The Washington Post - 14.11.2019

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE B5

Bowie State President Aminta

H. Breaux said the university is

considering cutting some pro-

grams and trying to find a way to

keep staff whose salaries are

supported by federal funding.

The school is hoping to shift

other federal funding to offset

the loss of money earmarked for

minority-serving schools.

“What we’re doing is a real

juggling act,” Breaux said.

“Meanwhile, I spend a great deal

of time trying to garner private

support that we desperately

need, and many of our HBCUs

need, because we have such a low

endowment.”

Historically black institutions

have not benefited from the level

of private philanthropy that bol-

sters the endowments of majori-

ty-white institutions. Bowie

State has an $8 million endow-

ment to support academic pro-

grams and financial aid for more

than 6,100 students. By compari-

son, the University of Baltimore,

with about 4,400 students, has

an endowment of about $50

million.

With only a third of Bowie

State’s $146 million budget de-

rived from state appropriations,

all sources of revenue are vital

to the university’s sustainabili-

ty, Breaux said. She said Mary-

land has been generous with its

support, but for Bowie State

and other historically black in-

stitutions to be competitive,

more resources must be

brought to bear.

“We need the additional

funds to recruit more faculty to

scale up. We need to continue to

keep pace with developing our

curriculum, developing new

programs,” Breaux said. Pro-

ceeds from the settlement of the

coalition’s lawsuit “would be a

huge added value” to those

efforts.

Barnes, president of the Legis-

lative Black Caucus of Maryland,

said he is trying to garner sup-

port from the state Democratic

Caucus, hoping that a broader

coalition will stand with the

black caucus in its fight.

“This doesn’t just affect the

African American community,

but the state of Maryland with its

economy, with creating jobs,” he

said. “It has a long lingering

effect on where we are as a state

and where we are moving to.”

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O’Malley (D), whose final offer

was $40 million. “Gov. Hogan

has shown real leadership on

this issue where others have

repeatedly failed over the years,”

Shareese Churchill said.

In a letter to Jones (Baltimore

County), Hogan said he must

protect the state’s finances as

Maryland faces a $5 billion cash

shortfall between fiscal 2021 and

2024.

“As we approach the upcom-

ing budget process,” he told

Jones, “it is certainly within the

purview of you and your col-

leagues to attempt to find ways

to fund a settlement at the levels

you are seeking.”

Maryland is being asked to

atone for policies that the coali-

tion says have undermined the

state’s historically black institu-

tions. Years of allowing other

state colleges to duplicate pro-

grams that once attracted a di-

verse student body to the four

schools has impeded enrollment.

Advocates say that although

state spending has increased,

establishing parity within the

public university system re-

quires greater investment.

“Ultimately, the question is

whether you have the number

and diversity of programs and

services at our historically black

colleges as you have at the major-

ity institutions. And of course

you don’t,” said Earl S. Richard-

son, a former president of Mor-

gan State and a member of the

coalition. “The disparity in the

programming and infrastructure

gives historically white institu-

tions a great advantage over our

black schools.”

In a letter Jones sent Hogan in

October, she said the proposed

$577 million settlement could be

used to develop new academic

programs, hire faculty and ex-

pand the reach of state scholar-

ships.

“We cannot continue to allow

this lawsuit to languish, or risk

the potential that a higher feder-

al court will damage or eliminate

the important standards we have

in place,” Jones wrote.

Maryland appealed a 2017

court order to establish a set of

unique programs at each school

and provide additional funding

for marketing and scholarships.

The case remains in the hands of

the U.S. Court of Appeals for the

4th Circuit, which has yet to rule.

If the state wins its appeal, the

alumni coalition could petition

the Supreme Court to take up the

case.

Del. Charles E. Sydnor III

(D-Baltimore County) said he

will work on legislation to settle

the lawsuit for at least $577

million if a resolution is not

reached by the time the General

Assembly convenes in January.

Sydnor, who organized

Wednesday’s rally, said the state

“has defaulted on the promissory

note” owed to the historically

black universities.

“We call on Governor Hogan

to stop the foot dragging and

delay,” he said as one attendee

yelled, “Pay up.”

