Reaction to Gov. Haley Barbour’s notion that administration of Mississippi Valley State and Alcorn State could be merged under Jackson State to save money has been emotional.

The best policy argument was in a comment from Dr. Ronald Mason, JSU president, who, in so many words, said part of the mission of the three historically black universities is to keep open as wide as possible the door to opportunity, especially for citizens historically underserved.

But claims that the HBCUs have special protection or a status that other universities don’t are wrong, at least in legal terms.

No less than the U.S. Supreme Court has said so.

Today and for decades to come, Mississippi’s dual system of higher education will have people scratching their heads.

Some schools for whites? Some schools for blacks? Wasn’t that ruled unconstitutional in 1954?

The answer is yes, but only public grade schools. It was simple enough to order school boards to draw districts, period. Formerly “white schools” and “black schools” disappeared with no thought of their histories or traditions or distinct missions.

The situation with state universities since the first black student was enrolled in 1962 has not been as simple to resolve. Students aren’t assigned to universities. Where to enroll is an individual matter, subject to admissions criteria.

Also, unlike grade schools, universities have varying areas of emphasis. Each of Mississippi’s eight offers at least a few programs and degrees that aren’t available at the others.

So while grade-schoolers were assigned based on residence, college students were offered the equivalent of a freedom of choice approach.

By the time 1975 rolled around, a group of people including Bennie Thompson, then a young resident of Bolton and now a committee chairman and veteran of the U.S. House of Representatives, decide to file suit saying the state was underfunding Alcorn, Valley and Jackson State to the detriment of black students.

Charlie Mitchell is executive editor of The Vicksburg Post. Write to him at Box 821668, Vicksburg, MS 39182, or e-mail.

The federal case bore the name of the plaintiff whose name came first in alphabetical order — Jake Ayers — and it caused judges to engage in gyrations that would make a trapeze artist swoon for years. A settlement was eventually signed and final court approval was given 29 years later in 2004.

Ayers stood on two rather sensitive legs. To prove his case, the plaintiffs’ attorney, Alvin Chambliss, was required to argue that the three historically universities, due to lack of resources, were not as good as the other universities and, further, that the HBCUs had, for the lack of a better word, a special status and the special status meant the state had to pay extra for them to catch up.

The case made it to the Supreme Court in 1992 and the justices, having spent decades making the point that there could be no such thing as a black school or a white school, stuck with the equality theme. Education is education. Buses are buses. Restaurants are restaurants. Everybody deserves the same opportunities. No dual systems.

But because the Ayers case came from Mississippi, the poster state for racial disparity, the justices chose not to end their opinion by saying open admissions was as far as the state needed to go. The justices voted to send the case back to the trial judge with instructions to eliminate “the last vestiges of racism,” which the justices couldn’t define, but suspected were present.

That gave U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers a challenge — but it came with a direct instruction: The Supreme Court said HBCUs could not be protected or given extra consideration as “special enclaves” for minorities. To do so would perpetuate, in essence, “a vestige of racism” because the HBCUs, from the start, were born of racism.

A major portion of the Ayers settlement, signed by Thompson on behalf of the plaintiffs, affirms this. It directs that much of the settlement money is payable only if the HBCUs diversify, achieving at least 10 percent non-black enrollment.

From all appearances, Barbour’s administrative merger idea was dead as soon as the words came out of his mouth. He’s been called a racist and worse.

But the rhetoric about a special mission or status merits a response. It cut no mustard with the U.S. Supreme Court.

When white Mississippians first decided to create dual systems of grade schools and higher education, it’s because they wanted racial separation. Dismantling the dual grade school system was accomplished. In higher education, open admission is as far as things are likely to go.

Lawmakers are not likely to shutter any public university, but they could. The only way to assure the future of HBCUs is to boost enrollment and increase alumni support. No court is going to help.