Progress in Geier

The head of the Tennessee Board of Regents says next year the state will likely request an end to a 37-year-old desegregation case.

In 1968, Rita Sanders Geier sued the state for maintaining a segregated system of higher education. In 2001, a federal court approved the Geier Consent Decree, an agreement between the plaintiff and the state to end the suit in five years, if Tennessee colleges and universities improved programs and access.

Some state legislators have complained about the 75-million-dollar cost of complying to the decree. Despite that, and the fact that a potential merger between Tennessee State University and the Nashville School of Law fell through, TBR Chancellor Charles Manning says significant progress has been made .

“I would have liked to have had that merger with the law school. I was out there advocating for it. I regret it didn’t happen . But uh, the provision for what happened if that didn’t was out there and TSU has been working on those other degree programs. So, I feel good about where we are.”

When the law school merger failed, TSU turned to establishing programs in public health and public administration instead.

At a meeting tomorrow, the Geier committee of the Tennessee Board of Regents will discuss the progress made under the consent decree. Chancellor Manning says the state hopes to request an end to the suit by summer or fall of next year.