White House Official Says Civil-Rights Office Will Enforce Fair State Spending for Black Colleges

John S. Wilson Jr., executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, said on Tuesday that the Education Department was looking into which states continue to shortchange public black colleges and how the federal government can make sure appropriations are more equitable among public institutions.

Mr. Wilson said the department’s Office for Civil Rights was evaluating data on state appropriations to compare amounts given to historically black colleges with those given to traditionally white institutions. The office, he said, is developing strategies to improve any disparities and will announce more details about its plans for action at a September conference held by the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

The evaluation of data on state spending is necessary, Mr. Wilson said, after eight years of the George W. Bush administration, during which presidents of the nation’s black colleges felt that little attention was paid to enforcing equality for minority-serving institutions.

In an audio interview, Mr. Wilson also discusses what historically black colleges themselves need to do to improve. He says the institutions must shift their fund-raising pitches from focusing on the colleges’ needs to highlighting their successes.