About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1955)
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—March 3, 1955—PAGE 15 Merits of Stainback Bill Debated Tennessee NASHVILLE, Tenn. 4 BILL to preserve segregation in Tennessee public schools, now pending before the state legislature, received a new and somewhat un expected lease on life late last month. Senate Bill No. 62—the Stainback bill—was reported out of the senate education committee on Feb. 22 with 1 the recommendation that it be passed by the senate. The committee voted 6 to 1 to recommend enactment of the meas ure. The vote was taken in a scheduled night meeting of the com mittee. The bill, drafted by Sen. Charles A. Stainback of Somerville, author izes school boards to assign pupils to schools on an individual basis, re gardless of established attendance area boundaries. The legal basis for the bill, according to Stainback, is the state’s police power. The bill is now before the senate’s calendar committee which will de termine when it will be brought to the senate floor for debate. Stainback, apparently anticipating pressure to let the bill die in the calendar committee, said on Feb. 24 he will ask that the measure be brought to the senate floor for debate not later than March 1. If the com mittee refuses to place the bill on the agenda by that time, the senator said he will demand a senate vote to remove the bill from committee control. , This can be done by a simple ma- jority vote of the 32-member senate. The single negative vote was cast by an East Tennessee senator, J. H. bammon of Knoxville. Those favoring the bill were Sens. Mabel W. Hughes of Memphis, Stain- ac k, James M. Jones Jr. of Lewis- The Stainback bill was tabled by tae Tennessee Senate calendar committee in secret session on Monday night, Feb. 28, according 0 the “Nashville Tennessean.” amback was quoted as saying at he would move for the Senate membership to vote the measure to floor. »j T- L. Ridley of Thompson Sta- ann’r C ^H en Foutch of Smithville, As f nd°n Colvard of Pikeville. s tar as can be determined, the of Q SUre does not have the support ful f° V ' ^ ran k Clement or his power- orces in the legislature, her in the month, the senate hear^° n com mittee held a public tatop 11 ?- ° n t * le Stainback bill. Spec if n o e< * t ^ le wa lls on the senate’s sent ” 00r ’ s®* behind desks of ab- gall e ^. na * ors ’ anc l packed the visitors t 'Jrb e j , " as an orderly hearing, dis- vi$jk. ° n ^ when a large number of the Mostly white people—left San h' w hen the first Negro be- s * speech against the bill. Wer e jg ® * n su PP° rt °f the bill )U(jg e People, from a county court 1954.” Tennessee’s “Mother of Wer e ° St the bill’s proponents SgaWi 00 ? ^ es t Tennessee. Speaking three of u kill were 18 people— at ’Pp. them white—from a student e ssee A&I State University (Negro) to the president of the United Churchwomen of Nashville. In essence, the testimony was what might have been expected in a hear ing of this type in any southern state. Here are some samples: Sen. Stainback: “There is nothing in it (the bill) that says white stu dents must be assigned to white schools, and there is nothing in it that says Negro students must be assigned to Negro schools. There is nothing here except the right that the school boards have to exercise their power to protect the health, morality and peace of the students.” “This bill is intended to preserve segregation,” Stainback said, “and we don’t make any secrets about that. This whole thing has been sh! sh! wait, wait. Why wait? The time has come to speak out and act.” Stainback said that he did not pro pose to indict a race, but when the bill comes before the senate he will give a “bill of particulars” in support of the measure. While the senator declined to am plify this at the hearing, he said the “bill of particulars” will contain such “facts” as the following: 1. The rate of illegitimate births among Negroes in West Tennessee is higher than that of the whites, there by creating a danger to the morals of white children. 2. The prevalence of tuberculosis among Negroes creates a health men ace to white children. Mrs. C. M. Hayes, speaking as a representative of the Nashville Colored Parent Teachers association, declared that “the bill is in every sense against the will of God. And any statement that the majority of our race support this bill is not true. It (the bill) interests only those who are now in power, and you (re ferring to the people supporting the bill) are in power because you are in the largest number. “God himself said He was no re specter of persons,” she said, “and why should you (again referring to the supporters of the bill) say there is a difference if you believe in God.” Mrs. Hayes, commenting on the frequently expressed fear of blood shed and violence should segregation be abolished, said there will be none “if you do not instill that prejudice in your children. “Let the children alone,” Mrs. Hayes said. “Let them mingle. A child does not recognize any differ ence unless it is put into him by his parents. The