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As politicians haggle over grams and taxes, THC levels and canopy space, license fees and excises, thousands of chronically ill Mississippi patients and families who believed they would have access to medical marijuana months ago per the will of the voters feel lost in the shuffle.
The Legislature failed to approve a medical marijuana program for years, despite a groundswell to do so, so voters took matters in hand.
Gov. Tate Reeves and lawmakers promised to fix this post-haste. They got to arguing and didn’t.
Meanwhile, pain, nausea, seizures and pharmaceutical side effects don’t abate for the sickest of the sick in Mississippi.
Allison Pipkin has dealt with severe pain and nausea and “taken every kind of medicine you can take” since she was 11 and misdiagnosed with ulcerative colitis.
At age 14, Pipkin of DeSoto County was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and had her colon removed. The surgery was expected to take six hours, but it took 12 because Pipkin’s colon had fused to other organs. She had to have a colostomy bag for three months until another surgery.
Allison Pipkin
Now 24, Pipkin describes a long arduous journey through numerous surgeries and pharmaceutical medicines — steroids, biologics, opioids, pain pumps and even methadone — and their side effects. She had to get special permission to start taking one drug years ago because of her age. Two medicines she takes now carry warnings not to combine them; one costs thousands of dollars a week without insurance. But she does because they’ve been keeping her disease in remission. She no longer takes narcotic pain medicine.
Pipkin has researched and seen reports of cannabis helping Crohn’s patients. She tried black-market marijuana in high school and it helped her chronic nausea and pain. She won’t use it now for fear of losing insurance, and because it’s illegal in Mississippi.
“It helped with the symptoms, even if it’s not a cure-all,” Pipkin said. “It’s better than narcotics. I don’t understand how they can prescribe a 14-year-old all these drugs … but can’t prescribe a plant that’s non-addictive.
“I feel like (politicians) don’t have any empathy for humanity at all,” Pipkin said. “If I was governing people, I would want them to be their happiest and healthiest to help society.”
Pipkin wants to continue her college education. She’s considering taking a scholarship offer from Arkansas State University. Arkansas voters legalized medical marijuana in 2016.
Shane Polk’s years of service in the 82nd Airborne, including a tour during Desert Storm, took a toll on his body.
He suffered two traumatic brain injuries, crushed vertebrae, and numerous other injuries jumping from planes and blowing things up and has to think for a bit to count up all the surgeries he’s had. And for the last 25 years his life “has revolved around seizures.”
Polk, 52, of Biloxi suffers grand mal seizures and dryly notes, “One wrong seizure for me, and I’m dead.” He’s also had two mini-strokes and suffers from migraine headaches.
At one point, Polk was having 20 to 30 seizures a week, sometimes three or four on a bad day. He was taking multiple medications a day and they didn’t appear to be helping. He quit taking opioids because “it got to where it didn’t help” and he didn’t want to become addicted.
Shane Polk
Polk said he was feeling “over-medicated” and miserable, taking handfuls of prescriptions a day about four years ago when he heard on television that cannabis can help seizures and other ailments. He had a friend in Colorado — which had legalized both medical and recreational marijuana — and he went for an extended visit.
“I tried cannabis, and it worked,” Polk said.
Polk is off most of the medications he was taking, his seizures are down to one every four or five months and his pain is reduced.
“It’s not a cure-all, but I’d say I’m 80% better,” Polk said. “I’m doing all right for the shape I’m in.”
But Polk has to resort to the black market for marijuana in Mississippi.
“I don’t want to and I shouldn’t have to,” Polk said. “It’s almost embarrassing — you want to hide that you use it. It’s a risk, but I also might hit my head or not wake up from the next seizure … I’m using this for medicine, and I want a doctor to be in charge. I want it regulated and monitored.
“For whoever is making these decisions — the governor — what if it was your kid or grandkid suffering? I feel like we’re just getting pushed aside because of politics. People are suffering who don’t need to be.”
