Phillip West still remembers his days in the dorm at Alcorn State University. &uot;When you needed hot water it was cold and when you needed cold water it was hot,&uot; said West, now a state representative from Natchez.

&uot;Everything was third class,&uot; West said. &uot;In fact, some of it was worse than that.&uot;

And West said things haven’t changed much for his son, who is attending school at Alcorn’s Lorman campus 30 years after his father.

West said the state of the dorms then and now – for which students protested on the Lorman campus last year – is &uot;one example of the neglect and underfunding that took place&uot; at historically black colleges in Mississippi.

But West is hoping that will change with the possibility of a settlement in the 25-year-old Ayers lawsuit, filed by a man who believed his son was not getting the same educational opportunities as students at predominantly white universities.

Both Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and new state College Board President Carl Nicholson have said they are committed to achieving a settlement in the case this year. Talks are continuing between state officials and plaintiffs.

Alcorn President Dr. Clinton Bristow said he hopes an Ayers settlement will result in new facilities and academic programs, as well as increased enrollment from students of other races at the university.

And Bristow said students on Alcorn’s campuses both in Lorman and Natchez are already benefitting from the attention from the Ayers case, although there has not yet been a settlement. The Lorman campus has seen dorm renovations, a new math and science building and a new library, while the Natchez campus has a new dorm and plans for a $10 million business building. &uot;That’s what’s most visible,&uot; Bristow said.

And what isn’t quite as evident is still important, he said, such as the faculty at Alcorn’s MBA program in Natchez. All of its professors hold doctorates.

Such improvements came &uot;as a result of trying to make up for some of the vestiges of discrimination in the past,&uot; Bristow said.

In the Legislature, West has tried for the past three years to get more money for Alcorn and the state’s two other historically black colleges, Mississippi Valley State University and Jackson State University. In his first year as a representative, West said he was able to get funding for lights and fencing around ball fields, as well as a driving range. But in the past two years, his efforts to get about $90 million for living facilities at the historically black colleges have failed.

West said he believes the Ayers case is &uot;the proper vehicle&uot; to get adequate funding for the schools.

Still, West said he believes there is &uot;no amount of money to rectify that for all those years the schools were neglected&uot; because they were historically black.

&uot;The pain and suffering all of that caused cannot be rectified with money,&uot; he said.