SPOTLIGHT ON KIRKLAND & ELLIS LAW FIRM
for Donating $12.5 Million to HBCUs, Nonprofits and Organizations, including NAFEO

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 18,  2021 – Kirkland & Ellis Law Firm  litigation Partner Michael Jones, a Dillard University alumnus,  led the litigation team in the Maryland Higher Education Equity Case to victory after 12 years of pro bono representation. Kirkland & Ellis will share $12.5 million of the statutory fees it received from the State of Maryland as part of the landmark $577M  settlement with seven Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), nonprofits and community organizations with missions to advance racial justice, equity and civil rights. The largest donation will go to the Dillard University Center for Racial Justice in New Orleans. A $5 million gift from the Firm will allow Dillard’s Center for Racial Justice to create an endowment to fund paid internships at various civil rights and public interest organizations. With its gift, NAFEO will accelerate its building of an elite HBCUs Justice Advocacy Corps, and launch HBCUs Linking the Supply Chain that will support NAFEO member institutions in addressing the crisis in supply chain management.

The work of the Kirkland lawyers and those at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, was an exemplary, strategic, multipronged approach to lawyering. The 12-year pro bono investment of Kirkland & Ellis, to bring financial equity to Maryland and in so doing, to establish the roadmap for the other 18 states that maintain dual and unequal higher education systems, to seek to attain equity, is a testament to the commitment of the firm to using its resources to leveling playing fields across America. Their $12.5 million gift to seven HBCUs, and nonprofits and community organizations committed to economic justice is reflective of the great lengths to which they will go to move the nation toward educational, economic and racial equity.

As the membership and advocacy association for all HBCUs, it was with tremendous humility and a joy filled spirit, that I was privileged to accept the unprecedented Kirkland & Ellis private investment in NAFEO, on behalf of all 105 HBCUs, and 80 PBIs: 185 presidents and chancellors, 700,000 students, 72,000 faculty, and nearly 7 million alumni.

NAFEO Signature Programs

NAFEO POLICY & ADVOCACY

The cornerstone of NAFEO’s work is its advocacy on behalf of the overarching issues and interests of paramount concern to the diverse HBCUs and PBIs, and their stakeholders. NAFEO leads in advocating on behalf of its members in executive, administrative, legislative, and judicial branches of government, by educating and strategically placing before these branches of government the media, national and global outlets, HBCU and PBI students, executives, administrators, faculty, staff and alumni, “the voices for HBCUs and HBIs.”

Annually, NAFEO leads its members in assisting in shaping and championing an HBCU Community Congressional Budget, in working with Members of Congress from both major parties, in both Houses of Congress in reauthorizing legislation of greatest importance to HBCUs, PBIs and their stakeholder communities, and in securing more, and more strategic investments in these institutions and their stakeholders, in 14 congressional appropriations. NAFEO also works with the state legislatures and State Higher Education Executives (SHEEOs) in every state in which there is an HBCU or PBI. 

NAFEO played a central role in Advancing the issues and interests of its members in all of the coronavirus special appropriations and in ensuring optimal investments in its members in both the Build Back Better Framework and the infrastructure bill of 2021. NAFEO lead in positioning the  HBCUs and PBIs  as the quintessential equal educational opportunity institutions they are and highlighting that HBCUs are non MSIs because they have not race or ethnicity criterion for student admissions, retention, or advancement, for employment or contracting. HBCUs should be the first consideration for any student, faculty, staff member, or contractor who believes in the centrality of diversity to American progress.  NAFEO and the NBCSL Law and Justice Committee led the fight for 30 years that resulted in 2023, in USDA and Ed  urging select governors of states with  1890 land-grant institutions to invest some of the dollars that were wrongfully withheld from HBCUs through the ages. NAFEO knows the ask is just a downpayment on that which is actually owed, but an important downpayment that should be aggressively sought by allies of HBCUs as a “non-accord and satisfaction” fraction of what is owed.  We will keep prodding the states and the federal government to invest more in all HBCUs commensurate with their return on investments and that which they have forewent through the years. NAFEO has also taken the lead on behalf of  non-partisan Voting Rights Act battles before state legislative and administrative bodies and in courts. The tremendous strategic alliances we have forged and maintained throughout our nearly 55 years, and the new ones we have established in recent years, have opened the eyes, ears, minds, and hearts of a broader and more diverse group of stakeholders, to the tremendous return on investments in HBCUs and PBIs. 