Jeanne Tate is one of about 3,000 people in Mississippi dealing with sickle cell disease, which affects the body’s red blood cells, hinders the flow of oxygen and, Tate says, “causes unbearable pain I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”
Tate has dealt with blood transfusions, pharmaceutical pain medication and “sickle cell crises” which can last anywhere from a few hours to weeks at a time, causing terrible pain.
Tate, an accountant from Byram and chair of the Mississippi Sickle Cell Foundation, is 49 — which she proudly offers because “a lot of our patients don’t live to be 49.” The median U.S. life expectancy for someone with sickle cell disease is 47.
Tate says research has shown benefits of medical cannabis for sickle cell patients, and she believes it could help many reduce or eliminate opioid use for pain.
Jeanne Tate
She’s been disheartened by the delays on approving medical marijuana in Mississippi.
“Our politicians need to do what’s right by the people that put them in office,” Tate said. “… It’s sad to say, but to be honest, I really don’t have a lot of faith that they will get it done quickly. That’s why Initiative 65 was created from the start, because for so many years our lawmakers wouldn’t do anything. This is still going to take time, even if they pass it. Patients are probably looking at another two years before they’ll find relief. It’s a shame this state drags its feet on so many issues. I don’t have confidence right now that it’s going to happen. I just don’t.”
Jenna Leigh Robinson was seven when she was diagnosed with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. She had a seizure at her elementary school, about five months after Hurricane Katrina had destroyed the Robinsons’ Biloxi home and the family moved to D’Iberville.
Paul Robinson said Jenna, the youngest of his and wife Toni’s three daughters, “took the diagnosis better than her parents did.”
“She got on with life,” Robinson said.
Jenna loved to dance — “had an absolute passion for it, and loved to sing and act.” The family owns a dance studio on the Coast, and Jenna danced and taught. In her teens, she started her own successful business, providing characters for parties and events. At 16 she was offered an acting, singing and modeling contract by a New Orleans talent firm.
But Jenna’s epilepsy was causing too many problems, and she had to decline the contract to focus on her health. At 17, doctors told the Robinsons Jenna’s epilepsy was “refractory.”
“That means there’s nothing left on a pharmaceutical shelf, that they’ve tried everything and it’s not working,” Robinson said. At its worst, Jenna was having 100 seizures a day, “focal” or “absence” seizures that would last about 20 seconds each. Whenever a medication would appear to work, Robinson said, the epilepsy would advance and “her brain would figure out a way to get around the drugs, cause breakthrough seizures.” The medications often had terrible side effects, and many required tapering to stop taking them even when they caused problems.
But Jenna never let her epilepsy get her down — she would “dance it off,” her father said. Despite not being able to attend regular school, Jenna excelled in a home school program, and by 17 was already into her fifth college course, and planning a degree in business administration.
Jenna Robinson
With pharmaceuticals not working, Robinson said he broached the idea of medical marijuana with Jenna after learning about numerous clinical trials showing promise. But Jenna refused.
“The DARE (youth anti illegal drug) Program had done it’s job,” Robinson said. “She wanted nothing to do with it, said ‘I’m not smoking dope.’” But after explaining that there were inhalers, transdermal patches, nasal sprays and other formulations of the drug, Robinson said, “we had convinced her we would open that door after she finished her senior recital.”
“We were hoping we could manage it until we could get to a better place,” Robinson said. “We were going to go on a long vacation to California or Colorado, and were even discussing how to establish residences there — we have businesses here that had to be maintained — and we were going to find a doctor considered great in that field and do it in accordance with them.”
But Jenna died sometime in the early morning of April 4, 2016. Her death was listed as Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy Patients, or SUDEP. Her father still rides an emotional roller coaster as he describes happy memories of his vivacious, talented daughter, and recounts her death. Jenna’s legacy lives on in Jenna Robinson Charities, founded by family and friends to support research into SUDEP and epilepsy and a scholarship fund.
Paul Robinson became an advocate for Mississippi Initiative 65, which voters approved to create a medical marijuana program. He believes the drug could have helped his daughter, and he’s dismayed by the judicial and political hang-fire, and the governor not calling lawmakers into special session in 2021 to approve a program as he promised.
