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VOLUME 97 - NUMBER 48 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2018 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
^« - Senate GOP taking up judicial
nominee some call ‘the worst’
For little over a decade, the alumni from Morgan State University, Coppin State University,
University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Bowie State University have been locked in litigation
with the state to dismantle what they say is racial segregation, causing a federal judge to appoint a
special official to craft a plan to increase diversity at Maryland’s historically black colleges./AFRO
Photo/Deborah Bailey
Oral Arguments Scheduled for
HBCU-Maryland Inequality Case
By Kevin Freking
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen
ate Republicans are working
to soon fill the nation’s longest
judicial vacancy with a North
Carolina lawyer whose nomina
tion has raised objections from
black lawmakers and civil rights
groups concerned about his work
defending state laws found to
have discriminated against Afri
can-Americans.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky., has helped
push 84 of President Donald
Trump’s nominees over the fin
ish line and is itching for more.
With just a few more weeks to go
before Congress adjourns for the
year, he has teed up a vote on the
nomination of Thomas Farr, 64,
to serve as a district court judge
in North Carolina.
The Senate Judiciary Com
mittee advanced Farr’s confirma
tion with a party-line vote back
in January, meaning McConnell
has waited about 10 months and
until after the midterm elections
to hold a vote on the floor.
Senators tend to save their
biggest fights in the judicial
arena for Supreme Court and ap
peals court nominees, but Farr’s
nomination has proved an excep
tion.
“It’s hard to believe President
Trump nominated him, and it’s
even harder to believe the Senate
Republicans are considering it
again,” said Senate Democratic
leader Chuck Schumer of New
York in one of about 20 tweets
he has sent out in recent days
concerning Farr.
Farr has the backing of home-
state Sens. Richard Burr and
Thom Tillis, both Republicans.
They have noted that Farr was
also nominated to the same
position by former President
George W. Bush and has a “well
qualified” rating from the Ameri
can Bar Association. They have
protested the implication that
Farr is racially insensitive or bi
ased.
“I think absolutely destroy
ing a good man’s reputation is
inappropriate,” Tillis said before
the committee advanced Farr’s
nomination.
In introducing Farr last year,
(Continued On Page 4)
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire
Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
A coalition of HBCU students, alumni and
others from Maryland are planning to pack the
Fourth District Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in
Richmond, Virginia next month for oral argu
ments in a decades-old lawsuit over inequality in
public higher education.
“We are reaching out and calling on at least
200 HBCU supporters to join us in Richmond on
Dec. 11,” said HBCU Matters Chairman, Marvin
“Doc” Cheatham.
The coalition has chartered buses to leave
from each of the four HBCU campuses in Mary
land on the morning of the arguments.
“The students are very actively advocating
on behalf of all four of the HBCUs in Mary
land. Morgan State has held two rallies thus far
and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore
had their Rally Saturday the 17th,” said Zattura
Sims-El, one of many advocates for HBCUs in
Maryland.
“Bowie and Coppin are currently planning
rallies for each campus. The students from all
four universities are communicating with each
other for one purpose and that is the have Gov.
Hogan withdraw the appeal, he and only he has
the power and authority to do so,” Sims-El said.
A coalition of alumni from Maryland’s four
HBCUs have been involved in a lawsuit since
2006 with the state.
Coalition members argue that Maryland has
underfunded Morgan State University, Coppin
State University, Bowie State University and the
University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and al
lowed other state schools to duplicate their pro
grams, placing pressure on enrollment.
Published reports suggest that over the years,
the coalition has called for increased funding and
merging the University of Baltimore with Mor
gan State, the state’s largest public historically
black school, to achieve parity.
A year ago, a federal judge asked the state
to remedy the lack of investment in Maryland’s
HBCUs, ordering the state to establish a set of
new, unique and high-demand programs at each
historically black institution, the judge declared.
Despite that court order, settlement talks have
stalled, and Maryland hasn’t accepted the court-
ordered remedies for HBCUs.
“While the Maryland HBCU case is still in
mediation, due to the State’s refusal to accept the
judge’s ruling, the Maryland HBCU Matters Co
alition is hard at work,” Cheatham said.
In 2013, Judge Catherine Blake, U.S. District
Court of Maryland, found the state in violation
of 14th Amendment rights of its HBCU students
and alumni.
Her ruling said Maryland continues to oper
ate vestiges of a de jure system of segregation,
specifically by continuing a longstanding prac
tice of duplicating academic programs offered
at HBCU’s, rather than investing in making the
HBCU programs attractive to a diverse range of
students.
By June 2017, after initial failed mediation
between HBCU advocates and the state of Mary
land, Blake ordered parties back into court.
In November of 2017, Blake reportedly issued
an order providing for an administrator known as
a special master to coordinate a comprehensive
plan ensuring Maryland’s HBCU’s would be
home to high quality academic programs.
“The Plan should propose a set of new unique
and/or high demand programs at each HBI, tak
ing into account each HBI’s areas of strength,
physical building capacity and the programmat
ic niches suggested by the plaintiff’s experts,”
Blake wrote in the November 2017 ruling.
According to The Afro, which has covered
the story more extensively than any other media
outlet, in December 2017, state Attorney General
Brian Frosh gave notice that the state would ap
peal Blake’s ruling.
Frosh, who in prior years urged a mediated
resolution to the long-standing HBCU lawsuit,
attempted to explain why he’s now extending the
legal battle.
“It’s my job to defend the state when it gets
sued,” Frosh told HBCU protestors who rallied
outside his office in the months following the
State’s appeal.
