News, JACKSON, Miss. Proposal to merge black schools draws fire. (legal, education)

[JD59]

JACKSON, Miss. - Gov. Haley Barbour's plan to merge Mississippi's three historically black universities has created a tense atmosphere in a state saddled with a violent civil rights past and a decades-long legal battle over the historic underfunding of those schools.

At Jackson State University, students have turned to Twitter and Facebook to gather signatures on a petition to block the move proposed by the Republican governor.

Proposal to merge black schools draws fire - Education- msnbc.com