BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
A deadlock in negotiations over scholarships apparently will force another trial in the 24-year-old desegregation case against Alabama’s higher education system, attorneys said.
“The obstacles to an agreement are just too great to overcome at this time,” the case’s monitor, Carlos Gonzalez, wrote in a letter last week to U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy of Rome, Ga., who has been handling the Alabama case for years.
The chief sticking point at this stage is over the size of a scholarship program for lower-income students and whether it’s even needed for those seeking admission to Auburn and Alabama.
Murphy issued an order Monday giving the parties until Nov. 30 to file objections to the end of the two massive remedial decrees he has issued in the case. Any responses to those objections are due Jan. 6.
Robert Hunter, the state’s attorney, told The Birmingham News that he expects another trial will be needed.
“And I do not look forward to it,” he said.
