $150 million a year for college scholarships, pre-kindergarten, and school technology.
What bothers Rogers is that poor students who qualify for federal tuition grants would have the value of those grants deducted from their lottery-funded scholarships. Siegelman has said that to do otherwise initially would bankrupt the program. The governor’s spokeswoman adds that a rule change maybe considered later.
“We’ll start out like Georgia,” says Kristin Carvell, Siegelman’s press secretary. “We don’t want some kids to get two scholarships, while others get none. But that’s something that we’ll look at.”
“I cannot support a lottery that will destroy a population who’s going to be playing it but not getting any of the benefits,” Rogers says. “I’ve got to look at myself in the mirror in the morning.”
Rep. James Buskey (D-Mobile) says he also has spoken to several groups and is recommending that his constituents reject the lottery plan.
“I’m not opposed to a lottery — I’m just opposed to this lottery,” he says. “I’m not for a lottery that penalizes poor people so that rich folks can go to college.”
Rogers says he’s also concerned that the scholarship program would undercut enrollment at historically Black four-year colleges, where most students don’t have the grades to qualify for a HOPE scholarship. Siegelman’s proposal would give those students an incentive to attend two-year schools, where a B-average won’t be required for a scholarship, Rogers says.
Rogers had hoped to meet with Siegelman in late August to win a commitment on the tuition grant issue. If an agreement is not reached, Rogers says he will step up his opposition.
Countersuit and Legislative Retaliation Added to Mississippi Valley’s Problems
GREENWOOD, Miss. — A Greenwood attorney who was sued this summer by a fired college administrator and unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor has filed a countersuit.
And, a state lawmaker says his voting record next year will reflect his distress with Mississippi Valley State University over the plight of Troy Brown, the administrator who claims he was fired because he ran for public office.
A. Lee Abraham Jr. says he has no idea why Brown lost his job as dean of students at Mississippi Valley State University. Brown wants his job back and claims he was fired because he would not end his Democratic candidacy and support Amy Tuck, a candidate supported by Abraham.
Abraham’s suit, filed in Leflore County Circuit Court, accuses Brown of making false and defamatory statements about Abraham. It also contends Brown had the “ulterior purpose of obtaining press coverage for his political campaign and thus more votes in the primary election.”
Brown finished third in the Aug. 3 Democratic primary won by Tuck, a former senator.
“I think it [Abraham’s lawsuit] is a frivolous and desperate measure to divert attention from the real truth in this case,” says Brown’s attorney, John M. Mooney Jr. of Jackson. “Brown will neither be intimidated nor deterred from going forward with his federal action. This man [Brown] loves Valley and wants to go back to work there.”
Mooney says the allegation Brown sued to gain publicity for his campaign “is ludicrous.”
Brown’s lawsuit was filed the week before he was to have to vacate his home on the Valley campus. His lawsuit says Abraham, identified as a major supporter of Mississippi Valley, encouraged him to run but later asked him to withdraw.
Meanwhile, Rep. Erik Fleming (D-Jackson), who won re-election last month, says until the college comes to terms with Brown, he will oppose Mississippi Valley’s budget and other legislation to help the historically Black school in Itta Bena.
“I would be remiss in my duty as a legislator if I knowingly continued to support an institution that treats its employees in such a malicious way,” Fleming said in a letter sent to the university’s president, Dr. Lester E. Newman.
Newman denies that Brown’s firing had anything to do with his candidacy and says that he “look[s] forward to defending the name and honor of the institution and myself in court.”
Preliminary Figures Indicate More Diversity at the University of Texas
AUSTIN, Texas — After stepping up financial aid and recruiting efforts, the University of Texas appears to have attracted a freshman class with the same percentage of Blacks and Hispanics as 1996, the last year in which affirmative action was allowed.
“We need a diverse group of students at this institution.… This is a global environment that we live in,” Dr. Augustine Garza, deputy director of admissions at the university, says. “We need experiences from all cultures, and those experiences can best happen here in the higher education environment so that people can grow and learn about other cultures.”
If preliminary figures are borne out, the university enrolled a freshman class that includes 4 percent Black students, 14 percent Hispanic, 62 percent White, and 17 percent Asian American. The rest include American Indians and foreign students.
The percentages for Black and Hispanic students are the same as in 1996, the Austin American-Statesman reported last month. Enrollment data won’t be final until later this month.
Texas officials have worked to boost minority enrollment despite the 1996 federal court ruling, known as Hopwood, which ended consideration of race in college admissions in Texas. Among other steps, a state law automatically admits students in the top 10 percent of high school graduating classes. And, the university has increased and focused its outreach to public school students. In addition, it has begun a scholarship program for those in the top 10 percent of their class in 49 high schools in high-minority areas.
“We’ve stepped it up” since Hopwood, Garza says.
However, preliminary data at the upper-level schools — the master’s level business school, law school, and four medical schools — don’t show a similar rebound from the court ruling, according to the newspaper. All appear to be lower than in 1996, it reported.
But Garza says those who recruit at the graduate level face more challenges.
“The competition is stiffer. The eligible pool [of students] is smaller. The market is larger. You’ve got to remember, your marketplace is not just the state of Texas,” he says.