The most compelling reason for investments in NAFEO member institutions is their return on investments: HBCUs have a $15 billion short-term economic impact. HBCUs are just 4% of American colleges and universities, yet they graduate 50% of African American public school education professionals; in excess of 40% of African Americans who earn advanced degrees in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); 60% of African American health professionals; 52% of African Americans in agriculture and sustainability disciplines, and 44% of African Americans with Communications Technology degrees. 

NAFEO PRESIDENTIAL PEER SEMINAR

The Presidential Peer Seminar is designed to provide the HBCU and PBI presidents with information, inspiration, new skills and relationships to enhance their ability to serve at the helm of their institutions, meet the many demands of governance, and better serve their stakeholders. It also facilitates formal and informal meetings among and between government, corporate, NGO, and philanthropic CEOs and CEOs of HBCUs and PBIs in a relaxed setting. The Peer Seminar affords presidents and chancellors an opportunity to build fraternity and to spend facilitated formal and informal time with their colleagues, their mates and with select people they invite to join them because of the vital role they play in an arena central to the mission of HBCUs and PBIs HBCUS, PBIs, or because of a new publication, presentation or innovation they have of interest to members. 

A special part of the Presidential Peer Seminar is the Freshmen Presidents’ Boot Camp. The Boot Camp is designed to assist freshmen  HBCU and PBI presidents to get their grounding, understand controlling laws, policies and resources, and to forge relationships important to their presidency. In the past few years, we have had an average of  twenty (20) new HBCU and PBI presidents and chancellors participate in the Presidential Peer Seminar, with about 65 more senior presidents and chancellors.

NAFEO Freshmen Presidents and Chancellors Boot Camp & All Presidents Training Institute (Attendant to Presidential Peer Seminar)

HBCU Freshmen Presidents’ Boot Camp and Training Institute is part of the NAFEO Presidential Peer Seminar. As the membership and advocacy association for all HBCUs and PBIs, NAFEO provides a range of support services for these presidents. Among the membership services are:

The Freshmen Presidents Boot Camp for new HBCU presidents takes place during the NAFEO Presidential Peer Seminar (PPS) with senior presidents conducting workshops, formal and informal discussion groups for freshmen presidents for one full day during its three-day PPS, then subsequently serving in “on call” mentor-protégé relationships in which the mentors  guide the freshman through the challenges and opportunities emanating from  serving at the helm of one of America’s HBCUs or PBIs. The Freshmen Presidents’ Training Institute Once Freshmen presidents/chancellors complete the “Boot Camp” and the freshmen presidents are assigned a mentor, the presidents who have served at least one full year at the helm of and HBCU or PBI provide training in practical, hands-on matters that they typically encounter, such as budgeting, financial management, accreditation, governance, fundraising, student services, understanding and complying with federal and state laws and regulations, governing HBCUs, and alumni, governmental, foundation and corporate relations.  It also offers skills development in building support networks, civic engagement, marketing, social media management, and community outreach.  

