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PAGE 10—JUNE 1961—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Louisiana
(Continued From Page 9)
were seeking employment outside of
the New Orleans school system.
Hebeisen said he believes the school
system can hold its own through the
coming school year.
Miscellaneous
Priest Quits Private
School Trusteeship;
Reason Is Debated
T he Rev. Carl V. Schutten,
pastor of St. James Major
Catholic Church, resigned from
the board of trustees of the newly
organized New Orleans Educa
tional Foundation, designed to
operate segregated private schools
that may be organized under a
state grant-in-aid program.
Emile A. Wagner Jr., chairman of
the foundation and a member of the
Orleans Parish (public) school board,
charged that the priest’s resignation
was “forced and involuntary.”
Father Schutten replied with a state
ment, saying: “No force was used. By
telephone the archbishop requested that
I resign, which I did promptly. Upon
receipt of the archbishop’s letter con
firming his request, I submitted a writ
ten resignation and directed that there
be no delay in submitting same to the
press.”
The foundation to sponsor private,
non-sectarian, segregated schools was
organized in April.
‘Inappropriate and Inconsistent’
Said Archbishop Joseph Francis
Rummel through a chancery office
statement:
“It is inappropriate and inconsistent
for a Catholic priest to belong to this
group. While as Catholics we have a
primary and very grave responsibility
to promote the interests and welfare of
our own Catholic parochial school sys
tem, we nevertheless recognize our re
sponsibility as citizens to the public
school system.
“It would be regrettable if this sys
tem would be jeopardized by a move
ment which professes to promote the
interest of ‘private’ schools.”
Wagner’s Comment
Wagner said he did not understand
the archbishop’s interest:
“This (the foundation) is an attempt
to allow people who do not wish to at
tend the public schools to obtain private
education. In the same manner, Catholic
children who do not wish to attend pub
lic schools are allowed to attend their
parochial schools.”
In the Colleges
Former LSU Faculty
Member Criticized
D r. Waldo McNeir, English
professor, has left Louisiana
State University, but Louisiana’s
Legislature got a report on his
case from its committee on un-
American activity.
McNeir came under attack and was
placed under investigation after he de
scribed some of the Legislature’s ac
tions in the New Orleans school dese
gregation case as a “national disgrace.”
The un-American activities commit
tee read a report in both the House
and Senate during the 30-day fiscal
session which said in part as it assessed
the professor’s activities:
“We cannot in all honesty classify
any of Dr. McNeir’s known activities
as ‘un-American’ per se, reprehensible
and repungnant as they may be.
“We do suggest that Dr. McNeir has
departed from those principles of free
dom upon which this United States was
founded.”
Criticism Voiced
Rep. Maurice Landrieu of New Or
leans, noting the cost of the investiga
tion, told the House:
“I think if we are going to spend
$5,500 of the taxpayers’ money on this
type of vague, irrelevant material we
had better take another look at our
selves.”
Writers of the report said that Dr.
McNeir in writing to legislators critic
ising the Legislature had violated
ethical principles of his own profession
set down by the American Association
of University Professors.
TEXAS
Dallas
To Co
Superintendent Urges All
operate In Desegregation
AUSTIN, Tex.
R. W. T. White, superintend
ent of Dallas public schools,
appealed publicly for co-operation
of all groups in successful deseg
regation to start by court order
in the first grade next September.
“We want it to succeed,” Dr. White
told 5,000 teachers and administrators
at their spring convocation. “Desegre
gation is, after all, no more than an
other educational program and we are
just as anxious for its success as we
are for any program the district under
takes.
“We shall waste no time in vain
conjecture of ‘why’ and ‘what-if,” said
Dr. White. “All of us are bound by a
common determination to see that this
change that will have its beginning
next September shall not temper or
hamper our enthusiasm for exerting
our best efforts toward excellent edu
cation.”
Dr. White said the main responsibil
ity for making desegregation a suc
cess rests with the teachers and ad
ministrators, but that it is a commun
ity-wide project.
Rules Apply to All
The superintendent said that transfer
rules adopted by the Dallas School
Boards will “apply to all children and
all families alike” and that race will
not be a factor.
Dr. White predicted that relatively
few first-grade classes will be involved
in the initial desegregation, but said
no “gerrymandering” will be under
taken in order to exclude Negroes from
white attendance districts.
Dr. White also addressed an appeal
to Parent-Teacher Associations to as
sist in orderly desegregation.
“Where first grades are intermingled
we are counting on good sense, consid
eration, good taste, and helpfulness of
parents, teachers and children to main
tain an atmosphere of calmness and
education,” Dr. White said.
“I can’t imagine any condition in
which a six-year-old child would be
mistreated.”
★ ★ ★
At Houston, which will start its sec
ond year of desegregation in Septem
ber, school administrators took steps to
devise a program to discourage drop
outs. It will be geared mainly for slow
learners in the junior and senior high
schools.
“The significance of this program is
that we hope it will keep students in
school through the 12th grade, and
that it will make them happier, more
useful and better citizens,” said Supt.
John W. McFarland.
