Morris Brown Ponders Selling to Tom Joyner

[CrimsonTide4]

Norfolk State seeks more money to implement desegregation plan
03/19/2002 01:37 PM EDT


NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - Worried that the General Assembly's budget threatens a desegregation agreement with the federal government, Norfolk State University's Board of Regents plans to ask Gov. Mark R. Warner for more money.

The state budget, which Warner must act on before the April 17 veto session, does not touch dollars specifically tied to the agreement, signed in the fall by the state and the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. But it does eat into the university's overall budget, and NSU officials say that's a problem.

The budget on Warner's desk cuts about $800,000 from the school's 2001-02 budget and is about $4 million less than Warner or his predecessor proposed spending in the next two years.

``The reason we were provided more money is because we were inadequately funded to begin with,'' NSU President Marie V. McDemmond said at the board's finance committee meeting Friday. ``When you take out of the base ... what we have is even more of an inadequate base.''

The agreement would fulfill Virginia's commitment to desegregate its colleges. It calls for 12 new academic programs and a number of facilities improvements at NSU and Virginia State University, the two historically black universities supported by the state. It does not specify a price tag, but state officials have estimated a cost of $20 million.

NSU officials want Warner to find another $5 million for the school's operating budget through the 2004 fiscal year and add $4.3 million for technology wiring into a bond proposal slated to go before voters this fall.

Del. Lacey E. Putney, I-Bedford, said he and the other state budget conferees felt the budget ``in no way'' violates the agreement.

``We were well aware of their concerns and tried to be absolutely certain no violence would be done to the obligations in the OCR agreement,'' said Putney. ``We thought we did our very best to fund not only those two universities but all of the higher education institutions ... based on the revenue available to us.''

Meanwhile, NSU's finance committee delayed a decision on how much to raise tuition. McDemmond presented three scenarios with increases ranging from 5 percent to 9 percent for in-state students and from 14 percent to 32 percent for out-of-state students.

The committee decided to wait until after Warner signs a state budget and other colleges announce tuition rates for next year before settling on an increase. The committee also deferred approval of the university's 2002-03 operating budget, which now stands at about $117 million, until May.

[mccoyred]

Why does it take 'desegregation' to force the state to upgrade the facilities and spend more money? If the inadequate facilities were good enough for 'us', why do it not be good enuff fo' DEM!

[CrimsonTide4]

Black colleges facing race discrimination lawsuits
03/21/2002 07:45 PM EDT

DOVER, Del. (AP) - Kathleen Carter says that when she became chairman of the education department at historically black Delaware State University in 1995, she found herself up against more than the usual administrative hassles.

Carter, who is white, says she was told that she was usurping blacks' right to govern themselves and that whites in the department were trying to make blacks look bad.

One colleague called her "a white bitch," Carter said in a discrimination lawsuit she filed against the school, alleging she was denied tenure because of her race.

Last month, a federal judge in Wilmington dismissed the claim, saying Carter failed to provide enough evidence.

But the case is among a recent series of legal battles waged by white employees against historically black colleges in states such as North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania. At least one lawsuit resulted in a multimillion-dollar verdict.

White professors and others have claimed they have been denied advancement and treated as interlopers. The colleges have generally denied the allegations or admitted no wrongdoing.

Frederick Humphries, president of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, an association of black colleges and universities, did not return repeated calls for comment.

Donna Euben, legal counsel for the American Association of University Professors, said that no organization or agency tracks such lawsuits, but that discrimination claims in academia - and in society in general - have increased in recent years.

Euben attributed the increase partly to changes in civil rights laws in the early 1990s allowing for more damages, and to a shrinking number of tenure and tenure-track positions at colleges and universities.

The plaintiffs in some of the lawsuits have charged that black colleges are trying to maintain their racial identities by limiting the number of white professors and administrators.

"It's the white professors who can't get tenure for hook or crook, but the black professors get hired as full professors with tenure," said Bob Russ, an English professor at Livingstone College in Salisbury, N.C., one of three white plaintiffs in a case that could go to trial this fall.

Russ, who was twice denied tenure and notified in December that his contract would not be renewed, said a review of academic programs conducted in the early 1990s demonstrates how Livingstone set out to systematically remove whites from leadership positions.

The review recommends naming black professors to replace several white departmental leaders. Notations in the margins include "bring in black Ph.D chair," "hire black chemist" and "build up science and math (black)."