“I think Gov. Reeves is a good guy, but I think he keeps jumping the track on this,” Robinson said. “It looked like the House and Senate were there, in agreement. The people spoke very clearly, as decisive a vote as you can get. Gov. Reeves is always saying he’s a numbers guy. Well, I don’t think he’s thinking about the numbers of people who need this relief. I don’t think he understands what it’s like to have somebody suffering, without a good pharmaceutical product that gives the relief they need. I think he he had ever been in that position he would not be so petty.”
Angie Calhoun of Puckett, founder of the Mississippi Cannabis Patients Alliance, has been one of the leaders of the citizen-led drive for medical marijuana. Her son, Austin, suffered seizures and other issues for years, eventually moving out of state when he became an adult so he could be treated with medical marijuana.
Calhoun said she believes “the patients have been put on the backburner” amid the political debate over medical marijuana in Mississippi.
“So far, we have been run through the ringer,” Calhoun said. “We passed Initiative 65 with overwhelming support, only to later have the Supreme Court overturn that. Two legislators (Sen. Kevin Blackwell and Rep. Lee Yancy) have stepped up and written a wonderful bill — it gives patients what they need without too many regulations and hurdles, but also implements a really well regulated, safe program. But we’ve been left in limbo.
“This should be a matter of love and compassion,” Calhoun said. “… We do not need for patients to have to suffer any longer. Anyone who’s ever suffered or had a love one suffer with severe pain, seizures, chronic illness understands that.
“I am begging and pleading with legislators to go in within the first day or two of their session and pass the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act, and begging the governor to listen to the Legislature, listen to the voters, open his heart up and get it signed into law.”
The omicron variant is now the dominant strain in Mississippi and is causing a significant increase in case numbers across the state.
In a press briefing Wednesday, the Mississippi Department of Health said case numbers for the last seven days are double what they were the week before, and since Dec. 20, 67% of cases in Mississippi have been caused by the omicron variant.
“We really are now in the fifth wave of COVID for Mississippi,” said Dr. Paul Byers, state epidemiologist.
The Department of Health has been working to expand access to testing in areas with high demand and has increased the number of available testing slots across the state by 5,000 since Sunday night up to 20,301 slots. Around 13,000 of those slots were filled at the time of the briefing. Testing is also available through local physicians’ offices and clinics.
To make an appointment for the Health Department’s free testing, click here.
Jim Craig, director of the office of health protection, said that while Mississippi does not currently have a shortage of test kits, he expressed concern about the ongoing healthcare worker shortage in the state, part of a larger national trend. There have been 1,700 covid-related emergency room visits across the state during the first few days of this week, he said.
State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said the omicron variant is significantly more contagious than previous forms of the virus, but evidence does suggest that omicron causes less severe illness. He also said that vaccinated people and those with prior infection can still get and spread omicron.
Throughout the briefing, Dobbs and Byers emphasized that getting a booster shot is the best way to get full protection against omicron. Currently, 48% of Mississippians are fully vaccinated, according to the Department of Health. Schedule a vaccine appointment through MSDH here.
Monoclonal antibody treatments, which were a critical part of the fight against the delta variant, are generally less effective against omicron. One type of monoclonal antibody has still been effective, but Mississippi currently has a limited supply. Dobbs said that antiviral pills and an increased supply of monoclonal antibodies will be coming soon, but in the meantime, it is important to wear a mask and get vaccinated and boosted.
“We’ve always said that monoclonals are Plan B and the vaccine is Plan A, and you don’t want to rely on your backup plan when Plan A is still an option,” Dobbs said.
Byers and Dobbs also addressed the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance announced Monday, saying that the Department of Health has always followed CDC guidance and it was safe to exit a quarantine after five days as long as a COVID-positive person continues to wear a mask at all times.
“This is really a love thy neighbor sort of moment,” Dobbs said.
Rick and Tyler welcome Rick’s brother and Tyler’s uncle, Bobby Cleveland, for a special holiday edition of Crooked Letter. For years, Bobby Cleveland produced an award-winning Sunday sports section for The Clarion Ledger and also won awards for his unique writing about hunting and fishing in Mississippi.
