b8sball17
Member
Wednesday, November 14, 2001
http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/11/2001111401n.htm
Virginia Reaches Agreement With Federal Government on College-Desegregation Plan
By SARA HEBEL
Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III and other state officials announced on Tuesday that they have signed an agreement with the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights that commits the state to enhancing its two public historically black universities over the next three years and that puts Virginia on a path to being declared officially desegregated.
Under the plan, Virginia would provide more than $10-million by September 30, 2004, to create a total of 12 academic programs and improve facilities at Norfolk State and Virginia State Universities. Once that is done, the federal government would declare the state desegregated and no longer monitor its integration efforts.
"Virginia has moved beyond the old days of 'separate and unequal' to a day of unlimited opportunity for the daughters and sons of all citizens," declared Wilbert Bryant, Virginia's secretary of education. "All of us should take great pride in this progress."
Virginia is one of 11 states that still have not been officially declared desegregated. A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision, United States v. Kirk Fordice, directs states to eliminate vestiges of segregation from their public higher-education systems. Federal civil-rights officials have spent the last three years reviewing Virginia's progress on that front.
According to the 15-page agreement -- which all state and federal parties had signed by Friday -- U.S. officials found during their review that the policies and missions of Virginia's traditionally white public institutions had been rid of traces of the state's previously segregated higher-education system.
However, the civil-rights officials' findings did raise concerns that Norfolk State and Virginia State "may be subject to policies and/or practices that can be traced to the former segregated system, continue to have discriminatory effects, and could have an impact on the system as a whole," the agreement states.
The agreement specifies that Virginia officials did not share those concerns. However, state officials said they believed that "sound educational policy" called for Norfolk State and Virginia State to receive the $10-million for new programs and improving facilities, the agreement says, and providing that would resolve the federal officials' concerns about the traces of segregation.
Under the agreement, Norfolk State will receive new bachelor's-degree programs in electronics engineering and optical engineering, and new master's-degree programs in electronics engineering, optical engineering, computer science, and criminal justice. At Virginia State, the state has pledged to create bachelor's-degree programs in computer engineering, computer science, manufacturing engineering, mass communications, and criminal justice, and a doctoral program in educational administration. The state also will work to get Virginia State's business school accredited.
Among the capital projects the agreement will finance at Norfolk State are the renovation of an academic building, improvements in campus heating and air-conditioning systems, and additional computer networks. Virginia State will get money to add dormitory space, renovate a library, install wiring for Internet access across the campus, and make other improvements.
The agreement was signed by Governor Gilmore, Mr. Bryant, Virginia Attorney General Randolph A. Beales, U.S. Secretary of Education Roderick R. Paige, and other Virginia and federal officials.
http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/11/2001111401n.htm
Virginia Reaches Agreement With Federal Government on College-Desegregation Plan
By SARA HEBEL
Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III and other state officials announced on Tuesday that they have signed an agreement with the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights that commits the state to enhancing its two public historically black universities over the next three years and that puts Virginia on a path to being declared officially desegregated.
Under the plan, Virginia would provide more than $10-million by September 30, 2004, to create a total of 12 academic programs and improve facilities at Norfolk State and Virginia State Universities. Once that is done, the federal government would declare the state desegregated and no longer monitor its integration efforts.
"Virginia has moved beyond the old days of 'separate and unequal' to a day of unlimited opportunity for the daughters and sons of all citizens," declared Wilbert Bryant, Virginia's secretary of education. "All of us should take great pride in this progress."
Virginia is one of 11 states that still have not been officially declared desegregated. A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision, United States v. Kirk Fordice, directs states to eliminate vestiges of segregation from their public higher-education systems. Federal civil-rights officials have spent the last three years reviewing Virginia's progress on that front.
According to the 15-page agreement -- which all state and federal parties had signed by Friday -- U.S. officials found during their review that the policies and missions of Virginia's traditionally white public institutions had been rid of traces of the state's previously segregated higher-education system.
However, the civil-rights officials' findings did raise concerns that Norfolk State and Virginia State "may be subject to policies and/or practices that can be traced to the former segregated system, continue to have discriminatory effects, and could have an impact on the system as a whole," the agreement states.
The agreement specifies that Virginia officials did not share those concerns. However, state officials said they believed that "sound educational policy" called for Norfolk State and Virginia State to receive the $10-million for new programs and improving facilities, the agreement says, and providing that would resolve the federal officials' concerns about the traces of segregation.
Under the agreement, Norfolk State will receive new bachelor's-degree programs in electronics engineering and optical engineering, and new master's-degree programs in electronics engineering, optical engineering, computer science, and criminal justice. At Virginia State, the state has pledged to create bachelor's-degree programs in computer engineering, computer science, manufacturing engineering, mass communications, and criminal justice, and a doctoral program in educational administration. The state also will work to get Virginia State's business school accredited.
Among the capital projects the agreement will finance at Norfolk State are the renovation of an academic building, improvements in campus heating and air-conditioning systems, and additional computer networks. Virginia State will get money to add dormitory space, renovate a library, install wiring for Internet access across the campus, and make other improvements.
The agreement was signed by Governor Gilmore, Mr. Bryant, Virginia Attorney General Randolph A. Beales, U.S. Secretary of Education Roderick R. Paige, and other Virginia and federal officials.