Tennessee’s 38-year-old college-desegregation case came to an official close on Thursday, as the federal judge who has overseen the lawsuit granted a motion to dismiss it. The motion had been filed by plaintiffs in the case as well as state and higher-education officials (The Chronicle, September 12).

Representatives of all parties to the lawsuit, which was originally filed in 1968, said that they believed the state had fulfilled its court-ordered obligations to further desegregate its public institutions and to improve college opportunities for black students.

After the case’s dismissal was made final, the president of Tennessee State University, the state’s public historically black institution, announced how the university would spend $40-million it is set to receive under the terms of a court-ordered plan that led to the lawsuit’s end.

The president, Melvin N. Johnson, said $30-million would go to a new “Endowment for Educational Excellence” and $10-million would be spent on increasing student aid and adding and expanding academic programs, according to The Tennessean.