While historically black col-

leges and universities fight for

greater state investment, they

are grappling with the loss of

federal money. Congress did not

reauthorize $255 million in man-

datory funding for minority-

serving colleges in September,

leaving Maryland’s four histori-

cally black institutions without

more than $4 million in federal

assistance.

Money from the current ap-

propriation will carry over into

next year, but the uncertainty

around future funding is already

affecting local schools.

EVELYN HOCKSTEIN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

A bulldog mascot sits outside Bowie State University. The university is one of four historically black

colleges in Maryland that would receive part of a settlement from the state over inequitable funding.

BY DANIELLE

DOUGLAS-GABRIEL

AND OVETTA WIGGINS

Advocates for four historically
black colleges and universities in
Maryland are waging a public
campaign to draw attention to a
13-year-old lawsuit over inequi-
table funding and to call for a
resolution of a case that House
Speaker Adrienne Jones (D) calls
a “stain on the national reputa-
tion of Maryland’s higher educa-
tion system.”
The effort arrives at a critical
time for the roughly 100 colleges
and universities nationwide des-
ignated as historically black in-
stitutions. Many are contending
with slowing enrollment, paltry
state investment and dwindling
federal support. While these eco-
nomic head winds are broadly
affecting higher education, they
are endangering historically
black schools — widely known as
HBCUs — that already have lim-
ited resources because of the
legacy of discrimination.
States, including Alabama,
Louisiana and Mississippi, have
been forced to reckon with that
legacy through the courts. But
the history of neglect still places
historically black schools at a
disadvantage not easily reme-
died, some lawmakers and advo-
cates said.
“It’s bigger than Maryland, in
my opinion,” said Del. Darryl
Barnes (D-Prince George’s), pres-
ident of the Legislative Black
Caucus of Maryland. “It’s a na-
tional issue, and we’re trying to
bring national attention to it.”
The caucus is working with
graduates of Maryland’s histori-
cally black institutions on a
campaign, and alumni have cre-
ated a video detailing the history

of the case.

That campaign culminated

Wednesday when, just steps

away from the Thurgood Mar-

shall memorial in Annapolis,

hundreds of college students,

alumni and members of the Leg-

islative Black Caucus rallied to

demand that Gov. Larry Hogan

(R) settle the lawsuit for no less

than $577 million.

“We are here to fight for funds,

we’re here for equal facilities,

we’re here to fight for our future

and what is long overdue,” Fedel-

is Tucker, 26, a junior studying

communications at Bowie State

University, yelled from a plat-

form.

Negotiations between the

state and the Coalition for Equity

and Excellence in Maryland

Higher Education are at an im-

passe after several failed rounds

of court-ordered mediation.

The coalition, composed of

graduates from Maryland’s his-

torically black institutions, pro-

posed a $577 million settlement

in September. An attorney for

Hogan countered with what he

described as a final offer of

$200 million, which would be

divided over 10 years among

Morgan State University, Coppin

State University, Bowie State

University and the University of

Maryland Eastern Shore.

Barnes said it was “shame-

ful” that Hogan sent a letter

saying “take this $200 million

or leave it” when there should

have been discussion about a

path forward. He and other

lawmakers said the governor’s

proposal is not enough to reme-

dy decades of disparities al-

lowed by the state.

Hogan, like his predecessors,

has acknowledged Maryland’s

troubled history of segregation

in higher education but insists

that the state has made signifi-

cant strides to remedy the prob-

lem.

A Hogan spokeswoman said

Wednesday that Hogan “dramat-

ically increased” the offer made

by former governor Martin

MARYLAND

Settlement sought for

historically black colleges

Advocates hoping to end

13-year-old lawsuit over

inequitable funding

than heroin. And that, in the eyes
of Montgomery County police,
who have arrested and charged
him, renders the alleged actions
by Arrington a homicide.
The 47-year-old Rockville resi-
dent is being held in jail without
bond, charged with one count of
second-degree murder in the
death of Theresa Mcintire on the
basis of what investigators de-
scribed as Arrington’s “extreme
depraved indifference to human
life.” Arrington also faces charges
of distribution of fentanyl.
He is due in court again
Nov. 22. It is not clear from court
records whether he has retained
an attorney. A woman who on
Tuesday answered a phone num-
ber listed for someone who ap-
pears to be a relative of Ar-
rington’s declined to comment on
the case.
For several years, prosecutors