In her 30 years as a certified nursing assistant, nothing prepared Melinda Wells for the unsanitary and dangerous conditions she said she witnessed at Yazoo City Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center.
When she arrived for her first day at the Yazoo City nursing home on Feb. 13, 2021, Wells said she saw resident bedrooms and bathrooms that had not been cleaned in weeks. Floors littered with trash, dirt and dead bugs. Feces-stained bed sheets that sat in a utility sink for days.
“That’s the worst (nursing home) I’ve ever been to in my life,” Wells said. “You don’t understand how bad it was. It was awful.”
Nursing home management did not respond to multiple interview requests.
Horrified by what she saw and upset with facility leadership she viewed as uncaring, Wells reported her findings to the Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) on Feb. 17. The agency then notified the nursing home of the allegations and gave the facility a week to investigate and provide documentation that the issues had been corrected.
Two days later, YCRHC responded to each allegation calling them meritless, and provided photos to back up their claims. OSHA closed the case, which left Wells feeling angry and disillusioned with the systems meant to protect nursing home residents and employees.
“I did what I was supposed to do, but it didn’t seem like anyone cared,” Wells said.
A few days later, a YCRHC resident would lose his life.
On Feb. 21, 2021, just after 3 p.m., a resident lit a cigarette while in bed. Because he was wearing supplemental oxygen, the man immediately caught fire, suffering third degree burns to his right shoulder, chest and upper back, along with inhalation burns. The man later died in the hospital while being treated for these injuries, according to an MSDH report.
An entire wing of the nursing home, 23 residents total, had to be evacuated and relocated due to the fire. Many lost their personal belongings to water damage from the facility’s sprinkler system, the report said.
Health inspectors determined that the nursing home had endangered residents and violated federal regulations, and the facility was given an Immediate Jeopardy citation on March 8, one of the most serious citations health inspectors can give.
YCRHC submitted a removal plan the following day that was accepted, and the Immediate Jeopardy citation was removed on March 10. If left unresolved, these citations prevent nursing homes from participating in Medicaid. The home was fined $186,111 a few weeks later for its failure to follow federal guidelines for smoking safety.
After an Immediate Jeopardy citation is removed, however, it largely falls on the facilities themselves to implement the systemic changes necessary to ensure regulatory compliance. Often, the same problems reappear after the heat is off. YCRHC was cited by state health inspectors in September 2017 for not properly supervising outside smoking or preventing residents from smoking inside bathrooms.
Following the February 2021 fire, YCRHC revised its smoking policy, removing wording that allowed residents to retain their lighters if they’re “deemed safe.” Room checks of all residents were also conducted, and multiple lighters were confiscated. These changes, among other safeguards, were meant to prevent a similar incident from happening in the future. But they didn’t.
On July 26, around 1:30 a.m., a resident set his bed linens on fire with a cigarette lighter and then threw it into the hallway, according to MSDH report. The incident set off the fire alarm, but a nurse was able to quickly put out the flame and no one was hurt.
Though state and federal regulations required the nursing home to report and investigate the fire, they did not. As a result, the Mississippi State Department of Health didn’t investigate the incident until Aug. 10, after receiving an anonymous complaint.
Documents show an MSDH investigator interviewed the resident, who said that he believed being overmedicated caused him to set the fire and he “was having one of those bad days.”
“I really don’t know what happened,” the man said.
In another interview with the investigator, a Yazoo City nursing home administrator said that the man left the facility three times per week for dialysis treatment, and that she felt it would be a violation of his rights to go through his belongings each time he returned to the facility. She also said that she was aware that several other residents likely had lighters in their possession because they were not consistently monitoring the belongings of residents who smoke or monitoring the packages mailed to them. When asked if they had confiscated all the lighters residents had after the fire, she said she hoped they had.
In its investigation report, MSDH wrote that the nursing home failed to thoroughly assess the resident’s mental and behavioral health before and after the fire.
This lack of individualized care for nursing home residents isn’t unique to Yazoo City, Wells said. Many facilities were short-staffed before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the problem has only gotten worse over the past two years.