In January, Gov. Larry Hogan, further com
plicated the State’s message toward HBCU’s by
writing to Del. Cheryl Glenn, former chair of the
Maryland Legislative Black Caucus (LBC), of
fering a $100 million-dollar settlement offer, ac
cording to The Afro.
While the LBC supports HBCU advocates,
the Caucus is not an official party to the lawsuit.
Hogan’s $100 million proposal would be split
between Bowie State University, Coppin State
University, Morgan State University and the
University of Maryland Eastern Shore, The Afro
reported.
His settlement offer stipulates a 10-year allo
cation period and relieves the State of responsi
bility for court costs. Each institution would re
ceive approximately 2.5 million per school, per
year.
However, the estimated cost ofthe Coalition’s
Plan to remedy the imbalance in quality academ
ic programming offered at HBCU’s is in the $1-2
billion range.
Hogan’s offer also falls short of the $500
million settlement between the State of Missis
sippi and plaintiffs representing Mississippi’s
three public HBCU’s almost 20 years ago, back
in 2001, ending higher education desegregation
litigation dating back to the 1970’s in that state.
“The decision by Frosh to appeal the decision
from Federal District Court Judge Blake has el
evated this issue to the US Court of Appeals for
the 4th Circuit,” said Maryland advocate Bran
don F. Cooper.
“If that Appeals Court also upholds the Dis
trict Court decision, Frosh could decide to ap
peal again and then it lands in the U.S Supreme
Court. Any decision from the U.S Supreme Court
would impact every HBCU, not just those in
Maryland,” said Cooper, a member of the Mary
land Republican Party Executive Committee.
Cooper said the matter counts as a biparti
san issue and he brought the HBCU attorneys
in to testify before the Republican Caucus in the
Maryland legislature.
“HBCUs have long enjoyed bipartisan sup
port in states, Congress and the White House,”
Cooper said. “However, President Donald
Trump has sent mix signals on his continuance
ofthe historically bipartisan support of HBCUs,”
he said.
One HBCU alumni said he knows well what a
battle between a historically black institution and
the state looks like.
Louis Austin Exhibit
to Open Fri., Dec. 14, 6-8
p.m., at the Musuem of
Durham History, 500 W.
Main St.
Tennessee House
elects 1st African-
American minority
leader
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)
- Tennessee House Democrats
have elected the chamber’s first
African-American minority lead
er.
Democrats chose Rep. Karen
Camper of Memphis during lead
ership elections Nov. 25. She re
places former Minority Leader
Craig Fitzhugh of Ripley, who
left the Legislature in an unsuc
cessful bid for governor.
The next legislative session
begins in January.
In a news release, Camper
pledged to bring aggressive lead
ership to advance legislation on
Democratic agenda items, includ
ing quality health care and eco
nomic opportunities for all Ten
nesseans.
Republicans maintained a su
permajority in the Legislature
during the November elections.
Democrats gained one seat in the
House and made no inroads in the
Senate.
Rep. Mike Stewart of Nash
ville will remain Democratic cau
cus chairman.
Republicans have nominated
Majority Leader Glen Casada as
the next speaker.
Attorney William A. Marsh died Nov. 19. See obitu
ary on page 4.
Immigration agents
arrest man who left
church after a year
By Jonathan Drew
RALEIGH (AP) - An immigrant who sought refuge from depor
tation in a North Carolina church for 11 months was detained Nov.-
23 at a scheduled appointment with immigration officials, prompting
more than a dozen supporters to block a law enforcement van and
wind up under arrest themselves.
Mexican national Samuel Oliver-Bruno, 47, was detained at a Ra-
leigh-area immigration office, according to a U.S. Immigration and
Customs enforcement news release.
The advocacy group Alerta Migratoria NC said in a statement that
Oliver-Bruno went to have fingerprints taken so he could apply to
stay in North Carolina with his wife and son. He has been living
in CityWell United Methodist Church in Durham since late 2017 to
avoid the reach of immigration officers, who generally avoid making
arrests at churches and other sensitive locations .
ICE said Oliver-Bruno, who has lived in North Carolina for two
decades, had no legal basis to be in the U.S. and had exhausted his
“extensive” appeals. Oliver-Bruno pleaded guilty in 2014 to using
false documents to try to re-enter the U.S. in Texas after a trip outside
the country, according to court documents.
Several dozen protesters came to the federal immigration office in
Morrisville in hopes of dissuading authorities from arresting Oliver-
Bruno. Alerta Migratoria said Oliver-Bruno was detained and put
into a van after entering the office, and that supporters were arrested
trying to block the van.
The Morrisville Police Department issued a statement saying it
was called to the scene because the crowd, though peaceful, refused
to allow immigration officers to drive away with Oliver-Bruno. The
department said it tried to de-escalate the situation, but demonstrators
ignored two orders to disperse before arrests were made.
Online booking records show at least 20 demonstrators were ar
rested at the immigration office on charges including failure to dis
perse and resisting officers.
Alerta Migratoria said Oliver-Bruno had filed an application with
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services seeking to avoid deporta
tion. The group’s statement said he was asked to come in for a bio
metric screening as part of the application, and he was aware he had
to “risk getting detained.”
Advocates say Oliver-Bruno’s family had “recently faced threats”
in his home state of Veracruz, Mexico, where drug cartels are active.
They said he fears for his safety if he is deported.
USCIS spokesman Pamela Wilson said the agency generally can’t
discuss individual applications for deportation deferment.