Discrimination investigation closed after school pledges to change its ways

The U.S. Department of Education has reached an agreement with Bluefield State College resolving a racial discrimination and harassment complaint filed last year by a former faculty member of this West Virginia school.

Last fall, Dr. Garrett Olmsted, a White sociologist, helped spearhead a community effort to publicly criticize the college's administration, led by President Robert E. Moore, for allegedly eliminating Black faculty. Olmsted lodged a formal complaint with the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), charging that the college discriminated against Black faculty on the basis of race. He also charged that he had been threatened and harassed by White students because of his efforts to protest alleged discrimination at the historically Black institution.

On April 30, OCR wrote to Moore, informing him that the complaint was being closed because the school "has submitted written assurances" to take specific actions to recruit and hire Black faculty. OCR indicated that it had not pursued the racial harassment charges because Olmsted had already filed "an internal grievance with the College."

"OCR may terminate its complaint resolution process if a complaint containing the same issue has been filed with another federal, state, or local agency," read OCR's April 30 letter to moore.

As part of the written assurances to OCR, Bluefield State officials will report to the agency for a period of five years with detailed records of its hiring practices. College officials also are required to submit a more detailed compliance plan to OCR by June 30, 1998.

Jim Nelson, a Bluefield State College spokesman, says the present agreement includes measures which the school had already undertaken prior to its coming under federal scrutiny. In early February, for example, the school hired a director of multicultural affairs to manage its minority recruitment and hiring efforts, according to Nelson.