Often, a certified nursing assistant (CNA) is assigned 15-20 patients for one eight-hour shift, a workload Wells says is impossible for anyone to manage. Additionally, the practice of rushing new hires through training and orientation processes is resulting in worse outcomes for everyone involved, she said.
“They’re certifying these CNAs in three weeks, putting them on the floor and they don’t know what they’re doing,” Wells said. “They’re causing all kinds of injuries and problems in nursing homes with these residents. They’re not getting the treatment they deserve.”
While many of the issues that the Yazoo City nursing home has encountered are present in other nursing homes, it is still somewhat of an outlier in Mississippi. YCRHC has received 16 health citations over the past three years, nearly double the national average and nearly quadruple the average for Mississippi facilities.
It has an overall one-star rating from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ratings program. Their low rating stems from deficiencies found during on-site examinations by state health inspectors, the amount of time nurses spend with individual residents and the overall quality of care those residents receive.
Wells, now working at a nursing home in Michigan, said she decided to share her experience publicly out of concern for nursing home residents and their families. Wells wonders: If something as big as a facility fire at YCRHC can go unreported for so long, and no real consequences come from this lack of care, what else is being swept under the rug at other nursing homes?
“People need to check on their family members in these nursing homes, because who knows what they’re going through. They’re not being protected,” Wells said. “Something’s gotta change, but I got to get it out there before it can get changed.”
A judge in the ongoing welfare embezzlement case is balancing the public’s interest in learning how officials misspent tens of millions of federal dollars with a defendant’s right to a fair trial.
On Tuesday, Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Adrienne Wooten spoke strongly in defense of a gag order in the case of former welfare director John Davis, saying that media coverage of the scandal threatens the court’s ability to assemble an impartial jury.
Then-Rep. Adrienne Wooten, D-Jackson, argues against the passage of a bill in 2018. Wooten is now a Hinds County Circuit Court judge. Credit: Rogelio V. Solis, AP
She said it’s unfair that State Auditor Shad White, who initially investigated the scheme, and current Mississippi Department of Human Services Director Bob Anderson are free to make comments about Davis’ leadership while Davis is bound by a gag order and unable to respond.
“What it looks like is that one side of the story is being put out there,” Wooten said.
Officials charged Davis almost two years ago with conspiracy, embezzlement or fraud by a public official and making false statements to defraud the government. The indictment alleges his agency entered a $48,000 contract with ex-wrestler Brett DiBiase to conduct opioid addiction education courses, and paid him knowing he wasn’t conducting the work because he was in rehab. Davis also allegedly conspired to use welfare money, which his agency had granted to a nonprofit, to pay for DiBiase’s four-month long stint in a luxury rehab facility in California.
But the criminal charges only scratch the surface: Under Davis’ leadership, independent auditors have found $70 million in improper purchases with federal public assistance dollars. Nonprofits made most of these purchases, which obscured the spending from public view. For example, the people in charge of spending welfare dollars paid $5 million to help University of Southern Mississippi build a new volleyball stadium, paid retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre $1.1 million for a promotional gig, bought a horse ranch for former high school running back Marcus Dupree, paid over $3 million to Brett DiBiase’s brother Ted DiBiase Jr., also a retired WWE wrestler, to conduct professional development, hired officials’ friends and family members and paid them six-figure salaries, and paid rents on properties they owned that sat empty.
No one has been charged in connection with these purchases. Many more millions are yet to be accounted for and investigators have not revealed the involvement of any other figures, such as state leaders, in the scheme.
Davis’ attorney recently asked the court to extend an existing suppression order in his case to include White and Anderson, citing two recent articles Mississippi Today published about the case. White launched the initial investigation into how Davis administered welfare. Gov. Tate Reeves appointed Anderson, former director of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Attorney General’s office, to clean up the agency in the aftermath.
In the nearly two years after agents first arrested Davis, White’s office has publicized continued findings related to welfare spending and Anderson has made media appearances to discuss changes at his agency as it attempts to restore public trust.
