[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1892]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the story of Texas 
Southern University. It started out in Houston, Texas, in the early 
1920s to educate then, of course, the colored or Negro population, and 
they have grown into the 21st century.
  In the 1940s, they were expanded because a young man by the name of 
Heman Sweatt attempted to attend the University of Texas School of Law 
and he was prohibited, he was prevented. So by a court, the law school 
was established which is now named Thurgood Marshall.
  I really rise to say that this school is a Texas asset, and yet the 
State of Texas publicly has underfunded this university. In 2000, I 
helped settle a desegregation lawsuit of which that school had sued 
because it was discriminated against.
  Sadly, I rise today to ask for another investigation by the 
Department of Education, Civil Rights Division, because the State of 
Texas is now again discriminating against the students and faculty of 
Texas Southern University by not funding them equally with other 
majority-based institutions. It is sad to rise today to say that. But 
in that school, Barbara Jordan graduated, our colleague; Mickey Leland 
graduated. Of course, Barbara Jordan was a colleague. Many outstanding 
scientists and doctors.
  Stop discriminating against Texas Southern University. We need to 
investigate it again to make this school whole.

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