The plaintiffs and those representing the state of Maryland are still apparently far apart when it comes to how to remedy a segregated higher ed system that has disadvantaged Maryland’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU).
In the ongoing remedial bench trial in Baltimore, testimony on behalf of the state has put the price tag of the Maryland HBCU proposal to build up HBCU programs and remedy the negative impact on Maryland HBCUs of illegally duplicative programs at majority institutions at $1 billion. Jon Greenbaum, chief counsel and senior deputy director for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, disputes that figure.
“Are we talking about something that would likely be over $100 million? I would say probably. Are we talking about something that would cost $1 billion, I think that’s an exaggeration.”
Greenbaum adds that when it comes to the entire public higher education system in Maryland, “If you look at all of their operating expenditures in a given year, it’s over $3 billion. And if you look at the capital expenditures in a given year, [it] averages about $250 million.”
Though Greenbaum says the plaintiffs have not actually put a price tag on how much their proposal to develop programs at public Maryland HBCUs will cost, “even if…it was $500 million for everything that we’re talking about,” that figure is “like 15% of what the actual expenditures are in a given year.”
In an e-mail, Christine Tobar, deputy director of communications for the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, declined to comment, citing that the case is ongoing.