White and Anderson did not object to being included in the gag order, agreeing to refrain from discussing Davis’ criminal culpability. But their counsel argued that a broader order that prevented White and Anderson from discussing Davis’ tenure overall — such as policies, procedures and events separate from the criminal charges — would be too restrictive and prevent them from being transparent with the public about ongoing investigations and findings.
Wooten pushed back on this argument, repeatedly asking the attorney representing White and Anderson from the state attorney general’s office how the gag order prevents White from doing his job, namely auditing and investigating government spending. She asked if media coverage of an auditor’s investigation is initiated when a reporter asks the office a question or after the office publicizes the case.
A combination of both, the attorney answered.
Wooten also said that it’s impossible to separate the discussion of Davis’ criminal culpability, as it relates to the narrow criminal charges against him, from the overall alleged scheme that occurred under his watch.
“There is no division there when it comes to the criminal portion of the case,” Wooten said.
Wooten said it appears as if the officials are attempting to try Davis’ case in the media.
The agency expects to soon file civil charges against Davis and others who received the funds.
When White released the first audit outlining the scheme in May of 2020, he said Davis saw his appointment as head of human services in 2016 “as an opportunity to build a kingdom over there.” But in the last year, White’s office has declined on several occasions to publicly discuss the particulars of the criminal case.
Anderson recently told a reporter that his agency had reinstated the practice of sending letters to subgrantees who are suspected of misusing grant funds, which he said Davis’ administration had stopped. According to a Mississippi Today review of public records, the agency sent out 110 letters during roughly the last year under Anderson compared to four letters in fiscal year 2019 under Davis.
Davis’ attorney argues that when White and Anderson have discussed the case with the media, they have focused solely on Davis’ actions and not the several other employees who approved various purchases or the agency policies that he argues sanctioned Davis’ conduct.
Mississippi College student Sydney Pace, 18, has been riding horses since she was 9 years old. At 4 feet 11 inches tall, the Oxford native has become an expert at handling horses vastly larger than herself.
A psychology major, Pace said it’s long been a goal to join the riding team at Mississippi College. Established in 2007, the equestrian program operates at Providence Hill Farm in Hinds County. However, with the recent loss of the team’s coach, there is currently no team in place. This means students don’t compete in competitions, but Pace and other riders at the college do earn a physical education credit. She still rides for the enjoyment, and for her love of horses.
Sydney Pace leads Key West from his stall to a grooming station to prepare him for a ride at Providence Hill Farm in Hinds County, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Key West is a study in patience as Sydney Pace, adjust a bridle to the large horse at Providence Hill Farm in Hinds County, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Key West enjoys a brush-down by Mississippi College student Sydney Pace, 18, of Oxford at Providence Hill Farm in Hinds County, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Sydney Pace is a psychology major at Mississippi College in Clinton. Pace grooms Key West in preparation him for a ride at Providence Hill Farm in Hinds County, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Key West remains patient as Sydney Pace adjusts a bridle on the large horse at Providence Hill Farm in Hinds County, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Sydney Pace, 18, of Oxford, is a psychology major at Mississippi College in Clinton. Pace and her mount Key West perform jumps at Providence Hill Farm in Hinds County, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Key West nuzzles for treats from Mississippi College student Sydney Pace after a ride at Providence Hill Farm in Hinds County, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Sydney Pace, 18, is a psychology major at Mississippi College in Clinton. Pace and her mount Key West head back to the stables after a ride at Providence Hill Farm in Hinds County, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Mississippi College student Sydney Pace and her mount Key West after a ride at Providence Hill Farm in Hinds County, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
The settlement that capped off a landmark case in the fight to desegregate higher education in Mississippi is about to run out.
Come July, the Legislature will have fulfilled its obligations in the $503 million payout that effectively ended the class-action lawsuit known as Ayers v. Fordice. And advocates for the historically Black public universities in Mississippi will start to look at whether it made up for more than a century of segregation.
How did we get here?