DEATH FROM B1 in Maryland have tried to build
homicide cases against drug deal-
ers in cases where the dealers’
customers have fatally over-
dosed. Judges have taken a mixed
view of that approach, with Mary-
land’s Court of Special Appeals
overturning a manslaughter con-
viction. But that opinion was
reversed in a 60-page opinion in
June from the Maryland Court of
Appeals, the state’s highest court.
“It was nearly impossible to
bring forth these cases before
that Court of Appeals opinion,”
said John McCarthy, the top pros-
ecutor in Montgomery County,
while declining to discuss the
Arrington case specifically.
For prosecutors, the challenge
comes in connecting two ele-
ments: that the dealer knew he
was selling a lethal product and
that the victim died of using that
particular substance. “It’s a dou-
ble linkage,” said Baltimore
County State’s Attorney Scott D.

Shellenberger.

The June opinion sets fairly

stringent standards for establish-

ing the linkage, Shellenberger

said, but it did affirm the practice.

He said that prosecutors could

take the same reasoning in the

opinion used for manslaughter,

which requires a grossly negli-

gent act, to try to file an enhanced

charge of second-degree murder.

“At least we now have guidance

on what the standards are,” Shel-

lenberger said.

In the Montgomery County

case, investigators appear to have

at least one witness saying that

Arrington sold a bogus Percocet

pill to Mcintire on the day she

died, according to court filings.

Court papers attribute her death

to “the combined effects” of fen-

tanyl, cocaine and alcohol.

The case began for county

police the night of Aug. 19 when

officers were called by Mcintire’s

daughter to their home in Ger-

mantown.

The daughter — who spoke on

the condition of anonymity out of

fear for her safety — had arrived

home and found the light on in

her mother’s bedroom, visible

under the closed door. Her moth-

er’s cat, Red, also was making a

lot of noise. The daughter entered

the room to check on her mother.

Her mother was slouched and

partially resting on a set of steps

that Red used to climb into the

bed, according to the daughter

and to Tracey Plummer, one of

Theresa Mcintire’s three sisters.

The tablet she took had such

an immediate effect, Plummer

said, that her sister couldn’t call

for help. “I don’t think Theresa

had a chance,” Plummer said.

She and her sisters grew up in

the Derwood section of Mont-

gomery County. Theresa Mcintire

also has a teenage son.

“Theresa’s life was centered on

those kids. They were her focus,”

Plummer said.

Her sister tended bar for years

at restaurants in Germantown.

She did not have health insur-

ance, according to Plummer, and

sometimes bought pills to man-

age the effects of arthritis and

back pain after an epidural acci-

dent during childbirth.

“My sister wouldn’t have

bought anything she didn’t think

was legit. She trusted him,” Plum-

mer said of Arrington. “That trust

got her killed.”

As investigators probed the

death, they learned that Mcintire

had purchased a single pill from

Arrington, according to findings

they filed in a court affidavit.

That led them to another woman,

who had allegedly bought five

pills from Arrington the same

day.

That woman told detectives

that she had confronted Ar-

rington, whom she said she knew

as “Pete,” after recovering from

her overdose and after learning

what had happened to Mcintire

— telling investigators, they

wrote in court records, that, “he

was clearly upset and wanted to

avoid any conversation of Mcin-

tire’s death.”told detectives that

she had confronted Arrington

after recovering from her over-

dose and after learning what had

happened to Mcintire — telling

investigators, they wrote in court

records, that “he was clearly up-

set and wanted to avoid any

conversation of Mcintire’s death.”

Of the four remaining pills, the

woman returned three to Ar-

rington for the original $100

purchase price, police said. She

kept the last pill, which detectives

were able to obtain.

Testing showed it contained

fentanyl but no trace of oxy-

codone and acetaminophen, the

two active ingredients in Perco-

cet, according to investigators.

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Murder charge in overdose death filed on basis of Md. high court ruling

customers were scarce at Frank-

lin Square, normally a lunchtime

hot spot.

