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Aug. 29, 2023Highland, Kan. |  By: AP

Kansas college reaches settlement in lawsuit alleging discrimination against Black athletes

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HIGHLAND, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas community college that was accused of trying to reduce the number of Black student-athletes has agreed to a settlement, the Justice Department announced Monday.

The department said in a news release that the agreement requires Highland Community College to make its disciplinary proceedings more fair, to provide more training and to improve its procedures for responding to student complaints.

A university spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a phone message or email seeking comment.

The agreement resolves the department’s investigation into complaints that Black students were targeted for searches and disciplined more severely than their white peers, resulting in their unfair removal from campus housing, or even expulsion, the department said in the release.

“No college student should have their educational experience marred or disrupted by discrimination based on their race,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

The allegations led to lawsuits, one filed by former coaches and another by former athletes.

The coaches’ suit, which was settled this year, alleged that the school intimidated Black student-athletes into leaving and told coaches not to recruit African Americans.

The American Civil Liberties Union alleged in another suit that Highland expelled Black students for minor or bogus infractions and subjected them to arbitrary searches, surveillance and harassment on campus. In that case, the school agreed to pay as much as $15,000 to four students and pledged to provide anti-discrimination and Fourth Amendment training to staff members and administrators.

Highland has about 3,200 students and is about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Kansas City, Missouri. Fewer than 6% of the students are African American, but half or more of the student-athletes, until recently, were Black and came from out of state, according to the lawsuit.