Private Ayers funding falls short

The Clarion-Ledger, 11/24/8

Another year has passed with no additional money going toward a $35 million private endowment for the state’s three historically black universities in a landmark college desegregation settlement.

It’s been six years since a federal judge approved the endowment as part of the Ayers case, and only $1 million has been raised.

And with payments from the public side of the Ayers settlement set to decrease by a third next year, no fundraising campaign has been planned.

“The theory was that the private endowment would balance it” when the public side started to drop, Jackson State University President Ronald Mason said.