children can solve the problem.” W. M. Miles, a Union City lawyer said, “I believe in equal facilities and equal opportunities. This bill is best for the white race and best for the colored race. There is no demand in Obion County (West Tennessee) for desegregation.” David Givens, principal of Somer ville elementary school for 18 years: “The parents of our school children, white and Negro, have racial pride and racial prejudices. And there can be no successful change in education or social life until there has been a change in the thinking of the people. The price to pay for integration at this time is much too dear.” The Rev. J. F. Grimmett of Nash- PRINCIPAL GIVENS “The price... is much too dear” ville, president of the state branch of the NAACP, sharply criticized the white spectators who left the chamber as opponents of the bill be gan to speak. “That’s what keeps people from understanding this issue,” he said. “They won’t stay here to hear both sides.” Referring to charges that northern agitators are the people who are stir ring up the race issue in the South, Grimmett declared, “I’m not a north ern agitator. I was born in Alabama. I am a product of Dixie.” Mrs. L. C. Reddick, president of the Tennessee Congress of Parents and Teachers, said, “This bill is untimely, and it is in the best interests of the state if the Supreme Court decision is implemented without any attempt at circumvention.” Fayette County Court Judge H. M. Ray declared both Negroes and whites in his county are satisfied with the separate school systems. He warned that Fayette county court members “have voiced their unani mous opinion that serious trouble will occur if segregation ends. If it is ordered that segregation in public schools be ended, the county court has stated it will not vote any ap propriation of school funds.” In an attack on the theme that Negroes in West Tennessee are satis fied with the segregated system— voiced by most of those who spoke in favor of the bill—Avon Williams, a Nashville Negro attorney, told the following story which, incidentally, broke the tension which gradually built up during the hearing: The story is about a southern pol itician lauding the benefits of a seg regated system on a radio broadcast. The system, he said, was enjoyed by everybody in the South, white and Negro alike. To prove his point, the politician instructed his chauffeur named Sam to come to the micro phone and tell the audience how he, as a Negro, enjoyed segregation. The chauffeur approached the mike cau tiously. “Boss,” he asked the politi cian, “can people way up in New York and Detroit hear this thing?” The politician said yes. The chauffeur cupped his hands around the mike, leaned close to it, and yelled, “Help!” When Williams shouted “Help!” through the mike on the senate West Virginia CHARLESTON, W. Va. ACIAL integration and a fiscal crisis have West Virginia’s law makers scrutinizing the physical and pedagogic framework of the state’s ivy-covered halls of higher learning with economy their first—but by no means foremost—objective. The lawmakers hold to the thesis that in unity there is strength, and the compressing of distances by the motor car in this modern age makes fewer but better-staffed colleges an academic ideal worth striving for. This sweeping reform movement first started last month when a senate subcommittee was named to effect economies through the streamlining of curricula. SENATE RESOLUTION Later, a resolution was passed by the Senate calling for a comprehen sive between-sessions study of the state-owned college system with the idea of closing colleges rendered ob solescent by larger, more popular colleges in nearby towns. This reso lution now rests in the House of Delegates Judiciary Committee. Higher education in West Virginia is not keyed to any fixed cost for mula. Where one state college grad uates a student at a subsidized cost of $1,612, a second state college grants the same degree to another student at the higher cost of $3,960. Subsidization may have a nasty connotation since it is used loosely for describing the scholarships given “Saturday’s heroes,” but it is still proper. The people of West Virginia underwrote the education of their students at ten state colleges and the university this year to the extent of $13,352,000. West Virginia citizens, for the most part, have raised no strong objection to paying approximately half the cost of educating the 12,475 young men and women at their state colleges. But racial integration coupled with a fiscal emergency of more recent vin tage started citizens and legislators alike looking at the colleges with “merger” spelled out in their mind’s eye. PRESIDENTS CAUTION Several college presidents have cautioned that an investigation of a college’s effectiveness from a dollars and cents standpoint should be ap proached with prudent forethought. Cheaper operation, they say, might indicate a mediocre curriculum. Here are per student costs at the state’s ten colleges (the second column representing the normal time it takes to obtain a degree is based on this year’s figures): College 54-55 In 4 years Bluefield .