NATCHEZ &045; While there is much left to do, Southern states have already made strides toward implementing desegregation plans at their public colleges and universities.

That’s according to panel participants at the National Leadership Institute on Multiculturalism at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. That conference began Monday at Alcorn State University.

Fostering diversity at historically black schools is important because students can learn much from those of different backgrounds, Alcorn President Dr. Clinton Bristow said.

Students must also learn to be more tolerant of others &uot;in order to competitive in a global society,&uot; Bristow said. Growing diversity, he added, must become as much a part of historically black institutions &uot;as research and community service.&uot;

The discussion, which continues today, is also a timely one, coming on the heels of the Fifth Circuit decision in Ayers vs. Barbour. That case resulted in a $503 million settlement for Mississippi’s historically black schools.

While the Ayers case is more than 30 years old, efforts to settle the case came to a head when then-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove &uot;made a commitment to get it settled,&uot; said Ricki Garrett, a member of the board of Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning.

With former Justice Reuben Anderson acting as moderator, a settlement was hammered out over many months that included new programs and facilities at Jackson State, Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State universities.

In addition, historically black schools must reach a 10 percent enrollment of non-black students before they can tap into endowment funds set aside by the state.

Those involved in the Ayers settlement are now waiting to see whether a class of plaintiffs in the case will appeal the settlement to the Supreme Court, Garrett said.

In Louisiana, officials finally crafted a desegregation agreement after 20 years of laboring under a nonspecific consent decree handed down by a judge, said Connie Koury, assistant to the commissioner for desegregation and legal services for the Louisiana Board of Regents.

Now, in the eighth year since the new agreement was drafted, 21 of 22 capital outlay projects included in the plan have been completed.

That state has a committee set up to regularly monitor progress on implementing the plan, Koury said.

She added that, as a result of the plan, Southern University has been equipped with programs that Louisiana State University doesn’t offer, including doctoral and master’s programs.

Other states with representatives on the panel included:

4Texas, which is three years into implementing its plan. Progress is tracked with semi-annual progress reports and, so far, 84 percent of the plan is being implemented, according to state numbers.

4Alabama, where historically black institutions have gotten several new academic programs as a result of the state’s plan. Those include engineering at Alabama A&M and doctoral programs in educational leadership and microbiology at Alabama State.

4Florida, where journalism, pharmacy and architecture buildings were built at Florida A&M.; With $300 million from the Legislature, that state was also able to attract a Scripps Research Institute that partners on projects with the state’s four historically black schools.