Bowie State University, Coppin State University, Morgan State University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore—the state’s Black colleges—filed a lawsuit against the State of Maryland in 2006, adding that it aggressively supported “high demand programs” at White institutions while not doing enough to invest in specialized programs at the black institutions.
As a result, the programs at the Black institutions, such as Morgan State University’s MBA program, have not been as successful as the MBA programs at other white institutions.
In a 60-page ruling, Judge Catherine Blake noted that the investment in these so-called high demand programs at largely White institutions have, in fact, contributed to the Black colleges in the state being at a disadvantage and unable to effectively compete with their counterparts. Blake ruled that the investment in such programs was “comparable to, and in some cases more pronounced than, the duplication found in Mississippi” in a sweeping Supreme Court case from two decades ago.
