Higher education officials told the state’s Fiscal Review Committee last year that the directives were being met.
To meet those directives, the state had to complete measurement studies of Black students, establish minority and nontraditional scholarship programs and establish pre-doctoral fellowship programs at various institutions.
Of the universities overseen by the Tennessee Board of Regents, Black enrollment rose from 17.8 percent in 1984 to 23.5 percent in 2005. In the University of Tennessee system, enrollment increased from 7.9 percent to 11.6 percent.
Wendy Thompson, special assistant to the chancellor of the board, says the pre-university program has been successful in boosting enrollment because it allows prospective Black students to spend a week or two on a predominantly White campus.
Attorney George E. Barrett, who filed the original lawsuit, says he’s satisfied with the accomplishments of the decree. “The main objective was to get rid of the vestiges of segregation,” he says, “and I believe the state has done that.”
— Diverse staff and wire reports
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