The Maryland legislature has approved a settlement of a long-running lawsuit filed by the state’s historically Black universities. The suit worked its way through the courts and a judge ruled in 2013 that Maryland had maintained “a dual and segregated education system.” An appeals court upheld the decision and parties have been deadlocked on the settlement amount ever since.
The current legislation calls for payment of $577 million over a 10-year period beginning in 2023. Similar legislation was passed last year but was vetoed by Governor Larry Hogan. The veto came after the legislature had finished its session and there was no vote to override the veto. This year the House passed the measure by a vote of 120-14 after the Senate passed the bill unanimously.
The funds would be available to the state’s historically Black universities for:
* Scholarships
* Financial aid support services
* Faculty recruitment and development
* Academic enrichment
* Academic program development
The HBCUs that will benefit from the settlement are Morgan State University, Coppin State University, Bowie State University, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.]
Update: Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed the legislation on March 24.
Now that we have money in our pockets, let’s hope we can upgrade the HBCUs in Maryland so they approach parity with the state’s major public universities. No more excuses.
Sheer peanuts. Lets examine the numbers for a moment. MD HBCUs will receive an mere pittance of $14,425,000 increase per year for 10 tens. The UMD-College Park receive this type of increase every year from the State of Maryland. The Maryland Legislative Black Caucus should be ashamed for negotiating and accepting this insulting deal. The settlement should have been the original $2Billion plus. A sad day for MD HBCUs on numerous levels, yet, the MD HBCUs presidents will be “singing and dancing” in the streets.
You can say the glass is half empty, or you can say it is half full. A bad attitude usually does more harm than good.
I would expect someone with your miniscule education to make such a dimwitted comment.
I hope you let your objections be known as part of the negotiating team that worked on this for 15 years. Oh wait, you did not have the accomplishments to be at that level. Surprising, since anyone who disagrees with you is either uneducated or dimwitted. You must be moving and shaking at the highest levels, am I right?