Russ said the notations were written by Barbara Brown, a black woman who was vice president for academic affairs at the time. Brown now works at Albany State University in Georgia, a historically black school hit with more than 20 discrimination complaints in the 1980s and 1990s. She declined comment.

In 1997, the white dean of Albany State's business school was attacked and hospitalized one day after he complained on television that he was being discriminated against.

In 1998, a federal jury awarded $2.2 million to two tenured white professors forced to resign from Cheyney University in Pennsylvania. The professors said the school retaliated against them for opposing the appointment of minority faculty members they thought unqualified.

As for the Delaware State case, Carter, who now works at Richard Stockton College in Pomona, N.J., has refused to discuss her lawsuit.

In the past year, Delaware State has settled two discrimination lawsuits filed by white former employees.

The school reached an undisclosed settlement last month with Margaret McKay, a political science professor stripped of tenure and dismissed last year. She alleged discrimination based on race, age and gender. Neither she nor her lawyer would comment, and the university admitted no wrongdoing.

Delaware State also settled with a white woman who worked in the financial aid office.

The university, which has 3,000 students, was established in 1891 as the State College for Colored Students. Administrators denied there is racial discrimination.

"As far as I know, we have excellent diversity among the faculty," said Johnny Tolliver, provost and vice president of academic affairs. He said whites constitute almost half of the faculty and about one-fourth of the 22 department chairs.

But Jane Buck, a former Delaware State psychology professor and national president of the AAUP, said a search committee at the school received about 100 applications for an opening a few years ago, and no black candidate turned up. The search was reopened, and the lone black applicant was hired.

"I perceived a great deal of pressure to see to it that we hired a black departmental member," Buck said.

[Honeykiss1974]

As an HBCU alumni (that had melanin-challenged faculty members)I do not think anyone should be denied the opportunity to teach at HBCU's as long as that faculty member knows and supports the meaning and purpose of our HBCU's. HBCU's have historical significance and a responsibility to our communities that should always be the focus.

[straightBOS]

Questions:

How important is it to have only Black professors @ HBCUs?

How important is it to have tenured Black professors @ HBCUs?

Is it important enough that Black schools would openly and illegally deny qualified applicants?

I've never attended an HBCU so I have no perspective on this. But, if qualified applicants cannot be found, why should the students be denied a teacher?

And why, would these schools risk the threat of million-dollar lawsuits?

[nikki25]

Greetings!

HBCUs don't only have Black professors. Given the higher education job market, professors of all backgrounds can be found at HBCUs. I think that the schools should consider the merit of tenure applicants, not their race solely. It is important to maintain the racial integrity of the school, but not to an extent wherein one isn't able to receive an education from more than one racial grouping. At the HBCU, black professors have been a phenomenon because they, for the most part, really help students develop..as they take the student's development persnonally.

Tenure is generally something that you need at any college. It secures academic freedom and job security (to an extent). HBCUs are no different than other schools in that regard. All professors, as I said, should be granted tenure opportunities. HBCUs should focus on trying to help students get a quality education in a caring, collegial environment.

Just my thoughts. I graduated from Hampton U.

[CrimsonTide4]

SALISBURY, N.C. — Five white professors in Salisbury, N.C., have filed a lawsuit against Livingstone College, claiming the private college discriminated against them because of the color of their skin.


"Thirty years ago if you would have said, 'I'm white and I'm being discriminated against by blacks,' people would have laughed at you," said Arthur Steinberg, Ph.D., who taught history at Livingstone until his termination in May 2000.

He and the other plaintiffs claim white professors were routinely denied promotion and tenure at Livingstone because of the color of their skin.

Steinberg said he was routinely subjected to racist remarks from his black colleagues and even had his car vandalized. The five professors are seeking damages totaling roughly $1 million dollars.

Livingstone officials said that their policy is to refuse comment on the specifics of pending litigation. But college spokeswoman Charlotte Brown told Fox News, "We emphatically deny any discrimination against anybody."

Although Livingstone's student body is 98 percent black, Brown said the college prides itself on a racially diverse faculty that is currently "43 percent non-African-American."

But the professors point to a black administrator's 1994 reorganization plan — a document the plaintiffs call "the smoking gun."

"It's a plan to remove white faculty from positions of power as department or division chairs and replace them with African-American faculty," said plaintiff Bob Russ, Ph.D., who teaches English at Livingstone.

In the margins of the document, handwritten instructions read: "English — Bring in black Ph.D. chair," "Build up Sciences and Math (Black)" and "Hire black chemist $48,000 — $50,000."

