Renewed Fund-Raising Effort for Black Colleges in Mississippi

Part of the settlement of Mississippi's higher education desegregation case in 2004 was a pledge by the state to raise $35 million to boost the minimal endowments of the state's three historically black universities: Alcorn State, Jackson State and Mississippi Valley State Universities. After the campaign was announced, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave $1 million. Since then, nothing has happened. But the Associated Press reported that state higher education officials are now pledging to develop new plans to raise the money. Hank Bounds, the higher education commissioner, said that "we really need to put forth a really good strategy and see if we can find some success."