By Melanie R. Holmes
AFRO Staff Writer
(October 29, 2009) - The Coalition for Equity and Excellence in Maryland Higher Education has a long list of complaints against the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC), for which they have filed a hefty lawsuit.
Plaintiffs seek to develop “complete parity” between with the state’s traditionally White institutions (TWI) within the next five years or else they fear the state’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) will continue to suffer “state-sponsored discrimination within higher education.”
According to the coalition’s second amended complaint, the state has failed its Black universities in the areas of funding, student retention and graduation, campus programs and activities, faculty and staff diversity, capital enhancements, program duplication and honoring their partnership agreement with the U.S. Department of Education.
MHEC officials declined to comment on the pending case.
The lawsuit alleges that TWIs have duplicated programs at HBCUs. It cited Towson University’s and the University of Baltimore’s duplication of a master’s in business administration program that already exists at Morgan State University; and Salisbury State University’s offering of a computer science program already in place at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
“Maryland used to run a formerly segregated higher education school system,” said Tricia Jefferson, senior counsel to the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which is part of the coalition. “One of those effects can continue if you have a TWI carrying or offering unique programs that are offered by HBCUs that are close by.”
The state and the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) entered into a partnership agreement in 2002 to bring Maryland into compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment regarding segregation and discrimination within Maryland’s higher education institutions.
Maryland first instituted its system of public higher education in 1807 by establishing the University of Maryland at Baltimore, an institution only open to White students. Four other White-only public institutions of higher education – University of Maryland, Towson University, Frostburg State University and Salisbury State University – were later established.
Bowie State University was the first Black institution in the state, followed by Morgan State University, Coppin State University and University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
Within its complaint, the coalition alleges that Maryland did nothing more than “lift the rule excluding Black students from White schools” following the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision to desegregate all schools in the U.S. and says Black enrollment in TWIs remained minimal.
In 1998, MHEC issued its statewide plan for postsecondary education, “Educating for the 21st Century,” to increase ethnic diversity of doctoral candidates in faculty and administrative positions at all institutions; promote campus climates tolerant of diverse groups; develop multicultural diversity on Maryland’s campuses; improve recruitment and retention of minority students, faculty, and staff and achieve salary equity between male and female faculty and staff.
The coalition said it recognizes that the plan has beneficial components for minorities, but contends that it does not directly address the specific needs of HBCUs.
No trial date has been set at this time, but the Coalition is scheduled for a status conference with the opposing counsel and the court on Dec. 18.
“Right now we’re in the process of discovery,” Jefferson said. “Both sides are exchanging information. It’s such a large case and there are so many parties involved. We think this is a really important case [and] we hope we can litigate the issues and get a favorable outcome for our clients.”