NAFEO National Dialogue on Blacks in Higher Education; HBCUs on the Hill, & Salute to Congressional Champions  

NAFEO’s National Dialogue on Blacks in Higher Education has been the Nation’s premiere national confab on higher education equity and access: a virtual “who’s who” of  American education, political, social and thought leaders on higher education; the presidents and chancellors of the nation’s 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and in excess of 25 of the 80 presidents of Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs), federal and state policymakers and executives.  The NAFEO National Dialogue  has brought together administrators, faculty, students, alumni, board members, admissions and academic affairs professionals, procurement officers, human resources directors, student service professionals and others from across the nation. NAFEO’s convenings have attracted business, philanthropic, government, advocacy, civic, faith, constitutional, civil rights, and social justice champions, and student leaders, to exchange information about  America’s HBCUs and PBIs and blacks in higher education. 

At the Dialogue, the delegates reach consensus on a multi-year National Agenda on Blacks in Higher Education on which their delegates work for months in advance of the convening.  The National Dialogue includes HBCUs on the Hill Day  which includes congressional visits, congressional hearings or roundtables on the State of  America’s Black Colleges, and a Salute to Congressional Champions.  The National Dialogue also hosts town hall meetings, learning laboratories, institutes, and roundtable discussions.

HBCU TECH FOUNDATION

Founded in 2018, as an independent, 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit association, The HBCU Technology Foundation was established to spur Historically Black College and University (HBCU) technological innovation and monetization, primarily through sustainable partnerships between HBCUs, corporations, non-governmental associations, foundations, federal, state, county and municipal agencies. The HBCU Technology Foundation will enable Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to generate new, independent revenue streams through the acquisition, licensing, and protection of intellectual property assets issued from industry leading technology companies.  The HBCU Technology Foundation will also assist research-intensive HBCUs develop disruptive technologies and expand their intellectual property portfolios by leveraging the HBCU Technology Foundation’s growing suite of powerful and convenient technology transfer services.  

The HBCU Technology Foundation’s intellectual property portfolios will also provide exciting opportunities for HBCUs to provide clinical learning environments for law students, business students, and STEM students to receive hands-on experience in developing and commercializing valuable intellectual property assets.

NAFEO Campus Plus Community  (CPC/ COMMUNIVERSITY Development

The Campus Plus Community development program is a transformative redevelopment approach for HBCU campuses and the communities surrounding their campuses. CPC offers a structured development program that will allow HBCUs to build state-of-the-art on and off campus facilities. 

Development activities range from on campus projects directly related to improving the academic environment, to off-campus projects focused on improving economic vitality of the adjacent community environment. Whether on-campus or off-campus, the projects will enhance the HBCU’s ability to attract new students and increase enrollment.  The on-campus projects may include innovation research centers, student housing facilities, classroom buildings, administrative office buildings,  libraries, student centers, athletic facilities; parking facilities ; and other types of on-campus mixed-use facilities   

Off-campus projects will be located within a one-mile radius of the campus or on the perimeter of the campus where direct access is provided to the general public, and those projects may include: mixed-use residential or commercial projects, hospitality projects (e.g., hotels) healthcare projects (e.g., hospitals), retail projects; and office buildings.  

The biggest plus of Communiversity is that the development is done through the membership association of the HBCUs and PBIs, an independent association.

Student & Faculty Leadership Development Internships & Apprenticeships

The NAFEO internship, ambassadorship, and apprenticeship opportunities offer students an opportunity for practical, hands-on experience and career-building service with federal agencies, corporations, small-female, minority-owned businesses, publishing houses, tech companies, and so many other growth and high need industries, and “graying industries.” These career service training grounds, offer  the students an opportunity to learn about the inner workings of federal and state government, corporations and NGOs, while augmenting the knowledge they acquire in the classroom with real life experiences and enriching the targeted workforces.  The opportunities provide the employers/placement centers an opportunity to learn, firsthand, about the excellence, intellectual curiosity, passion, and professionalism of HBCU and PBI students who are excelling in many disciplines, disproportionately in high needs and growth disciplines.  

