Maryland lawmakers gave final passage Wednesday to a measure to pay $577 million over 10 years to settle a federal lawsuit alleging discrimination and underfunding at the state’s four historically Black colleges and universities.
An attorney described it as “one of the largest pro bono civil rights settlements in history.”
The House voted 120-14 to send the measure to Gov. Larry Hogan, who vetoed a similar bill last year after citing economic difficulties created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Senate approved the bill 47-0 earlier in the day in response to the 15-year-old lawsuit.
“The Maryland state legislature today took a significant step toward addressing historic inequities in Maryland higher education,” Morgan State University President David Wilson declared after the vote.
The Baltimore university is one of Maryland’s four HBCUs. The settlement will enable the university to continue to put in place unique high-demand academic degree programs that businesses say they need and to shore up infrastructure, Wilson said.
Shareese DeLeaver-Churchill, Hogan’s spokeswoman, said “the governor will carefully review the legislation when it reaches his desk.”
First time I’ve ever heard of being paid to be stupid. I live in Somerset Co. and at UMES MOST of them go to school for FREE. Most of them speak little english and go back to Nigeria to prosper with their diploma and
dumbass Md. picked up the tab. I’m so tired of hearing black whatever crying about how they’ve been oppressed I could spew. What a joke! It’s an excuse by the Dems to get more votes to the polls.
Where I come from it’s called a crock of shit.
what a crock, ever been down to umes, all those new buildings? underfunded? more like, dress on a pig!
They have 13 percent graduation rate … this is a money laundering scheme
Speaking of UMES, i sure do miss the spring homecoming twitter vids from thjs time of year. Couple yrs ago all LEOs on delmarva converged on UMES to break up the school sponsored SHIPSHOW.
I was entertained…i suppose Maryland was too with this tax free settlement.
Geez
A friend worked at UMES and was routinely discriminated against because he was white and when he retired the Dean refused to shake his hand for the same reason