Newspaper Page Text
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The Organ of Student Expressions
Vol. 64, No. 4
Morehouse College, Atlanta
Mid-February 1988
Secretary Education Warns Georgia Colleges
Secretary of Education William
Bennett has warned Georgia and
five other states that federal
education funds will be withheld
unless their college desegregation
plans are brought into compliance
by the end of this year.
Georgia education officials said
the state should have no problem
correcting the deficiencies cited
by federal authorities by the Dec.
31 deadline.
Civil rights groups, however,
complained that Bennett had not
set a very challenging agenda for
Georgia and the other states
found not to be in compliance.
They said the Department of
Education had all but closed the
books on civil rights enforcement
by overlooking major areas in
which the states have not com
plied with the desegregation
plans.
“The (Department of Educa
tion’s) deplorable action was taken
despite the fact that in very few
instances has there been more
than minimal progress toward
meeting the (desegregation)
goals,” said Phyllis McClure, a
spokeswoman for the NAACP
Legal Defence and Educational
Fund.
Bennett’s announcement in
Washington was the latest
development in a 20-year-old ef
fort to force Southern and border
states to stop operating
segregated public college systems.
Until recently, the higher, educa
tion desegregation effort was
directed by the federal courts and
administered by the Department
10:00 AM
11:15 AM
r. Wiley A. Perdue, Vie
President/Business Affi;
Dr. Itavmon E. Crawford, Vice
rs
ney. Vice
Dr. Leroy Keith Jr., President
BREAK
CAMPUS TOURS
OPEN
Banquet
Easter Sunday Service
Student Leaders Reception with
Parents (Invitation Only)
of Education’s Office for Civil
Rights (OCR).
In 1970, the NAACP fund filed
suit against the federal govern
ment for failing to enforce civil
rights laws. U.S. district Judge
John H. Pratt ruled in favor of the
plaintiffs, requiring the states to
draw up plans to desegregate
their public colleges. After several
rejections, Georgia’s plan was
finally accepted by OCR in 1978.
After 14 years, Pratt withdrew
from the battlefield, citing a lack
of legal standing. The decision of
whether the states had complied
with their desegregation plans
was left to the Department of
Education.
There were 10 states with
desegregation plans that had ex
pired in 1985. After nearly two
.years of review, Bennett said that
Georgia and five states still have
failed to comply with their plans.
Bennett said the six states,
which also include Delaware,
Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma and
Virginia, are in partial violation of
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act
and must take further steps to
eliminate the vestiges of
segregation.
The states have failed “to imple
ment one or more specified
desegregation measures to which
they had previously agreed,” Ben
nett said at a news conference in
Washington.
Four other states — Arkansas,
North Carolina, South Carolina
and West Virginia — are in full
compliance with the law, Bennett
said.
In letters to Gov. Joe Frank
Harris of Georgia and the other
five governors, Bennett gave the
non-complying states 90 days to
submit assurances they will
carry out the additional
desegregation measures by Dec.
31.
The letter stated that Georgia
had failed to implement measures
to enhance three traditionally
black colleges—Fort Valley State
Albany State and Savannah State
— and had not taken sufficient
steps to desegregate student
enrollments at Albany Junior Col
lege and Albany State College.
The letter stated Georgia must
“immediately implement” three
measures outlined in the state’s
college desegregation plan:
• Complete construction of the
student union building at Albany
State College and the business ad
ministration building at Savannah
State College, and complete
Vice President Crawford
NAPW Elects VP Crawford
As President
Vice President for Student
Affairs Raymon E. Crawford
has been elected President of
the National Association of
Personnel Workers (NAPW).
The election took place at the
association’s 34th annual con
ference at the North Carolina
Central University in
Durham, North Carolina.
NAPW, founded in 1954 at
Howard University, fosters a
spirit of unity among Student
Affairs staff in predominantly
black universities, colleges
and other educational institu
tions. It serves as the sear
ching eye for trends in post
secondary education and
directs its program and pro
jects accordingly. The Associa
tion also serve as a profes
sional agency for the collection
of information and the discus
sion of scientific studies and
problems pertaining to Stu
dent Personnel Administra
tion and Services to students.
In his acceptance speech,
Crawford said, “...I vow to not
only elicit your input but also
to become more familiar with
the full range of programs, in
terests and activities of our
outstanding Association.”
Crawford received the B.S.
degree from North Carolina A
& T University, an MA from
Hampton University, another
MA from Central Michigan
University and an ED.D. from
Atlanta University. He retired
from the United States Army
as a Lieutenant Colonel and is
in his fifth year in Student Af
fairs at Morehouse. His
previous position in the
NAPW was: Chairperson of
1985.
renovations of the Miller-Tabor
complex at Fort Valley State Col
lege as well as completion of the
administration building at the
school.
• Fully implement the plan for
the University of Georgia and
Fort Valley State College to ad
minister jointly the agricultural
extension program at the Univer
sity of Georgia.
• Fully implement steps to en
courage students at Albany Junior
College, a traditionally white in
stitution whose name has been
changed to Darton College, to
transfer to Albany State College, ,
a traditionally black instutition.
Harris downplayed the
significance of Bennett’s letter,
saying that the state had made
major progress in complying with
most of the federal desegregation
requirements.
“We’re far ahead of where we
were a few years ago,” Harris
said. “I don’t think there’s any
problem at all in meeting (Ben
nett’s) schedule. We are pro
ceeding according to the com
mitments we have made. We’re in
the process of trying to totally in
tegrate all the schools.”
H. Dean Propst, chancellor of
Georgia’s University System, call
ed the letter from the Department
of Education a “positive” one.
“Basically, the deficiencies in
the letter are relatively minor in
terms of the broad scope of the
plan that has been implemented in
Georgia,” he said.
Propst said that construction of
the buildings specified in the let
ter had either begun or been com
pleted since the plan expired. He
said he would actively work to
remedy the other deficiencies
named.