"It names a salary far in excess of white faculty's salary," Russ said.

While racial discrimination suits are nothing new to academia, educators say the cases against Livingstone are part of a growing trend of white professors suing historically black institutions.

John Stanfield, Ph.D., a sociologist at Morehouse College in Atlanta, said recent federal court rulings against hiring quotas have encouraged more whites to play the race card in employment disputes — a tactic once reserved for minorities. According to Stanfield, who is black, academics of all races claim discrimination more than they should.

"It's one of the most unfortunate tragedies of the post-1960s era," Stanfield said. "We've learned to use race as a political football."

While most discrimination cases filed by white educators challenge affirmative action programs, the Livingstone lawsuits are unique in that the five plaintiffs claim that they are victims of discrimination — period.

But the professors say it has been hard for them to convince other academics to take discrimination against whites seriously.

"Many people are afraid to take a stand because it's not politically correct," Steinberg said.

Bob MacKinnon, Ph.D., who taught psychology at Livingstone until May 2001, said discrimination against white educators is more prevalent than many academics care to admit.

"For every lawsuit that's filed, there's probably 20 that could have been filed," MacKinnon said. "You file these lawsuits at a great price. And the cost for me is that I'm no longer teaching."

[shani]

Originally posted by mccoyred
Why does it take 'desegregation' to force the state to upgrade the facilities and spend more money? If the inadequate facilities were good enough for 'us', why do it not be good enuff fo' DEM!

EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING!!!

[Indigo1913]

Originally posted by CrimsonTide4
SALISBURY, N.C. — Five white professors in Salisbury, N.C., have filed a lawsuit against Livingstone College, claiming the private college discriminated against them because of the color of their skin.
Although Livingstone's student body is 98 percent black, Brown said the college prides itself on a racially diverse faculty that is currently "43 percent non-African-American."
While racial discrimination suits are nothing new to academia, educators say the cases against Livingstone are part of a growing trend of white professors suing historically black institutions.
race card in employment disputes — a tactic once reserved for minorities. According to Stanfield, who is black, academics of all races claim discrimination more than they should.

"It's one of the most unfortunate tragedies of the post-1960s era," Stanfield said. "We've learned to use race as a political football."

While most discrimination cases filed by white educators challenge affirmative action programs, the Livingstone lawsuits are unique in that the five plaintiffs claim that they are victims of discrimination — period.

But the professors say it has been hard for them to convince other academics to take discrimination against whites seriously.

"Many people are afraid to take a stand because it's not politically correct," Steinberg said.

Bob MacKinnon, Ph.D., who taught psychology at Livingstone until May 2001, said discrimination against white educators is more prevalent than many academics care to admit.

"For every lawsuit that's filed, there's probably 20 that could have been filed," MacKinnon said. "You file these lawsuits at a great price. And the cost for me is that I'm no longer teaching."

Wow!!! I can't believe this is happenin' at the Stone. I attened Livingstone and we has two white faculty members at the time. This is a small college supported by the AMEZion church. Yeah times are truely changing. Once upon a time we use to sue to get or keep a job, now the table is turned. You know if they had just let us stay where we were instead of importing our folkes......We are still haunted by the ghost of 1619. This is too sad.

[CrimsonTide4]

Dr. Johnetta B. Cole and Bennett College
Dr. Johnetta Cole comes out of retirement to lead Bennett College
04/27/2002 04:40 PM EDT

BlackAmericaWeb.com News Services

Dr. Johnetta B. Cole, president emerita of of Spelman College, was chosen
today as the 14th president of Bennett College.

The school's board of trustees voted this morning to officially offer the
position to Cole, who will lead the 500-student, four-year liberal arts
college based in Greensboro, North Carolina, which is affiliated with the
United Methodist Church.

"The Board agreed that Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole is an ideal choice to help
Bennett face our current challenges and fulfill our potential as a leading
women's college," said Marian B. Tasco, board chair and a Philadelphia city
councilwoman.

Maya Angelou, a Bennet trustee, praised the selection of Cole. "Bennett
College, North Carolina, and thousands of young Black women have been waiting
for the appearance of Dr. Johnnetta Cole. I join with the voices of the
board, those ancestors who founded the school, all the alumnae, all the
present day students and those yet to come, and indeed everyone of every race
and place who cherish excellence. Welcome, Dr. Johnnetta Cole."