NAFEO President, Attorney Lezli Baskerville Thanks and Salutes…

The Coalition for Equity and Excellence in Maryland Higher Education

• Dillard University Alumni, Michael D. Jones, Partner of Kirkland & Ellis & The Law Firm of Kirkland & Ellis (pro bono counsel) 
• The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (pro bono counsel) Dr. Earl Richardson, President Emeritus, Morgan State University & The Robert M. Bell Center for Civil Rights & Education at Morgan State University and Others 

 For…their Unprecedented Decade Plus Pro Bono Litigation in The Coalition for Equity and Excellence in Maryland Higher Education vs. Maryland Higher Education Commission, et. al.  Yielding the Landmark Decision in the HBCU Equity Lawsuit and An Unprecedented $577M Settlement.

The road to and through this case has been long and stony. It started in 1978 when NAFEO filed a case with OCR. It traversed through DOE several times, through Maryland administrative and executive bodies, the Maryland State Legislature for 30 years under NAFEO’s leadership before moving to the judicial system 15 years ago. As a Legal Research Assistant for Dr. Herbert O. Reid, Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law, Ms. Baskerville wrote and filed with the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, the first administrative complaint in the case. As pro bono counsel, she worked for the next 30 years on the case as it made its way through Education investigations, state legislative hearing, state executive level and state commission hearings.

Interest of National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education in The Coalition for Equity and Excellence in Maryland Higher Education, et al., vs. Maryland Higher Education Commission, et al.

The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) located at 110 Maryland Avenue, NE, Washington, D.C. 20002, and organized October 7, 1969, is a voluntary, independent, 501 (c)(3) association of presidents and chancellors of 105 public, private, land-grant, 2- and 4-year, undergraduate, graduate and professional Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and more than 80 Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs). HBCUs, the subject of this case, are mission-based institutions that by congressional legislation are committed to welcoming, enrolling, stimulating, developing and graduating the progeny of the American slave system. They have always offered the same opportunities to a broad and diverse cohort of others, especially the growing populations of the Nation and the states—persons who are low-income, first generation, and students and families of color. NAFEO serves as “the voice for blacks in higher education.” NAFEO members represent more than 700,000 students, 70,000 faculty, and 7 million alumni worldwide. Morgan State University, Bowie State University, Coppin State University, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Baltimore City Community College and Prince George’s Community College are NAFEO member HBCU and PBI institutions.

NAFEO was organized to articulate the need for higher education systems not limited as to quantity or quality by race, income, or previous educational limitations nor other determinants not based on ability.

NAFEO is an association of those colleges and universities which are not only committed to the above goal, but are also fully committed in terms of their resources, human and financial, to attaining this goal. The association is committed to promoting the widest possible sensitivity to the complex factors involved in this case. The association has, for almost half a century, been committed to leveraging all possible resources to create excellent, diverse higher education systems across America, and creating, funding, and sustaining, programs for diverse students, especially from those groups buffered by the racism, exploitation, and neglect of the economic, educational and social institutions of America.

NAFEO has worked in eighteen (18) states with its member institutions; with the state higher education executive officers, governors, state legislators, corporate and foundation partners; and with Federal executives, legislators, and appropriators to shape and advance programs to eliminate the vestiges of de jure segregation and to promote equal educational opportunities for all. The Association has filed amicus curiae briefs in the Supreme Court in The Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation v. Weber, Fullilove v. Klutznick, United States v. Fordice, and joined as amici on Supreme Court briefs in Gratz v. Bollinger, Grutter v. Bollinger, and University of Texas, Austin v. Fisher (Fisher II). We bring to this important case, the unique lens of nearly 50 years as a leading voice in this space. Thus, NAFEO has a unique interest in this litigation.

Founded in the period after the Civil War and after the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution were passed, HBCUs were designed to ensure equality for recently emancipated slaves. The initial HBCUs were mostly founded by abolitionists and historically Black faith denominations. They were mostly private institutions, like Bowie State University, founded in 1865, the first HBCU in the State of Maryland, by an association dedicated to creating educational opportunities to those in the State whom the State failed to educate. They were operated for many years with no or few government dollars. Even after passage of the second Morrill Act in 1890 that established historically Black land-grant institutions to support the actions of Confederate States that resisted and refused to enroll Blacks in the White state land-grant institutions, public and private HBCUs received negligible public dollars.