★ ★ ★
This September, Galveston public
schools will begin desegregation by
What They Say
Mayor Says Some
Coverage Distorted
A t New York, Mayor Chep
Morrison of New Orleans
told the American Public Rela
tions Association that some in
accurate and poor coverage of the
school crisis in New Orleans
created a distorted and false im
age of the city.
He said some out-of-town newsmen
were “willing to go to excessive ex
tremes to get an exclusive angle for
their stories.”
Morrison said he saw cameramen
setting up student demonstrators dur
ing the peak of the crisis following de
segregation of two public schools Nov.
14.
They gave much publicity to the fact
that the court order marked the first
time in Louisiana that a public school
was integrated, but they gave little pub
licity to the fact that New Orleans had
integrated seating on buses and street
cars and that our City Park has like
wise been integrated for some time,”
Morrison added.
He said the demonstrators who went
daily to the two desegregated schools
represented “only one tenth of one per
cent of our population.”
“Yet, night after night, the nationwide
television audience was treated to a
spectacle of women demonstrators
photographed from every possible angle
so that the crowd would appear to be
enormous.” t
Texas Highlights
The Dallas school superintend
ent publicly urged that all factions
co-operate in making desegregation
work in the public schools next
September.
Dr. Joseph R. Smiley was chosen
president of the University of Texas
as the Board of Regents considered
five petitions urging further racial
desegregation at the school and two
petitions opposing any speed-up.
Southern Presbyterians were
urged in Two Texas assemblies to
help solve the racial discrimination
problem.
A bill aimed at punishing par
ticipants in sit-ins advanced in the
Texas legislature, but failed to pass
finally before adjournment on May
29.
Texas chose a Republican in
electing a new U.S. Senator.
court order. The local school board
had started to abolish school segrega
tion in 1957 but was halted by a new
state law requiring referendum ap
proval of the change. (Robinson v.
Evans, Southern School News, Feb
ruary 1961 and previous.)
In the Colleges
University Regents
Promote Dr. Smiley
To Succeed Wilson
T T niversity of Texas regents
elected Dr. Joseph R. Smiley,
51, to become president on June
1. The promotion came after Dr.
Logan Wilson had become presi
dent of the American Council on
Education.
Dr. Wilson had been successively
president and chancellor at the Uni
versity of Texas. Dr. Harry H. Ransom
is now chancellor, and Dr. Smiley suc
ceeds him as president. Dr. Smiley, a
native Texan and former dean of lib
eral arts at the University of Illinois,
came to the University of Texas as
vice president and provost in 1960 after
serving two years at Texas Western
College in El Paso, a branch of the
state university.
The Board of Regents, at the same
meeting where Dr. Smiley was elected
president, referred to committees for
study five resolutions and petitions
urging extension of desegregation at
the state university and two opposing
further desegregation of housing.
Included were two resolutions from
the faculty favoring desegregation. The
other communications, including two
opposing, came from students.
Faculty Adopts Resolution
The general faculty adopted after
five minutes discussion, by 46 to 25
vote, a resolution calling for desegre
gation of all campus facilities and ac
tivities “with all deliberate speed.”
There are more than 900 faculty mem
bers.
Desegregation of the University of
Texas started in the graduate school
in 1950, and was extended to all under
graduates in 1955. Two biracial dormi
tories are provided for men, but several
others are open to whites only. There
is no desegregation in women’s housing.
Fully-integrated housing and the
acceptance of Negroes for intercollegiate
athletics were advocated by the Stu
dent Assembly, in another resolution
that went to the Board of Regents.
Negros participate in intramural ath
letics at the University of Texas, but
not on varsity teams, which play other
schools maintaining policies of segre
gation.
Oppose Integration
Two petitions came from students
opposing full integration of dormitories.
These asked the administration to “pre
vent campus-wide integration of dor
mitories which does not correspond to
the housing needs of the small number
of Negro students on this campus.”
There are about 175 Negroes among
19,400 students.
Louis Leman, a spokesman for the
dormitory segregation group, said the
university should have one or more
biracial dormitories for men and wom
en, plus segregated housing for whites
and Negroes, both men and women, to
give students a full choice.
Meanwhile, spasmodic picketing con-
ued of motion picture theaters across
the street from the university campus
by persons seeking to have Negroes
admitted. Some Austin adults and high
school students are participating in this
movement, through petitions, advertise
ments, and sign-carrying.
At Waco, Baptist students from 55
Texas colleges expressed opposition to
racial discrimination and called for
desegregation of all educational in
stitutions. Baptist schools in Texas
generally are segregated.
The resolution adopted at a state
wide Baptist Student Union conference
did not specify institutions to deseg
regate.
Political Activity
Texas Voters Eleet
First GOP Senate
In Over 75 Years
T exas Elected John G. Tower
a 35-year-old Republican, for
the U. S. Senate over Democrat
William A. Blakely. Both are con
servatives who eliminated nearly
70 other candidates in the April
primary.
As the first Republican elected to
the Senate in more than 75 years,
Tower’s victory drew national atten
tion. Unofficial returns indicated Tow
er won by about 7,000 votes of nearly
900,000 cast. Large numbers of liberal
Democrats abstained from voting be
cause they disliked both candidates,
although both candidates drew some
support from this group.
