Dive Brief:
- Maryland has not fully desegregated its public higher-education system, a federal judge says.
- The court found that state universities unnecessarily duplicate the programs of historically black institutions and that a lack of unique programs hurts recruitment at the historically black schools.
- The judge said that because the black colleges could not compete well for students, they were more segregated now than they were in the 1970s.
Dive Insight:
What happens next? It's up in the air. The judge did not rule on how the state must remedy the problem. She urged both sides to enter mediation. The plaintiffs in the case are students and alumni of historically black colleges who went to trial after mediation failed.