Civil rights activist takes issue with MU over minority enrollm

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The state and the University of Missouri-Columbia are deliberately keeping minorities from accessing education, civil rights activist and Houston lawyer Alvin Chambliss Jr. said.

"I thought Mississippi was bad," Chambliss said Friday during a speech at the University of Missouri-Columbia. "But Mississippi is 10 times better than this state."

Chambliss spoke to a crowd of about 500 at the Outstanding Black Citizens Award Banquet, which marked the end of Black History Month. The banquet honored 14 black Missourians who have shown community involvement in changing the situation and image of blacks.

Chambliss criticized the University of Missouri-Columbia's black enrollment of 5 percent. He argued that requiring a score of 24 on the ACT exam was part of an elitist policy meant to keep blacks from getting into the school.

He advocated a more flexible policy with a sliding scale for black students, adding that such a policy was in keeping with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which ended school segregation. The right of access to education predated affirmative action, he said.

"When you have a policy that says a student with a C average must have a 24 on the ACT to get in, that's saying to me that you don't want to educate your black citizens," Chambliss said.

10 percent goal

Chambliss also challenged University of Missouri system President Elson Floyd, who is black, to increase black student enrollment by at least 10 percent.

"He has an obligation to be more inclusive than former presidents," Chambliss said.

Mike Middleton, deputy chancellor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, agreed that requiring high ACT scores could be considered discrimination against black students when vestiges of racial segregation had not been addressed. Those include a disproportionately low numbers of professors who are black -- seven -- and a low number of black students.

However, he stepped back from comparing the university and Missouri with other states around the country.

Middleton said he didn't think Chambliss "was singling out Missouri. America as a whole has a long history of racial discrimination."

Chambliss has a reputation for provocative speeches. As an attorney, he has battled for years for improved access to higher education in Mississippi and other states.

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On the Net

University of Missouri system: www.system.missouri.edu

University of Missouri-Columbia: www.missouri.edu