Four Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in Maryland are in need of funding. But following a 13-year legal fight with the state over disparities in Maryland’s higher education system, the HBCUs are not giving up and have turned down Gov. Larry Hogan’s “final offer” of $200 million to settle a longstanding lawsuit.
The long-running lawsuit is over disparities in programs and the HBCUs are seeking $577 million. The schools involved are: Morgan State, Coppin State, Bowie State, and the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore.
The lawsuit claims Maryland promoted segregation by supporting better-funded academic programs at traditionally white universities and this undermined similar ones at historically Black schools.
“The colleges say the state underfunded them while developing programs at traditionally white schools. A federal judge ruled in favor of the HBCUs in 2013, saying the state unnecessarily duplicated programs,” US News & World Report reported.
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“Governor Hogan remains interested in resolving this matter with a comprehensive settlement,” his chief legal counsel Robert Scholz wrote in a letter to Del. Darryl Barnes, chair of the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus. Hogan, a Republican, “is prepared to make a final offer to resolve this case of up to $200 million in funds over a ten year period, commencing in fiscal year 2021.”
Barnes told the Baltimore Sun Hogan’s latest offer was “extremely low and, in my opinion, unacceptable.”
“To not have any conversation with the Black caucus and then to hardline and say, ‘Take $200 million or leave it,’ I don’t think is right, I don’t think is fair and I think it is unacceptable,” he said.
In a similar lawsuit Mississippi paid more than $500 million to settle its “landmark Ayers case, which successfully argued the state had denied Black residents equal education opportunities by discriminating against its three HBCUs,” the Baltimore Sun reported.
The money the Maryland HBCUs are seeking would allow them to develop and create new, independent academic programs.
“This would allow the schools to hire quality faculty to run the programs,” Michael Jones, the lead counsel for The Coalition for Equity and Excellence in Maryland Higher Education, wrote in a letter to lawmakers. “In addition, these funds would be used to provide scholarships that would enable the HBCUs to better compete for students and provide for substantial rebranding to offset the State’s decades of stigmatization of the HBCUs.”