Vendor Alex Cho, who has op-

erated food trucks since 2011,

stood in his new District Bowl

truck with a space heater running

off the vehicle’s generator. No one

was lining up to eat.

“Who wants to eat on a patio

when it’s cold outside?” Cho said.

“When it’s cold, everything takes

a hit.”

While it wasn’t the best weath-

er day to test out his new food

concept — “from the fire, straight

to your bowl,” as he put it — Cho

said he saw the slowdown as tem-

porary. When warmer weather

returns, the customers will be

back.

“It takes maybe a day or two —

up to a week — for people to get

adjusted to the cold,” he said. “The

change of weather is so drastic.

After that, it starts picking back

up.”

The D.C. region wasn’t the only

area hit with early-season cold.

The Capital Weather Gang said

“record-crushing cold” and snow-

fall was hitting the eastern half of

the country, unleashing histori-

cally low temperatures for this

time of year.

The Arctic blast stretched from

parts of southern Texas to west-

ern New York, setting hundreds of

record lows, many of which had

stood for more than a century.

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

BY DANA HEDGPETH,

JUSTIN WM. MOYER

AND JASON SAMENOW

The Washington region awoke
Wednesday to the coldest temper-
atures of the season, a record-set-
ting chill that felt more like Janu-
ary than mid-November.
Temperatures across the area
dipped into the upper teens to
mid-20s, while wind chills sank
into the teens. The mercury plum-
meted to 19 degrees at Dulles
International Airport, breaking a
record low for the date. Balti-
more-Washington International
Marshall Airport’s low of 22
matched a record set in 1911.
Washington’s official low of 26,
measured at Reagan National Air-
port, fell four degrees short of
breaking a record set in 1911, but
still was about 15 degrees below
normal. It was colder in Washing-
ton on Wednesday than in An-
chorage and parts of Greenland.
The early-season chill was a
possible factor in water main
breaks in the region. Hypotherm-
ia shelters opened in the District
for those in need, while residents
across the Washington area strug-
gled to keep warm.

Outside the Farragut North

Metro station on Wednesday, 45-

year-old Clyde Rogers lay hud-

dled beneath a cardboard sign

that read, “Hello I’m homeless ...

help me out with jacket please.”

Fearful of shelters after six

years on the street, Rogers spent

the night in McPherson Square

beneath trash bags. He said the

plan for Wednesday night was the

same.

“It was hectic,” he said. “I got in

corners to try to block that wind,

but I found a spot where I can cut

off the wind and just wrap myself

up and stay warm. Now I’m out

trying to get a coat, because I

don’t have nothing but this little

jacket.”

The cold was possibly a factor

in at least two water-related prob-

lems Wednesday in the District.

D.C. Water crews worked to

repair an eight-inch water main

that broke in the unit block of K

Street NE. On 16th Street NW, a

leaking water valve slowed traffic

during the morning commute

near Whittier Place, closing

southbound lanes for hours.

Pamela Mooring, a spokes-

woman for D.C. Water, said a crew

determined that the broken valve

THE REGION

Cold breaks records —

and possibly water pipes

was not “leaking as badly” by

midafternoon, and it was expect-

ed to be replaced Thursday. She

said it wasn’t known whether the

cold was a factor in each incident,

but “this is the time of year we

tend to get breaks with the tem-

perature changes.”

The National Weather Service

for the Washington area tweeted

Wednesday that it is “very cold for

this time of year, despite sunshine

today.” The District activated a

hypothermia alert and was offer-

ing transportation to shelters that

opened as the mercury dropped.

The Washington Post’s Capital

Weather Gang said midweek felt

more like midwinter.

High temperatures stayed in

the 30s Wednesday, the coldest

day of the week. By Thursday,

temperatures are expected to rise

to the 40s, with 50s on Friday

before plunging again over the

weekend.

Parts of the region saw snow

flurries earlier this week, al-

though accumulation generally

was restricted to the higher eleva-

tions of Virginia and Maryland.

Even in the bright noon sun-

shine Wednesday, food trucks and

JAHI CHIKWENDIU/THE WASHINGTON POST

Pedestrians brace themselves against cold weather in the District on Wednesday. A powerful cold front

led to hundreds of record lows across the country, from southern Texas to western New York.