Negroes took little part in the elec
tion. Light voting was reported in Ne
gro precincts at Houston where Blak-
ley rolled up a substantial margin in
Negro areas while losing the county.
And at Dallas, where the candidates
drew about equal numbers of Negro
votes. Tower also carried Dallas Coun
ty, Blakley’s home, but lost Wichita
County where Tower lives.
Tower, 35, resigned as a professor
of government at Midwestern Univer
sity in 1960 to run as a Republican
for the Senate against Lyndon B.
Johnson.
Johnson did not accept his new term
as senator, after defeating Tower, be
cause he also had been elected as Vice
President. By polling more than 40
per cent of the total vote against John
son, Tower made so strong a showing
that it surprised the political experts.
U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.)
campaigned in Texas for Tower.
Appointed by Daniel
Blakley, 62, a wealthy rancher-law
yer-industrialist, was appointed to the
U.S. Senate by Gov. Price Daniel to
serve until the seat could be filled by
election. The term will rim until 1967.
There was no racial issue during
the campaign, although Blakley twice
made headlines on the point in Wash
ington. One was his unsuccessful op
position to appointing Dr. Robert C.
Weaver, Negro, to the top U.S. housing
post; and later, by his effort to give
states complete control over federal
funds for education.
Blakley was endorsed by the Harris
County (Houston) Council of Organi
zations, representing 70 Negro groups.
However, many of the state’s liberal
Democrats expressed intention to sup
port Republican Tower or to refrain
from voting. This resulted from pre-
Dr. J. R, Smiley
New U-T President
F actions
This Fall
vious internal disputes among Xej, &■
Democrats, rather than sympathy (, p
the conservative views of the Repufc| *e4
can candidate.
Legislative Action
Legislature Closes;
Fails to Approve
Bill on Stand-ins
ft
£n
hi
rill
«k
T^he Texas House of Represent
tatives approved a bill aims -'-
at penalizing sit-in and stand-
demonstrators, but the measuj T
failed to receive final action 1* ri
fore the legislature adjourns
May 29.
House Bill 797 by Rep. Lloyd C. Mai.
tin of Normangee would have pr,*
vided fines of $50 to $250 against *
person who refused to leave privately
owned commercial establishments whs .
requested to do so by the managema 5 '
“or after it appears unequivocally tl*!
the presence of such person or gros ’
of persons is undesirable and unwantB
by the owner or management.” 1
Sponsor Martin termed his bill j J,
businessman’s right-to-work law, m
a segregation measure.”
Four Negroes Fined
Some opponents asserted that
state already has adequate laws ti
protect business establishments. Hois
ton legislators noted that four Negn
youths had been fined $500 each by at
all-white jury for unlawful assen# ’®
after participating in a stand-in den-
onstration against segregation at th
Union (railroad) Station restaurant
Negro and white students have bee
demonstrating against segregation i
public eating establishments in Hous
ton. Attorneys for the convicted grouf
announced plans to appeal to feden
court that Interstate Commerce Com
mission regulations were violated.
Meanwhile, District Attorney Frari
Briscoe of Houston announced tl't
charges will be filed against 23 persons
charged with unlawful assembly » *
interfering with efforts to sell tick*
at two segregated motion pid®
theatres.
.F
• I
What They Say
Race Discussed
By Presbyterians
S outhern Presbyterians in t"'
Texas meetings took a crifr
cal look at race relations.
* v ' v- '' i v
I believe that in the church * j.
Jesus Christ there is no place f® 1
segregated program,” said Dr. Wall®?
M. Alston of Decatur, Ga., who to*
office as moderator of the denom®?
tion’s General Assembly, represent 1 ®
more than 900,000 members in
Southern and border states. .,
“The Presbyterian Church is i
to have to face this problem with
mility, courage, and great patience • ■
The real issues are being fought
by the pastors and local coni
250 '
3
At Dallas, the assembly by a ^
248 vote defeated a resolution to ^
sure strongly the National CoundU
Churches for its recent pronounce®™
on social and political issues. ^
The Presbyterian Synod of 1 ^
meeting in San Antonio, deno 1 ®^
racial discrimination and gambling- f
meeting failed to reach a decisi 1 ®;
whether to call for abolishing
punishment.
★ ★ ★
Soup
west Regional Secretary Clare 11 ■
Laws told members of the R a 1 f
Association for the Advance® 61 ^ g
Colored People that desegregate^
moving too slowly, and that N = *
“will never secure their freed 0 -
long as we are afraid to act • •
Laws said less than 12 per ® ^
the South’s school districts had j
plied with the U.S. Supreme
desegregation order in seven
also criticized pupil placement ^ $
“It is no accident that durh^jj
past three years we have witn e ^ th'
flood of pupil placement Lws
South,” Laws said. “The cour®^
beginning to realize, however,^;,
the South has known all along! n g gp i
pupil placement statutes are n
less than state sponsored ma 11 gfT
to limit, if not defeat, school d $ 1
gation.’