Judge Rejects Merger of U Baltimore Into Morgan State

A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a proposal to merge the University of Baltimore into Morgan State University, a historically black institution, The Baltimore Sun reported. The judge is overseeing the process by which Maryland and advocates for its historically black colleges propose plans to end what the judge previously found was the perpetuation of segregation through similar programs being offered at Maryland's black colleges and nearby institutions that are not historically black. Judge Catherine C. Blake ordered further discussion of a range of proposals made by advocates for black colleges, but she said that the idea of merging the University of Baltimore into Morgan State would not be considered further.

"It is apparent from the current record that such a merger is neither educationally sound nor practicable; any numerical benefit as to the racial identifiability of the resulting student body would be outweighed by its academic and financial cost," she wrote.