Alabama Governor Drops Appeal in College-Desegregation Lawsuit

Alabama has ended its fight against a college-desegregation lawsuit after spending 15 years and $25-million on it.

Gov. Fob James, Jr., last month withdrew his appeal of a federal judge’s ruling that required Alabama to enhance its two historically black public universities with new academic programs and bigger endowments.

The Governor, who called the ruling “out of sync with reality,” questioned whether Alabama A&M and Alabama State Universities were worth the extra money. But after critics blasted him for prolonging the suit, the Governor dropped the appeal.

Lawyers for Alabama A&M, for Auburn University, and for several plaintiffs in the case withdrew their appeals, also. They had followed the Governor’s lead last year in challenging the ruling, and did the same in dropping the appeals.

The agreement by all parties to adopt the court’s decision means that Alabama A&M and Alabama State will go forward in developing the new programs and the guidelines for awarding new “whites-only” scholarships to students on the campuses. Alabama A&M is also in the midst of integrating its land-grant research and extension programs with the state’s larger land- grant university, Auburn.

The Alabama desegregation ruling handed down August 1, 1995, by the United States District Court in the Northern District of Alabama.