Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T17:13:05.191Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Race, Reform, and Desegregation in Mississippi Higher Education: Historically Black Institutions after United States v. Fordice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Paul E. Sum ,
Steven Andrew Light  and
Ronald F. King
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In United States v. Fordice (1992), the Supreme Court recognized the effects of past racial discrimination against historically black institutions (HBIs) in Mississippi. One goal of the 500 million settlement is for HBIs to enroll “other-race” students. Although the impetus to attract white students falls on HBIs, the response of Mississippi's white community is pivotal. In a series of focus groups with white students, we inquired into the factors that might motivate them to attend an HBI. The data demonstrate that most white students strongly resist the notion of attending a predominately black institution. They articulate such reasons as perceived poor academic quality, social discomfort, anticipated discrimination, and parental disapproval. Further, they cannot imagine how HBIs might recruit white students and generally doubt that improved programs and facilities would achieve this goal. The current framework surrounding Fordice does not consider sufficiently the importance of these racial attitudes. We thus conclude with a discussion of the likely difficulties in implementing the Court's decision.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , Spring 2004 , pp. 403 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2004 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Adams, Frank Jr. 1995. Why Brown v. Board of Education and Affirmative Action Can Save Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Alabama Law Review 47:481–511.Google Scholar
Allen, Walter R. 1992. The Color of Success: African-American College Student Outcomes at Predominately White and Historically Black Public Colleges and Universities. Harvard Educational Review, Spring, 26–44.Google Scholar
American Association of University Professors (AAUP). 1995. The Historically Black Colleges and Universities: A Future in the Balance, http://eric-web.tc.Columbia.edu/hbcu/report.html.Google Scholar
Byron, Michael. 1998. Satisficing and Optimality. Ethics 109 (Oct.):67–98.Google Scholar
Brown, Kevin. 1992. Has the Supreme Court Allowed the Cure for De Jure Segregation to Replicate the Disease Cornell Law Review 78:1–83.Google Scholar
Brown-Scott, Wendy. 1994. Race Consciousness In Higher Education: Does “Sound Educational Policy” Support The Continued Existence Of Historically Black Colleges Emmy Law Journal 43:1–81.Google Scholar
Conover, Pamela Johnston, Crewe, Ivor M., and Searing, Donald D. 1991. The Nature Of Citizenship In The United States and Great Britain: Empirical Comments On Theoretical Themes. Journal Of Politics 53:800–32.Google Scholar
Conover, Pamela Johnston, and Feldman, Stanley. 1984. How People Organize The Political World: A Schematic Model. American Journal Of Political Science 28: 95–126.Google Scholar
Delauder, William B., Ed. 1990. Leadership and Learning: An Interpretive History Of Historically Black Land-Grant Colleges and Universities. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department Of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Fienberg, Lorne. 1993. United States v. Fordice and the Desegregation of Public Higher Education: Groping for Root and Branch. Boston College Law Review 34:803–51.Google Scholar
Firestone, David. 2001. Mississippi Near Settlement in Rights Case. New York Times, 24 April.Google Scholar
Franklin, John Hope. 1993. The Color Line: Legacy for the Twenty-First Century. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.Google Scholar
Friedman, S. David. 1994. College Desegregation: Toward Abandoning the Integrative Ideal to Save Publicly Funded Black Institutions of Higher Education. New York Law School Journal of Human Rights 11:339–81.Google Scholar
Harvey, William B., and Williams, Lea E. 1989. Historically Black Colleges: Models for Increasing Minority Representation. Education and Urban Society 21 (May):233–44.Google Scholar
Hebel, Sara. 2001. A Settlement and More Division in Mississippi. Chronicle of Higher Education, 4 May, A23–A27.Google Scholar
Holley, Dannye, and Weeden, L. Darnell. 1997. United States V. Fordice: The Mississippi Aftermath. New England Law Review 31:769–829.Google Scholar
Junod, J. 1987. Are Black Colleges Necessary Atlanta Magazine 27:78–119.Google Scholar
Kindred, Kay. 1995. Civil Rights and Higher Education. In A Year in the Life of the Supreme Court, ed. Smolla, Rodney A. and Devins, Neal, pp. 208–30. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Krueger, Richard A. 1994. Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.Google Scholar
Luti, Anthony Ngula. 1999. When a Door Closes, a Window Opens: Do Today's Private Historically Black Colleges and Universities Run Afoul of Conventional Equal Protection Analysis Howard Law Journal 42:469–504.Google Scholar
O'Brien, Molly. 1999. Discriminatory Effects: Desegregation Litigation in Higher Education in Georgia. William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal 8:1–51.Google Scholar
Roebuck, Julian B., and Murty, Komanduri S. 1993. Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Their Place in American Higher Education. New York: Praeger Press.Google Scholar
Simon, Herbert A. 1979. Models of Thought. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Sniderman, Paul M., and Piazza, Thomas. 1993. The Scar of Race. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Stewart, David W., and Shamdasani, Prem N. 1990. Focus Groups: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Barbara P. 1999. The Gift of Hopwood: Diversity and the Fife and Drum March Back to the Nineteenth Century. Georgia Law Review 34:291–348.Google Scholar
Tollett, Kenneth S. Sr. 1993. The Fate of Minority-Based Institutions after Fordice: An Essay. Review of Litigation 13:447–93.Google Scholar
Washburn, James A. 1994. Beyond Brown: Evaluating Equality in Higher Education. Duke Law Journal 43:1115–63.Google Scholar

Cases

Ayers v. Alkzin, 674 F. Supp. 1523 (N.D. Miss. 1987).Google Scholar
Ayers v. Alkzin, 893 F.2d 732 (5th Cir. 1990).Google Scholar
Ayers v. Alkzin, 914 F.2d 676 (5th Cir. 1990).Google Scholar
Ayers v. Fordice, 879 F. Supp. 1419 (N.D. Miss. 1995).Google Scholar
Ayers v. Fordice, 111 F. 3d 1183 (1997).Google Scholar
Ayers w. Mahus, 499 US. 958 (1991).Google Scholar
Ayers v. Musgrove, No. 4:75CV009-B-D (N.D. Miss. March 29, 2001) (settlement agreement).Google Scholar
Ayers v. Musgrove, No. 4:75CV009-B-D (N.D. Miss. May 8, 2001) (order scheduling hearing).Google Scholar
Ayers v. Musgrove, No. 4:75CV009-B-D (N.D. Miss. Jan. 2, 2002) (order).Google Scholar
Ayers v. Musgrove, No. 4:75CV009-B-D (N.D. Miss. Feb. 2002) (final judgment).Google Scholar
Brown v. Board of Education (I), 347 U.S. 483 (1954).Google Scholar
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896).Google Scholar
United States v. Fordice, 505 US. 717 (1992).Google Scholar
United States v. Mabus, 499 U.S. 958 (1991).Google Scholar

Focus Group

BCC: Group conducted in Brookhaven, Mississippi, with 16 community college students, 30 March 1999.Google Scholar
HBI1: Group conducted in an undisclosed location in Mississippi with 12 students who attend a historically black institution, 10 April 1999.Google Scholar
HBI2: Group conducted in an undisclosed location in Mississippi with 12 students who attend a historically black institution, 29 March 1999.Google Scholar
NHS: Group conducted in Natchez, Mississippi, with 10 high school students, 10 April 1999.Google Scholar
VCC: Group conducted in Vicksburg, Mississippi, with 9 community college students, 31 March 1999.Google Scholar
VHS: Group conducted in Vicksburg, Mississippi, with 15 high school students, 27 March 1999.Google Scholar