A spokesman for Mississippi Valley State University said Wednesday that school leaders are still hoping for a resolution to the Ayers desegregation case that can give needed help to Valley.
U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers said Tuesday that he has "serious reservations" about parts of the $503 million settlement package for the 26-year-old lawsuit. Among other objections, he said that the offer would not adequately address segregation in the universities and that parts of it would cost much more than a plan the court had offered in 1995.
A "fairness hearing" is scheduled for Sept. 4 at the U.S. Courthouse in Oxford.
Roy Hudson, MVSU's vice president for institutional advancement, said university representatives are looking at Biggers' statements. He declined to respond to any specific statements.
Hudson said he respected the positions taken by authorities on all sides but hoped the obstacles to a settlement can be removed. MVSU has experienced more hardship from the Ayers case than any of the other schools involved and needs help, he said.
"Valley has really been the one, in our opinion, that has suffered most under this, because of the differences we had before and during trial in terms of threats of closure and that kind of thing," he said.
Biggers said many of the programs that would be added at MVSU under the settlement proposal already are offered at Delta State University about 40 miles away. This would reduce desegregation, not further it, he said.
He also objected to the requirement that MVSU, Alcorn State and Jackson State raise their "other-race" student population to 10 percent. Because foreign students, including those from Africa, fall into the "other-race" category, he said this wouldn't accomplish the goal of the case - having more blacks at traditionally white schools and more whites at traditionally black schools.
Mississippi residents wishing to comment on the proposal have until July 25 to send written statements to this address: Clerk of the Court, United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, U.S. Courthouse, 911 Jackson Ave., Oxford, MS 38655. If they wish to appear at the "fairness hearing" in person, the statements must say so.
The settlement agreement will be displayed on the Internet at www.ihl.state.ms.us and at the main desks of the libraries at each of the eight universities.
Mississippi was sued in 1975 by the late Jake Ayers, the father of a black college student who claimed the state was neglecting historically black schools.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that the state still had segregated universities, and Biggers is overseeing the long-running efforts to desegregate them.
The agreement to end the case was submitted to Biggers on April 23 after it was signed by all sides.
The agreement calls for $246 million spent over 17 years on academic programs at Jackson State, Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State.
Another $75 million would go to capital improvement projects, $70 million to public endowments and up to $35 million in private endowments.
Other programs, including summer classes for struggling students, would receive the balance.
