Black Colleges Slam Miss. Governor’s Plan To Merge HBCUs
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is being both applauded and scorned over his plan to downscale and merge five publicly-funded universities to addess a $700 million budget shortfall. But the proposal is being especially shunned by those who believe it unfairly puts Mississippi’s minority students at a disadvantage. Three of the five schools included in Barbour’s plan are historically black colleges — Alcorn State, Mississippi Valley State and Jackson State universities. George E. Ross, the outgoing president of Alcorn State, and Jackson State University president Ronald Mason, Jr., share their strong opposition to the merger and why their campus communities are fighting hard to block the governor’s proposal.