In the 1970s, on behalf of its member institutions, NAFEO led in challenging the underfunding of public HBCUs as a continuation of segregated higher education systems in ten states in violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, in the precedent setting case of Adams v. Richardson cum Califano. 430 F. Supp. 118 (D.D.C.1977) ,356 F. Supp. 92 (D.D.C.1973), affirmed as modified, 480 F.2d 1159 (D.C.Cir.1973). In the Adams states, the states declined for years to demonstrate that they had taken adequate steps, not only to desegregate the historically White Colleges and universities, but also, the historically Black colleges and universities. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia suggested an approach for ending dual and unequal higher education systems that indicates it is not enough to desegregate the historically White higher education institutions, but that the historically Black institutions must also be desegregated. The problem of integrating higher education must be dealt with on a state-wide rather than a school-by-school basis”; and that the controversy involves “the complex problem of system-wide racial imbalance” in public higher education. Adams v. Richardson, 156 U.S. App. D.C. 267, 480 F.2d 1159, 1164-65 (1973). The Court found ending certain types of discrimination imperative for desegregating higher education institutions in the states that maintained dual higher education systems. “The desegregation of student bodies, of faculties, the enhancement of Black institutions long disadvantaged by discriminatory treatment, and desegregation of the governance of higher education systems,” 430 F. Supp. 118 at 120 (D.D.C. 1977), for example are all essential. “Perhaps the most serious problem in this area is the lack of state-wide planning to provide more and better trained minority group doctors, lawyers, engineers and other professionals.” This is instructive today as to how Maryland might proceed from this point forward.

Despite the challenges of woeful underfunding, from the founding of the early HBCUs to the passage of the 1890 land grant Act to the present, HBCUs have been open to all races, sexes, colors, creeds, and both genders, and they have always collectively offered employment and other incidental privileges to all who have passed through their doors, except where state law prohibited the same. The disproportionately Black student racial composition of HBCUs is not a result of the policies or practices of the HBCUs, but rather, a testament primarily to state and federal governmental practices of racial discrimination that have kept HBCUs under resourced and prevented states from realizing the Supreme Court mandated requirement that when states maintain dual higher education systems, one historically Black and one historically White, they must invest in the historically Black institutions such that they are comparable to and competitive with the historically White Institutions.

It is proof to the dogged determination and innovation, of HBCUs that the disparities in funding notwithstanding, their diversity data bear out their commitment to and practices of including persons without regard to non-bona fide criteria. HBCUs enroll roughly 30% of non-African American students. Their faculty is more than 40% non-African American. Today 5 HBCUs are more than 50% non-African American. At least one is majority Hispanic-serving. One is being shepherded by a White female president. They have been and they continue to be menders and healers for wounded minds and restless souls. They have been and they continue to be incubators and stimulators of students who are the “best and brightest,” and those who are marginalized and who have been hampered by failing systems. They have produced sterling talent which has benefitted the Republic beyond measure of calculation—not only in material contribution, but intellectual, cultural, moral and spiritual offerings. Most are the economic engines of their service areas. Today, their combined short-term economic impact is nearly $15 billion. In many areas, HBCUs have been more profoundly representative of the American ethic than the larger, more affluent American higher education institutions. Indeed, HBCUs were founded and remain to this day the quintessential equal educational opportunity institutions committed to a public offering of educational attainment.

