Millions wasted to draw YT to negro university

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Lawmaker: 'Millions' later, TSU less diverse

A Knoxville lawmaker says the state hasn't been getting much for its investment in diversifying Tennessee State University's student body, but defenders of the state's efforts say Republican Rep. Bill Dunn is mistaken.

Dunn has called on the legislative Fiscal Review Committee to investigate the impact of a court-ordered agreement designed to attract more white students to historically black TSU. The pact also aims to draw more black students to the state's predominately white campuses.

The agreement stems from a 1968 lawsuit filed by Rita Geier, a former TSU instructor who wanted to prevent the state from continuing a race-based, two-tiered system of higher education. Other partie
s later joined the suit, eventually leading to an agreement in 1984. Th
at deal gradually proved ineffective, leading the parties to pursue a new settlement, which a federal judge approved in 2001.

The 2001 agreement, often known as the Geier consent decree, provides state money to upgrade TSU's downtown campus, create new degrees, market the university and give scholarships to nontraditional students. When it was approved, it called for the state to spend $70 million to $75 million over 10 years, mostly on revving up TSU's offerings and image.

The 1984 settlement of the lawsuit featured racial quotas, like a 50% white population at TSU. The existing deal dropped those specific requirements but encourages continued efforts to diversify the school.

Dunn said it was important to look at TSU's attempts to attract white students over the past 20 years. He said the white, or minority, population at TSU has declined as a per
centage of the student body, dropping from about 34% in 1984 to 25% last year.

In the same period
, he said, the minority black populations at Middle Tennessee State University and the University of Tennessee's Chattanooga and Knoxville campuses have increased. He said the black population rose from 4.63% to 6.94% at UT-Knoxville, the state's flagship campus.

Dunn said it looks as if the state has gotten a bad deal regarding TSU.

''Where did the money go, and why isn't it working?'' Dunn said in a telephone interview. ''Why have we spent hundreds of millions of dollars (since 1984) to go in the wrong direction? "â┚¬Ã…¡ÃƒÆ’”�Å¡¦ All these other schools, at least they can show something for the money they've spent.''

Supporters of the 2001 agreement, which is set to expire in 2006, said that's the deal they should be judged by. They believe the steps it requires wil
l have an impact before everything is said and done.

A $650,000 TSU advertising campaign put together by Nashville's McNeely Pigott & Fox, the Southeast's biggest public r
elations firm, recently got under way. Also, $18 million has been set aside to improve TSU's downtown campus, which has $750,000 more a year for scholarships for working adults.

According to data compiled by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, TSU's enrollment of students 25 and older is up 8.3% this year, though it's down almost 30% over the past 10 years.

''We've got some innovative programs that worked in other parts of the country,'' said George Barrett, the Nashville civil rights attorney who filed the original lawsuit 36 years ago. ''With a little variation, I think they should work here. And we're looking for a new president to reinvigorate TSU.''

James Hefner is retiring as TSU's president in May after 14 years. Barre
tt has been critical of Hefner's leadership over the years.

Dunn said he wants to see exactly where the Geier money is going, fearing much of it is lining the pockets of consultants. Barrett said he welcomes any legislator's inquiries but exp
ects the Fiscal Review investigation to find the finances are in order.

''We've been very careful with what we've done here,'' he said.

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Dunn said it looks as if the state has gotten a bad deal regarding TSU.

Whenever niggers are involved in anything, you can expect a bad deal as sure as the sun rises in the east.

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

TSU candidate ignored blacks' concerns at his school, report says

A semifinalist for Tennessee State University's top job has been criticized on the campus where he works for ignoring the concerns of African-American programs and faculty members.

Handy Williamson, a University of Missouri-Columbia administrator in charge of minority affairs, was singled out in a report commissioned by the university last April as being ''indifferent and sometimes hostile to African-American concerns.''

Williamson is among the semifinalists for the presidency of Tennessee&#39
;s only predominantly African-American public university. Williamson is African-American, as are all the semifin
alists.

Williamson said yesterday that he was not concerned about whether the criticism could derail his candidacy because it represented the view of a ''few unhappy people who had different views'' from his about the ''extent of diversity and inclusiveness.''

