Office for Civil Rights puts Texas on notice - investigation to determine Texas' compliance with a Civil Rights provision

Black Issues in Higher Education, April 3, 1997 by Ronald Roach

While Texas state officials scramble to adopt

race-neutral admissions and financial aid

policies in the state's public higher education

system? the U.S. Department of Education

has opened an inquiry to determine whether

the state is complying with Title VI of the

1964 Civil Rights Act.

[The Office for Civil Rights also sent a

letter to Ohio's Gov. George V. Voinovich

announcing its renewed investigation into

the state's treatment of Central State

University. For more details, see pg. 8.]

The state of Texas, which has

adopted race-neutral policies as a result

of the 1996 U.S. Fifth Circuit Court

decision in Hopwood v. The State of Texas

banning race as a factor in University of

Texas Law School admissions, stands to

lose millions in funding from the

Department of Education if it fails to meet Title VI and comply

with related consent decrees that allow the

use of race as a factor in admissions and

financial aid.

On March 18, the U.S. Department of

Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR)

informed twenty-six members of the Texas

state legislature by letter that it "will work

with Texas officials to determine whether any

vestiges of prior discrimination are causing

discrimination to continue."

The letters, sent by Norma V. Cantu,

Department of Education assistant secretary

for OCR, were a response by the agency to

inquiries made by the legislators on whether

adopting race-neutral admissions and financial

aid policies violates Title VI and related consent decrees.

Cantu wrote in the letter that she had

written earlier to Texas Governor George

Bush to renew OCR's dialogue with Texas

officials about the state's desegregation plan

and whether the state has "eliminated the

vestiges of prior d e jure segregation in its

system of public higher education." She also

stated that the "Supreme Court has

consistently held that affirmative action

measures may be taken to remedy the effects

of prior discrimination."

Raymond C. Pierce, deputy assistant

secretary for the Office for Civil Rights at the

Department of Education, said education

department officials have begun "informal

discussions"

with Texas officials

over the state's move

towards race-neutral

policies in higher

education admissions

and financial aid. "We

have been in dialogue

on these issues, and

we hope to reach

some resolution as

soon as possible,"

Pierce said.

Ray Sullivan, a

spokesman for Governor Bush, said the

Governor "believes that Texas colleges and

universities must work hard to be inclusive.

We believe that schools can have diversity

without basing admissions decisions solely on

race."

Dr. Kenneth H. Ashworth, commissioner

of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating

Board, said he welcomes the intervention of

the Department of Education. He said if the

department finds the state of Texas to be in

violation of Title VI and the related consent

decrees, it could lead to a reversal of the

state's adoption of race-neutral policies in

higher education.

"We're in a bind because of the Hopwood

decision. Texas is the only state in the nation

that prohibits affirmative action in its higher

education policies. That puts us at a terrible

disadvantage. It squeezes minorities out of

participating in society like they should,"

Ashworth said.

Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis, who

was one of the legislators notified by Cantu

on March 18, was quoted in the Austin

American-Statesman as saying that "Texas

clearly runs the risk of putting federal dollars

in jeopardy." Ellis was one of about sixty

Texas lawmakers who asked OCR to

investigate whether race-neutral policies at

Texas colleges and universities would

constitute discrimination against Hispanics

and Blacks, the Austin American-Statesman

reported.

Ray Grasshoff, a spokesman for the

Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board,

said Texas received $500 million in funding

for higher education programs from the

Department of Education in fiscal year 1995.

Department of Education funding includes

money for work-study programs, federal

student grants and research grants.