That many HBCUs have thrived and to this day are thriving despite the continued underfunding and other vestiges of de jure segregation, is evidence of the tenacity of those in the HBCU Community. For, despite incremental improvements to eliminate the disparities, these improvements have never been sufficient to overcome more than a century of underinvestment in HBCUs. And, while HBCUs are not monolithic, there are characteristics that are pervasive across the Community. In a world in which student choice reigns supreme, the aesthetics of the campus, the infrastructure, the technology, dormitories, student life buildings, laboratories, centers of excellence, diversity of offerings, quantity and quality of front line student services personnel, and other staff, the student-faculty ratio, student-counselor and student-tutor ratio, extra learning opportunities, including internships and study abroad, and a host of other accouterments of adequate funding, play a large role in determining where students choose to go to college or university and whether they persist.

The institutions whose views are presented in this amicus curiae brief, are of the opinion that a decision in the Maryland case will be instructive nationwide. NAFEO has worked with the State of Maryland for forty-nine years to shape policies, programs and practices, and to prod investments of public financial and other resources in a manner that does not perpetuate dual and unequal higher education or that wittingly or unwittingly perpetuates the vestiges of past discrimination and maintains the status quo ante. For example, we were in Maryland when, at the time of NAFEO’s founding, Maryland was operating a segregated system of higher education. With NAFEO’s prodding and that of others, the State was forced by federal oversight to take action designed to erase vestiges of higher education segregation. We have witnessed the State’s progress in equalizing higher education ebb and flow. With the prodding and vigilance of The Maryland Coalition for Equity and Excellence in Maryland Higher Education, state legislators, state executives, state higher education executive officers, corporations, foundations, and a host of others the State is today at a critical juncture.

We are optimistic that the State wants to and will, indeed, move to finding a fair, equitable and efficient way of removing the vestiges of the discrimination in Maryland higher education and to closing the chapter on the ignominious dual and unequal higher education system in the State.

By moving as Maryland is to establishing an equitable desegregation and funding plan for higher education, and to defining “comparability and competitiveness,” and thereby establishing a common yardstick to inventory higher education institutions and measure their progress, the State will position itself as a trailblazer in the arena of parity measurement in postsecondary education. It will pave the way for the State to establish a best practices measurement model of “comparability” and “competitiveness” not only for the State of Maryland, but also for similarly situated states across the nation. Once perfected and evaluated, Maryland could have a model for attaining excellence and equity in higher education in Twenty First Century America and beyond. The HBCU Community, state higher education executives, state executives and legislators are awaiting the outcome of this case with a sense of renewed hope. The case is especially timely, with the shift in the demographics of the Nation and the shift in the education, workforce, and entrepreneurship landscapes.

It is fitting for Maryland to lead the Nation in what we hope will be the chapter that will enable America to close the book on separate and unequal higher education and provide a clear yardstick for measuring higher education systems not limited as to quantity or quality by race, income, or previous educational limitations, nor other determinants not based on ability. It was, after all, in the State of Maryland, where much of the higher education equalization debate and actions began, in an effort to tear down barriers to equal educational opportunity in public higher education. The case of Pearson v. Murray, 182 A. 590 (1936), started the State of Maryland and placed the Nation on the journey that has led to this point. In that case, Donald Gain Murry was denied admission to the University of Maryland Law School because of his race, and the Maryland Court of Appeals held that Murray should have been admitted to the existing state law school. We hope that the court will bring this chapter in American history to a close before 2019, the year that marks the 400th year of Africans in America.

[1] Members of the NAFEO Board of Directors are as follows: Glenda Baskin Glover, President, Tennessee State University, Retiring; state Attorney Lezli Baskerville, President & CEO, NAFEO, Ex Officio; Board Chair; James A. Anderson, Chancellor, Fayetteville State University; Benjamin F. Chavis, President, National Newspaper Publishers Association, Vice Chair of the Board; George T. French, President, Miles College; Michael T. Nettles, SVP & Chair for Policy Evaluation & Research, ETS; Kent Smith, President, Langston University, Retiring Board Member; Thelma B. Thompson, President, TBT CASPA & Associates, Former President, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; and Harry L. Williams, President, Delaware State University, Retiring Board Member.