http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1151572938248960.xml&coll=2 – 13% of state’s high school students expected to drop out before graduation.

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1151572520248960.xml&coll=2 – U.S. House rejects effort to remove requirement for multilingual ballots from Voting Rights Act.

http://www.al.com/business/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/business/1151572914248960.xml&coll=2 – Birmingham construction trade group raises concerns over proposed immigration law.

http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1151572774248960.xml&coll=2 – Editorial offers “cautious applause” at state’s improvement in Kids Count ranking.

http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1151572957248900.xml&coll=3 – Deliberations to continue today in Siegelman case.

http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1151572877248900.xml&coll=3 – Strange blasts Wallace for Democratic past in GOP lt. governor’s race.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060629/NEWS/606290335/1007/9112002 – Mississippi Choctaw Band deny spending $13 million on ’02 governor’s race.

FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:

Editorials

Time to settle up

In our opinion

06-29-2006

A quarter of a century has passed since the state of Alabama was sued by two of its universities — Alabama State and Alabama A&M. The historically black colleges claimed that state policies from the era before the Civil Rights Movement left their institutions without programs and facilities equal to those found in historically white institutions. The suit further charged that those same segregationist-era policies resulted in few black students, faculty and administrators in the once all-white schools.

Three trials and some orders from the bench resulted in the state appropriating over $180 million to ASU and A&M to upgrade facilities, offer diversity scholarships and increase the number of high-demand programs.

However, two sticking points remain.

ASU and A&M are still seeking the hiring of more black faculty and administrators at the predominantly white universities, and they want the state to enact a need-based college scholarship program like other states.

The request for more need-based scholarships has merit. Alabama is one of only two states in the Southeast without such a program. If other states can do it, so can we.

The matter of putting more African-Americans in faculty and administrative slots is a bit more complicated. Any administrator at any college — whether predominantly black or white — will tell you that blacks with PhDs (the degree that’s usually required) are hard to find and, with Alabama salaries, harder to hire. The competition is keen, and until the state thinks it is as important to recruit and retain university personnel (black and white) as it is to recruit highly trained employees for our industries, this situation is not likely to change. A judicial order to hire more blacks will be difficult to carry out, no matter how hard we try.

We sincerely hope that ASU and A&M are willing to negotiate a reasonable compromise on the hiring issue and that the state will offer more need-based scholarships as its part of the bargain.

There is a middle ground here, if the two sides will just work to find it.