After twenty-two years of continuous litigation
in the federal courts, the legal battle that has
engulfed Mississippi’s system of higher education,
Ayers v. Fordice, appears to have no end in sight.
Parties on both sides of the struggle have grown
weary of the case, and some say they would like
to strike an agreement that would end the
protracted court battles and put desegregation
efforts on a clear decisive course.
“It’s time to call it quits,” Dr. Clinton
Bristow, president of Alcorn State University,
offered as advice to the plaintiffs and the state
of Mississippi after the Fifth
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
issued its latest ruling (see “What the
Court Decided in the Fordice Case.”)
One plaintiff, U.S. Rep.
Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.),
has publicly called for some type
of settlement in Ayers v. Fordice.
“I think it is time for all
parties to sit down and see if we
can put this case to rest,” he said.
And the president of the
college board, Marlin Ivey, agreed. “We want it
[Ayers] to be over with.”
But that’s not so easily done, especially after
the wide-ranging reactions that greeted last
month’s appeals decision.
The chief of staff for Republican Governor
Kirk Fordice, Mark Garriga, for example, said,
“After reading the latest opinion, there is no end in
sight. ” He said he was disappointed that the Fifth
Circuit ruled that the way scholarships at
historically white universities are granted fosters
segregation.
That part of the decision was considered one
of the bright spots by the plaintiffs.
Lead attorney Alvin Chambliss Jr.’s first
reaction to the Fifth Circuit Court decision was
one of elation, in fact, saying that the court had
established in its ruling that colleges have a
responsibility to have a diverse student body
and thus had in effect overturned Hopwood vs.
the State of Texas. In that case, the Fifth
Circuit had ruled that race could not be used
as a factor in admissions. “Hopwood is dead,”
Chambliss said. “The Fifth Circuit has said
that race does matter.”
In comparison to other states that have
undergone court-ordered desegregation in their
higher education systems, Mississippi’s
experience is believed to be the most
contentious. Litigants in other states that
historically maintained systems of legal
segregation, such as Louisiana and Texas, have
developed consent decrees sanctioned by the
federal courts — usually after developing a
consensus among litigants, state government
officials, legislators, higher education governing
boards and the federal government.
Is Consensus Possible?
Is reaching a consensus among litigants
and other key players to reach a consent
decree a possibility in Mississippi?
Given the contentious history of the case,
it doesn’t appear likely anytime soon,
according to legal observers.
Howard University Law School professor
Ken Tollett Sr. believes it is time to settle
because not much more can be achieved at the
judicial level in this case.
