Lawmaker suggests merging historically black colleges

The chairman of a key state Senate committee wants the University System to consider merging historically black public colleges with nearby white-majority schools to save money.

In making the suggestion Monday, Senate Higher Education Committee Chairman Seth Harp (R-Midland) immediately ran into opposition from supporters of the black schools who say they serve an important role as independent campuses.

“I think it’s a bad idea,” said Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), who has taught political science at two historically black private colleges, Morehouse and Morris Brown.

But Harp said the University System, which has 35 public schools and a $2.3 billion state budget this year, will have to make some hard choices to come up with budget cuts that could top $200 million.

And he said in two cities, Savannah and Albany, white- and black-majority schools are part of the legacy of segregation.

“The white schools were begun as segregation schools. It’s time Georgia closed that ugly chapter,” Harp said during a hearing on the University System’s budget Monday.

Harp suggested the system consider merging two Savannah schools — historically black Savannah State University and historically white-majority Armstrong Atlantic State University. And he said the system should look into merging another historically black college, Albany State, and white-majority two-year Darton College in Albany.

Consolidating the schools would reduce administrative costs and potentially cut duplication of similar academic programs.

System Chancellor Erroll Davis said the decision won’t be based solely on financial considerations.

“You can make obvious arguments about the economics of it, but I don’t think economics will drive the decision,” Davis said. “It’s going to be a political decision, not an economic decision.”

Davis said if the “body politic” wants the Board of Regents to look at mergers, it will.

Fort asked why Harp doesn’t suggest merging Georgia Tech and Georgia State University, since they are so geographically close.

Clifford Porter, interim vice president for institutional advancement at Albany State said his four-year university and the two-year Darton serve different purposes.

“There’s a need for both institutions,” he said. “We’re hoping there are some other options the state Legislature will take.”

Darton president Peter Sireno said in a statement, “The proposal by Seth Harp is interesting, but not surprising. I have not been informed that the University System of Georgia is considering this option.”

Fort said the black colleges have traditionally been a resource for students who might not otherwise go to or stay in college.

“Black schools serve a purpose of offering not only programs but an atmosphere conducive to black students graduating,” Fort said. “The challenge is not only getting African-American students in but keeping them in.”

He predicted Harp will get a stiff fight from the alumni of historically black schools if the idea moves forward.

“Alumni associations for these blacks schools are very protective of their legacy,” he said.

Savannah State alumnus Thurnell Johnson of Macon said he was not eligible to attend Armstrong because of his race when he entered college in 1956. He attended Savannah State on scholarship and taught for 40 years, mostly in the Bibb County schools.

“I’m against the merger of the schools,” Johnson said. “Savannah State always has been a quality school. It still is a quality school.”

Michael Lomax, the former Fulton County Commission chairman who now serves as president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, said the idea of merging colleges is not a “thoughtful or timely suggestion.”

State leaders should be trying to see that every college is operating at capacity, Lomax said.

“Fill up those seats and you have fewer beds to fill in jail,” he said. “Fill up those seats and you have fewer people seeking public assistance.”

The idea has come up before. Twenty-five years ago, former Gov. Joe Frank Harris suggested the state consider merging historically black colleges with other nearby state colleges to achieve court-ordered desegregation.

The state instead made a commitment to make other changes including enhancing facilities on the three historically black campuses and encouraging students at the two-year Darton College to transfer to Albany State for four-year degrees.