RICHMOND -- Daniel J. Podberesky was a better student than most of those who won Benjamin Banneker full-tuition scholarships from the University of Maryland at College Park last year, but he wasn't considered for the blacks-only award for one reason: He is white.
Yesterday, while he took a chemistry exam in College Park, a panel of federal judges here probed in vain for evidence that the state's higher education system is still discriminating against blacks and that a blacks-only scholarship program is a fair remedy.
In oral arguments before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Assistant Attorney General Andrew H. Baida said it is premature to conclude that there are no vestiges of discrimination in a state with a history of segregated schools. Maryland continues to be reviewed by the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education.
Mr. Podberesky's lawyer contended that the days of discrimination are long over and the Banneker program is a "giant step backward" in the national effort to judge people by merit instead of skin color.
The challenge to race-based scholarships, the first of its kind to reach a federal appeals court, comes at a time when the U.S. Department of Education is reviewing whether minority scholarship programs nationwide comply with civil rights laws.
The Banneker program, in which 25 to 30 students a year are awarded scholarships worth more than $33,500 each, was upheld by a federal district court judge in Baltimore in May on the basis of past discrimination by the university. Mr. Podberesky appealed, saying there is no evidence that Maryland continues to discriminate against black students.
"Indeed, all the evidence shows that the University of Maryland is fully integrated," argued Richard A. Samp, chief counsel to the Washington Legal Foundation, a conservative public interest law firm representing the 19-year-old sophomore.
The appeals justices appeared yesterday to take a dim view of the notion advanced by Maryland lawyers that the scholarship program is warranted unless the Office of Civil Rights declares the state in compliance with civil rights laws.
The justices questioned whether a 1969 finding that the state continued to operate a dual and segregated higher education system is good enough to justify race-based remedies today.
And they took issue with the state's contention that the scholarships should be continued because Maryland has not yet met the retention goals it set out for black students in its desegregation plan.