In 1975, Jake Ayers, a civil rights activist from Glen Allan, sued the state of Mississippi on behalf of his son, a student at Jackson State University. Ayers alleged that lawmakers, the IHL board, and the predominantly white universities used nearly a dozen policies and practices to prop up a dual system of higher education: One for Black students and one for white students.
After years of negotiations, the suit went to trial in 1982. A federal district judge in Oxford ruled that Mississippi universities had done enough to desegregate simply by adopting some “race-neutral policies.”
Undeterred, the plaintiffs fought the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and, in 1992, the justices ruled in their favor. Mississippi had to eliminate any policy or practice that was a vestige of segregation — and contributed to the “racial identifiability” of each school. That meant the predominantly white universities had to edit their admissions policies so that Black students could gain entry. But the HBCUs also had to do more to attract white students.
It would take 10 more years for the state of Mississippi and the plaintiffs to agree on how to address the issues the Supreme Court raised. Over the objections of the Ayers family, the case was finally settled in 2002. The agreement focused on four areas where funding could help root out “remnants of a dual, segregated system of higher education” in Mississippi: Academic programs, capital improvements, university endowments, and financial grants to students.
Together, these four areas totalled approximately $417 million in promised funds over 17 years. Another $2.5 million in attorneys fees and $83 million that the Legislature had already appropriated brought the total payout to $503 million.
By the time the settlement is said and done next year, the HBCUs will actually have received about $530 million.In fact, $503 million is just the floor — if it wanted, the Legislature could allocate more money to the HBCUs under the auspices of the Ayers agreement.
“The settlement agreement represents the minimum requirements,” Caron Blanton, the IHL spokesperson, told Mississippi Today. “The Legislature has the authority to exceed those amounts at its discretion.”
Funding pre-college summer programs to help more Black students go to white colleges
The Supreme Court ordered Mississippi to find more pathways for Black students to gain access to the predominantly white institutions, or PWIs. One way the state accomplished that was by directing all eight public universities to start using the same admissions standards.
Another was through the creation of “summer development programs.” These were nine-week remedial courses for students who did not meet the new admission criteria but still wanted to go to college. The settlement set aside $6.25 millionin financial aid for any student, regardless of race, who qualified. The Legislature ultimately appropriated $6.5 million. These grants ended in 2015 but the summer programs continue.
These programs were subject to some criticism. Some say it’s problematic that students who received the money set aside for these programs went to students, not directly to the HBCUs.Others have questioned whether these programs were effective. In a 2016 dissertation for University of Southern Mississippi, Amanda Susanne King found that the summer programs were “not increasing educational opportunities for Blacks at four-year public institutions in Mississippi.”
Bigger and better — and more — academic programs
As part of the settlement agreement, Mississippi’s three HBCUs proposed establishing newacademic and professional programs. This was thought to be another way the HBCUs could meet the court’s order to diversify and attract more non-Black students.
The three HBCUs (Jackson State, Alcorn State University, and Mississippi Valley State University) were to split $245.8 million over 17 years for 31 new academic programs and 11 enhanced academic programs. As of this year, the Legislature has allocated $249.1 million.
Valley State and Alcorn State both received $53.7 million.Valley State used the funds to strengthen its education programs by establishing a graduate program in special education, as well as several programs in biology, chemistry, history and math. Alcorn State focused on building up its nursing and business programs by enhancing library and academic technology, and creating a masters of biotechnology.
Jackson State used its$141.8 millionto open an engineering school, a public health school, a college of public service, and to establish the “Provost’s Library and Scholarship Pool.”
A full list of programs established by the universities can be found here.
New buildings but little money for deferred maintenance
The settlement set aside $75 million for capital improvements on HBCUs’ campuses. As of this fiscal year, all $75 million has been obtained by the universities.
Some of the completed projects were undertaken to support the new and expanded academic programs at the schools. At Alcorn State, five projects were proposed in the settlement agreement. These included new equipment for the MBA program at its Natchez campus and repairs and renovations of Dumas Hall on the Lorman campus — both part of the effort to get an accredited business program — a biotechnology building, a new fine arts center in Natchez and property to “improve security and access” to the Lorman campus.