$990 $3,960 West Virginia State ... . 864 3,446 Potomac State (Junior) 643 West Virginia Tech ... . 615 2,460 Glenville . 569 2,276 Fairmont . 562 2,248 Marshall . 547 2,188 Shepherd . 499 1,996 Concord . 470 1,880 West Liberty . 403 1,612 The above listing leads one quickly to the assumption that educating the Negro has been an expensive phase of higher education. The assumption is correct, for Bluefield and West speaker’s rostrum, a roar of laughter swept through the chamber. Other activity in the general seg regation-desegregation field: At an interracial “Brotherhood Day Mass Meeting” sponsored by the Nashville branch of the NAACP, Dr. John W. Rustin, white, pastor of Belmont Methodist church in Nash ville and president of the Nashville Council of Churches, announced that the council is “now interracial for the first time.” The Nashville Academy of Medi cine named three Negro physicians as members. They became the first Negroes to be voted into the organ ization since the academy declared last November that Negroes were eligible to apply for membership. Fifty-three white teen-agers from the Stanley Congregational church at Chatham, N. J., spent four days at Fisk University, in what was de scribed as a “general study opera tion” of a southern Negro university and race relations. The group lived at Fisk during their stay. Virginia State were both Negro col leges until integration was ordered by the state board of education last year. They are still predominantly Negro. EXPLANATIONS GIVEN Dr. William J. L. Wallace, presi dent of West Virginia State, justifies the expense as far as his school is concerned in this way: “Under the unattainable ‘separate but equal’ principle, wide diversi fication was necessary. In some in stances the demand for a particular curriculum was not large. Neverthe less, it was necessary to provide the educational opportunity for this smaller number of students.” Dr. Stephen J. Wright, president of Bluefield State, gave a similar ex planation for the high per student costs at his institution. Refinements leading toward economy in opera tion are being made there, as well as at West Virginia State. Dr. Wallace comments on this lat ter score: “With the elimination of a segregated system of education, West Virginia State College must now in crease enrollment in these curricula or gradually drop them from the program. In other words, we are in the midst of a transition, and the extent of the program will be de termined by demand.” These two schools also are in a troubled state as regards enrollment. The enrollment at both schools is less than it was the year following World War II while all other colleges have enjoyed marked increases. The enrollment situation at pri vate colleges has paralleled that at state colleges. Only little Storer Col lege at Harper’s Ferry, a Negro school, has lost ground since World War II. Bluefield, which has the smallest enrollment in the state, hasn’t wanted for financial support. Its operational budget is greater than those for three predominantly white institutions. These white schools have a nine- year enrollment increase of almost 74 per cent while Bluefield has lost 18 per cent. West Virginia State en rollment dropped a shade less than that at Bluefield. BUILDING PLAN The State Council of College and University Presidents, noting that this marked increase at white col leges will continue at an accelerating pace for the next decade and a half, proposed to Gov. William C. Marland recently that a state building au thority be created to finance new construction through the selling of revenue bonds. An administration bill, incorporat ing the council’s ideas, has passed the House of Delegates and went this week to the Senate for action. It carries a strong endorsement from the governor. If passed as written, it will open the way for building at all the state’s institutions of higher learning at an estimated cost of nearly 20 million dollars to take care of the 50,000 students expected by 1970. In the face of this proposed build ing program, members of the Senate wonder if this isn’t a propitious time to close smaller high-cost colleges and concentrate on making the sur viving institutions better. Bluefield is in the least tenable position, and they wonder if Fair mont, a white college only 19 miles from the state university at Morgan town, can’t be turned into a univer sity college of engineering. The uni versity has requested $4,500,000 from the state for new engineering facili ties. These and other closures are under study by the Senate subcommittee, and will be investigated more thor oughly if the interim study commit tee is created. College enrollment is expected to increase 2,500 next year, and though the Negro population will be reflected in this increase, it may not alter the situation at Bluefield and West Vir ginia State to any great degree. Negroes are moving into every col lege in the state. Bluefield and West Virginia State also are slowly losing their identity as Negro colleges as white students from the towns where W are located enroll there.