Full story: BlackAmericaWeb.com homepage or
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/inde...D=42063&CATID=4

[BLUTANG]

By ANGELA D. FOREST : The Herald-Sun
aforest@heraldsun.com Apr 29, 2002 :
http://www.herald-sun.com/sports/nccentral

DURHAM -- A decision by "Good Morning America" to highlight North Carolina collegiate life through the eyes of UNC, Duke University and N.C. State University students Monday drew criticism from N.C. Central University and others who said the show ignored blacks’ contributions to the region and state.

University officials and community leaders addressed a crowd of at least 200 students, faculty, staff and residents during an afternoon campus rally. They expressed frustration that NCCU, along with the state’s 10 other historically black schools, was left out of the ABC TV show’s coverage.

"This should not be interpreted by anyone to mean there are not significant activities going on on this campus," said Chancellor James H. Ammons.

He mentioned that the show’s co-host, Diane Sawyer, had asked a Duke student where the Black students on campus were.

"We are asking this question, ‘Why did the [university] segment exclude the only African-American university in the Triangle?’" Ammons said. "We are encouraging ‘Good Morning America’ during its tours to project and include historically Black colleges and universities in its coverage. Ninety percent of the African-American leaders in this country are graduates [of these schools]."

The show began its nationwide tour of all 50 states in North Carolina, stopping first at Duke University, where co-hosts Sawyer and Charles Gibson spent Saturday night hanging out and sleeping in students’ dorm rooms. The two then broadcast live from the UNC campus Monday.

Ammons and history professor Percy Murray said GMA producers included virtually nothing on how North Carolina’s Black or Native American residents have influenced the state.

"It’s an absolutely ridiculous situation … to come to Durham and leave out NCCU," said Lavonia Allison, chairwoman of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People. [‘Good Morning America’ has] a total disregard for the history of this area."

Kian Brown, NCCU Student Government Association vice president elect, said he went to UNC to speak to GMA producers, who told him there was no way to add NCCU to the show. He then spoke with Gibson.

"He expressed to me that there is just more than my school in the Research Triangle," Brown said. "They were very nonchalant about it."

Lisa Finkel, an ABC News spokeswoman traveling with the show, said the restrictions of broadcasting a two-hour live news program kept producers from showcasing all of the important or interesting aspects of the state. On Sunday, ABC station affiliate WTVD heard from people upset that NCCU was not a scheduled stop on the show’s tour, however those complaints were never forwarded to national officials, Finkel said. : http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd

"There were many locations that were discussed within the context of a two-hour live news program," she said. "Unfortunately in giving people a snapshot you’re unable to focus on everything you would have liked."

ABC News will likely return to North Carolina to broadcast parts of the state that couldn’t be included the first time around, Finkel said. : http://abc.abcnews.go.com/

"We tried as best as possible to give a broad cross-section overview of life in North Carolina … There are a number of issues that we want to revisit and life at N.C. Central is at the top of the list," she said. "By no means did we mean to offend anybody."

Richard Smith, president of the Durham-area NCCU alumni chapter, said alumni have been e-mailing both the local ABC affiliate and "Good Morning America" since Wednesday to express their outrage with the coverage.
http://durham_eagles.tripod.com

NCCU student government members also plan to contact historically black colleges and universities in Texas -- GMA’s next stop -- so they can make sure their schools and communities are adequately represented on the air, Ammons said.

"We hope that they will remember that there are several components of American society," he said. "I would hope that they would not make the same mistake in Texas and the other states as they have made here."

[12dn94dst]

NOTE: I first heard of this story on this evening's news. The students shown in the piece attend Bethune Elementary, which is around the corner from the Convention Site. The Principal of Bethune Elementary is a Soror.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Georgia Public Policy Foundation

6100 Lake Forrest Drive, Ste. 110 Atlanta, Georgia 30328-3835

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:

May 6, 2002

Paula Havard (404) 256-4050

phavard@gppf.org

Foundation Releases "No Excuses Schools" List

ATLANTA (May 6, 2002) —The Georgia Public Policy Foundation (www.gppf.org) today released a list of Georgia’s No Excuses Schools – schools that have posted academic achievements despite having poverty rates above the state average.

"These schools prove that if you have strong leadership, involved parents and a focus on the basics, students will excel," said Foundation President Rogers Wade. "We applaud these schools for beating the odds and proving that the most important components of a solid education are a strong curriculum, high expectations and dedicated parents and teachers."

