And we thought that the election of Barack Obama would end racial politics. We learned otherwise in Georgia, however, as a state senator's trial balloon of merging primarily white colleges with primarily black ones in two Georgia cities met with fierce resistance from alumni and educators at the larger black schools. Under the suggestion from the Chair of the State Senate Higher Education Committee, Seth Harp, Armstrong Atlantic State University would merge with Savannah State University and Darton College would be combined with Albany State University. Harp's reasoning was pure economics -- merging the schools would help Georgia close the gap on its $2 billion budget deficit. And yet opponents called this effort at desegregation "racism." Who knew? While the historically black institutions would maintain their names, those who study the role of these colleges fretted that educational opportunities would be decreased for minority students, pointing out that these schools have a graduation rate comparable to mainly white colleges despite taking in students considered less qualified. As Dwayne Ashley, president of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund and merger opponent, noted, "Historically black institutions play a vital role in the community, the state and the nation. They provide educations to a number of young men and women who might not otherwise attend college."
Harp countered that the cities involved weren't necessarily large enough to support two colleges, and that, "we really need to close the chapter of segregated schools and create a unified system." While Senator Harp's merger proposal is "not really on the radar screen" as a spokesman for the Georgia Board of Regents claims, apparently "separate but equal" still has some proponents in Georgia.