He said he had championed a more global approach to diversity to include Asian, Hispanic, gay and lesbian students and others.

Some Missouri administrators called the report commissioned by the university inaccurate. A team of three researchers from other schools spent just two days on campus and did not interview all those involved in diversity efforts before publishing their conclusions, according to minutes of a dean's meeting in May.

Williamson's record will be examined Monday when a group charged with finding a new TSU president
meets to whittle a field of 11 to six.

The group of education officials and volunteers is searching for a replacement for TSU President James Hefner, who will leave his job in M
ay under a cloud of controversy after two critical audits about his leadership.

TSU hiring committee member Sonnye Dixon said he had gotten phone calls and e-mails from those critical of Williamson and other candidates over the past two days.

''I look forward Monday to hear --and I know others will, too --from the people who were strong on his name being included in the final group "â┚¬Ã…¡ÃƒÆ’”�Å¡¦ and have that addressed,'' said Dixon, a Nashville pastor who has just finished a two-year term as president of the city's NAACP branch.

Dixon was among 18 of the 19 members of the search committee who cast a vote for Williamson's candidacy to go forward when the group last met early this month. Members could vote yes for as many candidates as they wanted to remain in the process. The vote put Williamson
among the top candidates in the group. He has remained in the job pool through a series of eliminations from an original field of 44.

In September, a new interim university head changed Williamso
n's job description within hours of taking over his new job.

According to a local news report, University of Missouri Chancellor Brady Deaton cited ''negative dialogue'' about Williamson when he removed the university's minority affairs department from Williamson's supervision. That left Williamson the job of overseeing international programs. His title is ''vice provost for international programs and faculty development.''

Late last week, the Tennessee Board of Regents sent each search committee member a packet of press articles about all of the semifinalists, including news articles chronicling the report on Williamson, said Mary Gordon, director of communications for the Regents.

Williamson said yesterday that he believes the ''search
committee and people of Nashville have a wealth of common sense and they know how to look at complex issues.''

**************

Williamson is among the semifinalists for the presidency of Tennessee's only predominantly African-A
merican public university. Williamson is African-American, as are all the semifinalists.

Imagine that, no white people made the cut to be president of this state-run university! So much for all this talk about making TSU diverse.

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Black colleges pursue white students, funds

Viewers of the latest television commercials for Mississippi Valley State University would be hard-pressed to recognize that the tiny campus tucked in the expansive Delta farm country is a historically black school.

The marketing approach that depicts white students on campus has raised eyebrows among some in the predominantly black region. But for Valley --and Mississippi's other two publicly funded historically black universities finding ways to attract nonblack students is vital to securing millions of dollars in funding for scholarships, programs and other enhancements.

Unlike college desegregation lawsuits in neighboring Louisiana and Alabama, a court-approved
settlement of Mississippi's long-running case im
posed the non-black enrollment goals.

"Some viewers have said, 'You all make Valley look like it's all white,' " Roy Hudson, Valley's vice president of university relations, said of the ads. "It has not been a historical trend for white students to go to previously all-black schools. You've got to reverse patterns that have been ingrained for years."

Alcorn State University, in southwest Mississippi, has met the requirement of maintaining 10 percent nonblack enrollment for three consecutive years. Jackson State University and Valley have not.

As part of a $504 million settlement that's to be paid over 17 years, the black universities are entitled to a $70 million endowment if they increase other-race enrollment.

To get the numbers, the universities
recruit foreign students and athletes, offer diversity scholarships and hire staff with the sole responsibility of attracting non-black students.[/co
lor]

Interim Higher Education Commissioner Richard Croft says what makes the nonblack enrollment goal different than a quota system is that "this is about building and academic program development."

Alvin Chambliss, the attorney who represented a group of plaintiffs opposed to the state settlement, calls the requirement "a sham."

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To get the numbers, the universities recruit foreign students and athletes, offer diversity scholarships and hire staff with the sole responsibility of attracting non-black students.

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r>
It's a sham alright! They only want YT fo' da money he bring. I sho' nuff hope YT don't fall fo' dis heah scam.

T.N.B.