Participants Assess the Louisiana Consent Decree

Abstract

W illiam B. Reynolds, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the U.S. Justice Department in 1983, suggested in a speech that year that the Louisiana Consent Decree (LCD) exemplified the Reagan administration's record in enforcing civil rights statutes that apply to higher education. According to Reynolds, Louisiana entered into an amicable agreement to preserve Black institutions rather than discontinuing them or merging them with White colleges (Reynolds, 1983). Signed into effect in 1981 and continuing through 1987, the LCD aims to insure that Louisiana's system of public higher education is operated on a unitary basis. It provides for crossenrollments of students of nearby predominantly Black and predominantly White schools and works to strengthen Black colleges, though it pulls back from previous efforts to force mass integration of faculties and student bodies. Given the LCD'S expiration date in 1987, evaluations of its impact recently began.