Experts Leary of Texas' Latest Education Disparity Elimination Efforts - state grants for historically black universities

Black Issues in Higher Education, Nov 23, 2000 by Lydia Lum

Educators here are asking state lawmakers to help finance new endowments of faculty positions and student scholarships. The request is part of an effort to settle the dispute between the federal Office of Civil Rights and the state of Texas regarding inequalities among the state's two public historically Black universities and other state-funded schools.

A $24 million proposal is one of the recommendations recently approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to forward to the Texas Legislature.

For months, a task force appointed by the Coordinating Board has examined ways to improve historically Black Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M universities. Their recommendations, which the board unanimously approved, also included establishing a student development and support center at Prairie View; establishing an institutional development office at TSU; building more student housing at TSU and developing additional academic degree programs at both universities.

The Texas proposal calls for lawmakers to offer $24 million in matching grants to Prairie View and TSU. Each school would raise $6 million for new endowments of faculty chairs, and another $6 million each for endowed scholarships. Educators are suggesting the state match funds raised by each university, dollar for dollar, up to $6 million for each endowment over a six-year spending cycle. These funds would be in addition to the regular state appropriation based on the number of enrolled students.

If approved by the Texas Legislature when it convenes for its biennial session in January, the $24 million expenditure would be unprecedented in this state. In Texas, college endowments are made up of private gifts.

Outside Texas, public funds have helped many universities, including historically Black schools. But some observers criticize states for putting so much of the burden on school fund-raising.

"This is like giving someone a pay raise and then asking that person to come up with it himself," says Earl Ingram, vice president and equity officer at George Mason University in Virginia. Ingram also worked for the OCR for much of the 1980s.

Other critics of the Texas proposal say that Prairie View and TSU shouldn't be expected to do so much to resolve a dispute that's actually between the state and the OCR.

"This proposal is not a redress," says Dr. M. Christopher Brown, professor of higher education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Brown also has published his research about college desegregation in the southern and border states. "There are a lot of strings attached. This does not redress the issues of underfunding all these years at these schools."

Ironically, supporters of the Texas idea aren't sure if it's even legal. Education leaders insist that the proposal is aimed only at TSU and Prairie View, which could be interpreted as race-based. Courts already struck down affirmative action in Texas college admissions in the Hopwood case. No one has consulted with Texas Attorney General John Cornyn about the legality of the plan. However, Texas Gov. George W. Bush's staff lawyer has helped shape the idea, says Dr. Paul Grubb, interim director of access and equity for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which oversees Texas's public universities and community colleges. "We're helping institutions that need help," Grubb says. "And it's short-term, targeted help."

Meanwhile, needs continue to plague both schools.

During a presentation to the Coordinating Board, TSU's president, Dr. Priscilla Slade, reiterated how the school was built in 1947 "on a shoestring and a promise" of a school just for Blacks amid efforts to keep the University of Texas segregated. A consultant recently rated all 31 of TSU's buildings in poor condition. A report stated that repairing half the buildings would cost $1 million and repairing utility infrastructure would cost more than $8 million.

Fortunately, the problems don't jeopardize student and faculty safety, the consultant reported.

Earlier this year, Bush and OCR officials signed a deal saying they would agree on a plan to resolve disparities in Texas higher education (see Black Issues, June 22). Texas, which has relied on several state-approved desegregation plans, is one of 11 states where federal officials are still monitoring its progress in eliminating dual systems of higher education as part of their enforcement of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bans discrimination in federally subsidized schools.

For their part, OCR officials have warned Bush's staff that the final plan should include close monitoring "to ensure timely implementation [and] provide the state and OCR with a mechanism to determine progress," says Taylor August, Dallas director for the OCR's Southern Division.

For instance, TSU and Prairie View officials should report fund-raising efforts and progress to the state Coordinating Board as well as their recruitment efforts to diversify the applicant pool for the endowed chairs, August wrote in an October letter to Bush's staff.