Black Ink January 14, 1991
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"A Mind Is A Terrible
Thing To Waste
On Minority Scholarships
//
By Debbie Baker
Assistant Editor
A college education opens up
the door to a wide range of eco
nomic and social opportunities. In
a highly technical and computer
ized society, a college degree is
becoming increasingly important.
Students who want to attend col
lege are bombarded by a wide
variety of problems. Economics
seems to be the main concern for
most students who seek a post
secondary education. And of
course economics as a factor will
affect students from low-income
families. A disproportionate num
ber of African-American students
come from economically-disad
vantaged backgrounds, which may
inhibit them from seeking higher
education. The federal government
has created several financial aid
programs to provide all students
with an equal opportunity to at
tend college. However, in Decem
ber of 1990, the U.S. Department
ofEducation declared that racially-
based scholarships violated the
CivU Rights Act of 1964. The
education department’s ruling
aroused controversy because it
could have a detrimental effect on
the number of African-American
students who want to attend col
lege.
In order to understand the rul
ing’s potential effects on black
college students, it is important to
examine recent statistics on Afri
can-Americans concerning eco
nomics and higher education. The
Joint Center for Political and
Economic Studies conducts re
search designed to provide infor
mation to help blacks make prog
ress. According to its research,
there are two million black fami
lies that live below the poverty
level. Studies also show that 87
percent of black children who live
in single-parent households are
poor. In addition to this, the aver
age black child will spend 15 years
of his life in poverty in the United
States.
Economic and social disadvan
tages have affected black opportu
nities for higher education. The
American Council on Education
reports that only about 30 percent
of black high school graduates
from low-income famlies attend
college. The Council also reports
that black students from working
class and middle class families
also lack the financial resources
necessary to attend college. The
number of black students attend
ing college from middle class
households dropped from 53 per
cent in 1976 to 36 percent in 1988.
It is obvious that many blacks
just do not earn enough money to
support their families and finance
college educations for their chil
dren. Thousands of African-
American students would not be
able to attend college without fi
nancial help from the government,
The declaration by Michael Wil
liams has the potential to destroy
the dreams of many talented black
students from economically-dis
advantaged backgrounds.
The controversy surrounding
the minority scholarship decision
has been a complicated affair. The
controversy has increased the ten
sion that exist between the Bush
administration and the black
community. In December 1990
Michael Williams, assistant sec
retary of education for civil rights
wrote a letter declaring that ra
cially-based scholarships were il
legal. Williams said that colleges
and universities supported by fed
eral funds could not designate
scholarships for minority students.
Under the Williams ruling, private
money given to universities also
could not be used for minority
scholarships because it also could
be classified as public money.
White House Counsel C. Boyden
Gray and lawyers from the U.S.
Departments of Education and
Justice agreed with the Williams
ruling. The President and the White
House staff claimed they knew
nothing about the Williams plan
until it reached the press.
When the Williams ruling
reached the press, black people
got mad. Black journalist Tony
Brown called Michael Williams a
rogue” and an “anti-Black, nig
gardly Negro” and demanded his
resignation. Dr. Benjamin Hooks,
executive director of the NAACP
and Reverend Jesse Jackson, di
rector of the Rainbow Coalition,
both vigorously expressed their
concerns over the decision. Even
Congress appeared to become
upset by this attempt to deny
minority students the chance to a
higher education. The U.S. House
Education and Labor Commission
held a hearing to discuss the pas
sage of a law to protect minority
scholarships.
The ruling even upset a few
people in the Bush administration.
White House Chief of Staff John
Sununu went so far as to order a
reversal of the Williams declara
tion. He also asked lawyers to draw
a legal distinction between private
and public money given to univer
sities for scholarship funds. Some
officials in the Bush administra
tion did not agree with Sununu
because they said a reversal wouk
further embarrass the president.
Several officials said the Depart
ment ofEducation should suspenc
the ruling while a lengthy review
was conducted. Others said the
language of the ruling should be
reworded to avoid more political
and legal problems. In other words
rearrange the words so that no
body understands the ruling be
cause blacks won’t become upset
if they don’t understand.
President Bush has tried to save
his administration from further
embarrassment on the minority
scholarship issue. Bush is not
known as a friend to black peop!
with his dislike of racial quotas
and his veto of the Civil Rights Act
of 1990. He cannot afford to do
anything else to heighten the dis
like that African-Americans feel
for him and his staff. Consequently,
in late December 1990, the Presi
dent invited 12 top black publish
ers and editors to the White House
to discuss the matter. Those in
attendance included black histo
rian Lerone Bennett, executive
editor of Ebonv and Marie Smith
of Black Entertainment
Television(BET). No one knows
why Bush invited 12 people to
discuss an issue that will affect
millions of students. He should
lave called up students and ad
ministrators from all the Histori
cally Black Institutions to get their
opinions. But then again, he knew
setter than to mess with the masses
of black people.
The controversy surrounding
the minority scholarship issue
I breed the White House to modify
the original Williams ruling. In
essence, the administration has
declared a new stance concerning
racially-based scholarships. White
House press secretary Marlin
'itzwater called a press confer
ence to discuss the administration ’ s
response to the Williams declara
tion. Fiztwater claimed the Presi
dent believes that minority schol
arships are important to ensuring
that all Americans get a good
education. Fitzwater also said the
administration wanted to revise
the Williams policy. Under the
new policy, colleges can award
minwity scholarships if the money
comes from private donations or
irom federal programs created to
lelp minority students. In other
words, the revised policy is a re
versal of the original policy, but
Fitzwater did not want to say that.
However, the revised policy still
does not allow minority scholar
ships to come from general funds,
which is a source of money used
by many institutions of higher
learning.
The revised plan issued by the
White House still has the potential
to keep many talented black stu
dents from attending college. The
administration is trying to save
face—but the damage has already
been done. Nothing Bush does can
change his reputation in the black
community. The revised plan is
insufficient because the original
policy should not have been is
sued in the first place. When Mi
chael Williams declared that ra
cially-based scholarships violated
the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is
obvious that he had never even
read it And the lawyers who agreec
with him should be disbarred.
Minority scholarships do not