The No Excuses Schools (see attached list) consist of every school in Georgia with a poverty rate above the state average and a poverty index of two or more. The poverty rate, a poverty level indicator, is the percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunches. The poverty index, an indicator developed by the Foundation, measures how well a school is performing relative to its poverty rate. A score above zero indicates better than expected performance, and below zero indicates lower than expected performance. Zero indicates the school is performing as expected.

Despite having above average poverty rates, every one of the No Excuses Schools posted academic achievements. These schools beat the odds by providing strong leadership, setting high expectations for students and focusing on continuous student improvement.

The Foundation compiled the list of No Excuses Schools using statistics in its interactive 2002 Report Card for Parents, which was released last month. The report card, available free of charge at www.gppf.org, features an interactive database containing an enormous amount of statistical data about Georgia’s public schools. Parents can query and research the report card to help them make informed assessments about the quality of public education in Georgia. To date, the report card has had more than two million hits.

The Foundation, a think tank formed in 1991, is a nonpartisan, member-supported research and education foundation that promotes free markets, limited government and individual responsibility. It is the only private, independent research organization in Georgia that focuses on state policy issues.

####

Georgia Public Policy Foundation

2002 No Excuses Schools



Bethune Elementary School (Atlanta City)

Beecher Hills Elementary School (Atlanta City)

Burke Elementary School (Bibb County)

Capitol View Elementary School (Atlanta City)

Cascade Elementary School (Atlanta City)

Dobbs Elementary School (Atlanta City)

F. L. Stanton Elementary School (Atlanta City)

Fifth Avenue Elementary School (Decatur City)

Glen Haven Elementary School (DeKalb County)

Johnson Elementary School (Muscogee County)

Johnson Magnet School (Richmond County)

M. A. Jones Elementary School (Atlanta City)

Nancy Creek Elementary School (DeKalb County)

Peyton Forest Elementary School (Atlanta City)

Terrace Manor Elementary School (Richmond County)

West Manor Elementary School (Atlanta City)

Clay County Elementary School (Clay County)

Glenn Hills Middle School (Richmond County)

Inman Middle School (Atlanta City)

Manchester Middle School (Meriwether County)

Calhoun County Middle/High School (Calhoun County)

Echols County High/Elementary School (Echols County)

Emanuel County Institute (Emanuel County)

Pelham High School (Pelham City)

[highiq]

It has been an outrage of mine about the Stipulation of Settlement on the campus of Tennessee State University. It has been mandated that we must have a 50/50 ration of minorities/majorities on campus. This was passed down from the Tennessee Board of Regents and the Tennessee courts. Another plug is that the white students only need a 2.5gpa and a VERY LOW ACT score to receive a FULL SCHOLARSHIP from TSU. That's plain ridiculous My gpa is almost a 4.0 and I'm taking out loans. We have a new discrimination on the horizon, a new form of racism. And it will not totally take form until it hits us in the face.

[Honeykiss1974]

Originally posted by highiq
It has been an outrage of mine about the Stipulation of Settlement on the campus of Tennessee State University. It has been mandated that we must have a 50/50 ration of minorities/majorities on campus. This was passed down from the Tennessee Board of Regents and the Tennessee courts. Another plug is that the white students only need a 2.5gpa and a VERY LOW ACT score to receive a FULL SCHOLARSHIP from TSU. That's plain ridiculous My gpa is almost a 4.0 and I'm taking out loans. We have a new discrimination on the horizon, a new form of racism. And it will not totally take form until it hits us in the face.

Hmmm. I wonder will Memphis State or the Univ of TN have to have the same ratio at their collegess.......NOT!!!!

And then to top if off, those larger predomintaely white institutions did have a scholarship or two for a minority student (mind you , I did not say black) in order to fullfill their affirmative action quota, the requirements were the same as any other academic scholarship, except it was specifically allocated to a minority student. Why does TSU have to lower their standards? Why can't TSU just offer the affirmative action scholarship or two like the other PW universities?

[highiq]

I wish TSU would just hand out a couple of those MINORITY (ironic, huh?) scholarships,but it's not that easy Honeykiss1974. Since we're a state-supported school, we must do what the state says. They give us money to build and remodel different buildings. If we don't give them scholarships then the money will stop coming in and...well TSU will become the UT-Nashville. It's the students job now to go to these highschools and encourage these black students to come to TSU. We don't get too much help from alumni. We try to get the NAACP and other organizations involved, but it all turns on a deaf ear. I just don't want it to be too late if and when we all come together and oppose. Just look at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, MO.