Thursday, December 14, 2006

Moving Forward to Equality?

Federal Judge Harold Murphy of the U.S. District Court in Rome, Ga., has ended oversight of Alabama’s college-desegregation lawsuit. For 25 years, this case has pitted Alabama A&M and Montgomery’s Alabama State University (ASU), both historically black schools, against other public universities such as Auburn University Montgomery (AUM). In Montgomery, we have three public institutions of higher education: ASU, AUM and a branch campus for Troy University. ASU remains largely African-American, but AUM has a sizable African-American enrollment of around 32%. ASU is 91% African-American. The state will continue programs to try to remove traces of segregation.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

(Don here, Sheila, seeing if I can post a comment using Anonymous)

I started to ask if you had forgotten Faulkner University, then realized that it isn't a public institution.

Sheila said...

Thanks, Don. I don't know why you couldn't post under your own name but as I like to say, "There's more than one way to skin a cat." Okay, everyone already knows I'm queen of the cliches and I don't really mean that PETA.

I started to throw in the privates in town, Faulkner, Huntingdon, South University and I believe, Regions University (which used to be Southern Christian). I don't know if I left anyone out. I think that's it.

At any rate, AUM has been more successful in increasing its minority enrollment than ASU has. But maybe since ASU is a historically black college, they do not see that as a priority. I remember that there was some program to encourage white students to come and don't know if that has now been discontinued.

Anonymous said...

Regions University?

Regions is a bank!

Sheila said...

Jay, Regions is a bank and that's why I was puzzled that Southern Christian University changed its name. I always think that the bank is behind the university. Ha.

Anonymous said...

It's like Western Maryland College in Westminster, MD. It is the only college in the USA named for a railroad.

(Western Maryland Railway donated the land for the college many years ago. Westminster is not in the western part of Maryland at all.)

A deep-pockets donor gave a sizeable contribution and Behold! It is McDaniel College now.