According to the IHL’s annual update in the case, Alcorn spent $12.4 million to construct the biotechnology building, $4.7 million on renovations at Dumas Hall, and about $243,000 to obtain furniture for the MBA program (the third phase of that project was not completed). Alcorn did not build a fine arts center in Natchez but spent $7.7 million on a fine arts facility in Lorman.
Alcorn did not request or spend any bond funds to purchase property to “improve security and access” on the Lorman campus, according to IHL. This is an issue many students still have with Alcorn’s campus.
Jackson State proposed two projects in the original settlement agreement. Those were purchasing the former AllState Building at 1230 Raymond Road for $3 million and constructing an engineering building on campus for $20 million. Jackson State ultimately spent $3.3 million on the AllState Building, now called the Mississippi e-Center, and $19.9 million on the engineering building.
Mississippi Valley Stateproposed four projects: $5 million worth of library enhancements, a science and technology building, $3 million for landscaping and drainage, and $1.9 million for repairs and renovations. Valley State obtained and expended funds in every category except repairs and renovations, for which the university did not request any funds.
Despite this money, the HBCUs still contend with issues related to poor facilities and deferred maintenance. Where the PWIs can lean on their large endowments to pay for maintenance, Mississippi’s HBCUs are more reliant on state funding. The Legislature has cut the budget for higher education in recent years, making it harder for the HBCUs to pay for regular upkeep.
Larger and better funded endowments
When it came to endowments — a sign of a university’s wealth — the gap between the HBCUs and the PWIs was particularly stark. By the mid-1990s, the endowments of Mississippi’s PWIs were worth a combined $115 million. The three HBCUs had just $5 million in endowments.
The settlement sought to remedy this gap by paying out $105 million to create public and private endowments. But there was a catch: In order to access the funds, the HBCUs were required to have graduating classes 10% of which were “other-race” (read: white) students.At that point, the universities could use the endowments for other goals like raising faculty salaries. Until then, any interest generated was to be used to attract non-Black students.
The public endowment, which totalled $70 million, was fully funded by legislative appropriations in fiscal year 2019.
The private endowment is a different story. The IHL board was supposed to raise $35 million in donations. While the settlement agreement specified the board was to use “its best efforts” to raise the money, it also specified that “the inability to do so shall not be cause for setting aside this agreement.” Today, the IHL board has raised just $1,036,600.
The under-funded private endowment is one reason why some argue the Ayers settlement is not, and was never, enough to truly desegregate higher education in Mississippi. Many also point to the Legislature, which has slashed the budget for higher education in Mississippi. HBCUs have turned to the Ayers money to make up for the gap – not to catch up to the PWIs as intended.
The presidents of Mississippi’s three predominately white research institutions have seen their salaries balloon since 2008.
The presidents at University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University are now paid more than three times their peers at Delta State University, Mississippi University for Women, Alcorn State University and Mississippi Valley State University.
This gap is mainly due to the foundations at UM and MSU increasing the amount they provide in salary supplements to the presidents. In 2008, UM’s foundation paid Robert Khayat, the president at the time, a salary supplement of $205,800. This year, Glenn Boyce received a supplement of $500,000 from the foundation.
Through a public records request, Mississippi Today received salary data for the presidents at all eight public universities going back to 2008. The data includes the amount each president received in a supplement from the university’s private, non-profit foundation, figures previously unavailable to the public in a comprehensive fashion.
As of 2021, all but one president – Jerryl Briggs at MVSU — now receive a salary supplement from their university’s foundation, according to the data. Briggs received a $10,000 supplement from MVSU’s foundation until 2019. When the supplement was discontinued, Briggs’s state salary was raised by the same amount to compensate.
You might not have known Bill Hetrick, but I can guarantee this — if you had met him, you’d have loved him. And he would be your friend. He was Mississippi’s own George Bailey. He made this a better place just by being in this place. Bill died right before Christmas and while he wasn’t a President or nobility, his life was truly worthy of remembering and honoring. Bill, thank you for being you. Your passing is a huge loss to our community.
P.S. I’m off this week but will return after the first of the year. Happy New Year.
