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page 14—OCTOBER, 1962—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS Governors Conference Names Faubus; Silent on Mississippi HOLLYWOOD, FLA rkansas Gov. Orval E. Fau bus, once regarded as a sym bol of defiance to federal court desegregation orders, was elected chairman of the Southern Gov emors Conference on Oct. 4. The conference carefully avoided any reference to the University of Mis sissippi desegregation crisis in resolu tions and formal discussions. But as the 15 chief executives arrived at the Diplomat Hotel for their 28th annual session on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, the issue came with them and cast gloom throughout the usually gay proceed ings. One resolution adopted by the gov ernors urged joint action by the states to strengthen constitutional guarantees of states’ rights. It commended a move by the National Legislative Conference in Phoenix, Ariz., last month which called on 1963 legislatures to initiate a constitutional amendment to strengthen the 10th Amendment. Faubus, whose election to an un precedented fifth term as Arkansas governor in November is assured pledged to continue a policy of not al lowing the conference to be used as a political forum and said he would work in unity for common purposes. Passed Over Previously The senior member of the confer ence, Faubus has been passed over for the chairmanship in recent years be cause some of the governors had ex pressed fear his election would be mis interpreted as an endorsement of his racial stand. One of his fellow governors said pri vately, however: “We are not electing a spokesman for the South; we are electing a chairman.” Faubus has become less outspoken on the desegregation issue in recent years and, in the last Democratic pri mary election, assumed a moderate view on the subject. The Arkansas governor became known throughout the nation in 1957 for his role in the Little Rock desegre gation crisis which brought federal troops to his state. Gov. Ross Barnett of Mississippi, who was kept at home because of the de segregation developments at Oxford, sent word through Gov. John Patter son of Alabama that he favored elec tion of Faubus. ELLINGTON Earlier in the week, both Faubus and Patterson announced they were supporting Barnett’s position in the Mississippi case and said the Federal Government must assume the respon sibility for the bloodshed which oc curred at the university over the en rollment of Negro James Meredith. Faubus also made this obvious ref erence to the federal troops in a state ment to newsmen: “It seems tragic we cannot react properly to a bearded tyrant like Cas tro but we can muster our power to crush our own people.” The new conference chairman, who succeeds Gov. Buford Ellington of Ten nessee, also predicted that President Kennedy’s use of troops in Mississippi will hurt Democratic candidates in the South in the November election. No Alternative Other governors attending the con ference, although deploring the use of federal troops, agreed that Mississippi had no alternative but to comply with a court order directing Meredith’s ad mission. One of the strongest declarations came from Gov. Ernest Vandiver of Georgia who said, in a prepared state ment: “I do not favor the use of armed troops to enforce the orders of the federal courts ... As long as Missis sippi is a state of the United States, and does not secede from the union, they, like every other state, must abide by the laws and the decisions of the courts which directly affect them . . .” As Ellington opened the conference, he asked the governors not to use the session “as a spotlighted platform from which to sound off on issues of an emotional or political nature . . . and in the game of demogaguery.” The Tennessee governor told news men that the conference “is not in position to offer any advice ... on the Mississippi problem.” Gov. Patterson asserted that he was “convinced that every act of the pres ent administration in Washington is motivated by what is best for them politically and not what is best for the nation.” During a press conference, Ellington, Vandiver, Gov. Terry Sanford of North Carolina and Gov. Farris Bryant of Florida agreed that court orders must be obeyed. Gov. Bert Combs of Kentucky, who was elected vice chairman, gave re porters this statement: “Ross should quit playing Cus ter’s Last Stand and join us. We need to talk about freight rates and other space age problems.” Combs had been mentioned earlier as a candidate of the moderates for the chairmanship but left word, as he departed for Kentucky before the election, that he was not seeking the office. Faubus served as vice chairman during the past year. Censure Refused The executive committee of the Na tional Governors Conference, mean while, refused to consider a proposal by Gov. John Swainson of Michigan that Barnett be censured. Gov. Albert D. Rossellini of Wash ington, chairman of the national gov ernors, said the three committee mem bers who met at the windup of the regional governors conference felt that censure was not a proper matter for the committee or the national group. “We feel that each governor is the sovereign head of his state, and the best judge of knowing what is best to do about his own particular problem.” While only one-third of the nine- member committee was present, Rosel- lini said he did not believe the subject would be revived when the full group meets in January. Swainson, who did not attend the meeting, said Barnett should be cen sured for defying federal court orders. # # # FAUBUS COMBS Other Colleges Have Had Violence (Continued From Page 1) ing classes with whites at any level in their public education systems. School desegregation suits are in the federal courts in both states. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has announced that the University of Alabama and Auburn University would be his next targets for desegregation attempts. The region, including the District of Columbia, has 285 tax-supported col leges and universities. Of the 234 pre dominantly white or all-white institu tions, 146 are desegregated. Fifteen of the 51 all-Negro or predominantly Ne gro schools will accept whites. Most Desegregation Voluntary Over half of the institutions of higher learning in the region have accepted Negroes voluntarily, and most of the states made a start before the Supreme Court’s school desegregation ruling in 1954. The region has 161 colleges and universities desegregated in practice or principle, and only 24 of these acted by court order. Nine public colleges have desegre gated since May, and all changed their policies voluntarily. They were: Florida —Florida State University, Daytona Beach Junior College, and Manatee Junior College; Georgia—Georgia State College; North Carolina—East Carolina College and Wilmington Junior College; Texas—Arlington State College and the University of Houston; and Virginia— Mary Washington College. Enrollment figures for the current school year Eire unavailable, but for the 1961-62 term, the region had 650,237 students in its white colleges and 62,574 in the Negro ones. The exact number of Negroes attending desegregated colleges in the region is unknown, because sev eral border states do not keep records by race, but the figure is over 5,000. Ten states and the District of Colum bia have started desegregation of col lege faculties. The states are Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. College desegregation began in the region in the 30’s and the court deci sions in these cases pointed toward the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in 1954 and 1955, that compulsory segregation in the public schools was unconstitu tional. In 1936, the Maryland Court of Appeals held that the state must af ford equal educational opportunities in its own institutions. The University of Maryland then enrolled a Negro, Don ald Murray, under the court’s order. Two Maryland schools with predomi nantly Negro enrollments, Maryland State and Morgan State, had policies permitting the entry of white students as early as 1886 and 1867, respectively. But the court-ordered entry of Mur ray to the university was the first known desegregation of any formerly all-white public school in the region. Supreme Court Decisions The next state-supported college in the Southern and border region to de segregate was the University of West Virginia, which voluntarily admitted Negroes to its graduate schools in 1938. This same year, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a state was bound to furnish equal educationEd facilities within its borders, and ordered Leroy Gaines ad mitted to the University of Missouri Law School. However, for unknown reasons, Gaines never enrolled. The next college desegregation did not occur until 1948, when G. W. Mc- Laurin entered the University of Okla homa by court order. Earlier in 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court had ordered Mrs. Ada Lois Sipuel admitted to the University of Oklahoma on the grounds that one race must receive equal fa cilities as soon as another race. Mrs. Sipuel was not accepted by the school until 1949. In ordering Heman Sweatt admitted to the University of Texas law school in 1950, the court ruled that the law school at Texas State University for Negroes was inferior in such intangible criteria as community standing, tradi tion, and prestige. The court held in McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents in 1950 that G. W. McLaurin was handi capped in being taught in segregated conditions at the University of Okla homa law school. The court said Mc Laurin must receive the same treatment as students of other races. Three states voluntarily desegregated their first colleges and universities be fore 1954: West Virginia, 1938; and Ar kansas and Delaware, 1948. The District of Columbia voluntarily combined its white and Negro colleges in 1954. Be tween 1936 and 1954, nine states ac cepted their first Negroes in formerly all-white institutions by court order: Maryland, 1936; Oklahoma, 1948; Ken tucky, 1949; Louisiana, Missouri, Texas and Virginia, 1950; North Carolina, 1951; and Tennessee, 1952. Stronger Resistance Since 1954, the four states initiating their first college desegregation have complied only after much stronger re sistance. They are Alabama, 1956; Flor ida, 1958; Georgia, 1961; and Mississippi, 1962. Florida complied with the court-order to desegregate its university without violence but only after nine years of litigation. Even then, none of the origi nal plaintiffs in the suit gained admis sion. Seven Negroes tried to enter the Uni versity of Florida’s graduate and pro fessional schools in April, 1949, but the board of control rejected their applica tions. Five of the students then filed suit in a state court to gain admission. Only one of the original plaintiffs, Vir gil Hawkins, continued the legal fight as the case exchanged several times be tween the state and federal courts. When the case finally was determined in his favor, the 48-year-old Hawkins had become ineligible for admission be cause of new regulations raising the minimum score on a law school test. In August, 1958, the university admitted Alabama (Continued From Page 13) relationships and damage the very fiber of our democratic system.” Gov.-nominate George C. Wallace, unopposed in the November general election, said he wholeheartedly en dorsed Barnett’s stand against “the action of a tyrannical federal court sys tem.” The federal government “dare not” put Barnett in jail, he said. During the Democratic gubernatorial primary campaign last spring, Wallace hit hard at the “lousy, irresponsible federal judiciary” and pledged that he would “stand in the school house door” if necessary to prevent desegregation of any Alabama schools. He said he would request the legislature, after he takes office in January, to delegate to him personal powers to intervene in any such school case so that if anyone had to go to jail, it would be the governor. Repeats Attacks Wallace repeated his attacks on the federal judiciary during September and promised there would never be deseg regation during his four-year term: “I am going to stand up against those lousy, no-account judges that are try ing to take over our school system. “I’m not going to tell you I’m going to win, but Fm going to wake the coun try up. . .” On smother occasion Wallace said, “Those hypocrites in Washington ought to spend a little more time concerning themselves with Castro and Cuba and Khruschev and Russia and leave the internal affairs of the states alone.” Speaking in Florence Sept. 25, Wal lace said the state’s two largest univer sities—the University of Alabama and Auburn University—“will never be in tegrated” during his term. The university is under a permanent injunction, dating from the Autherine Lucy case of 1956 (Lucy v. Adams) not to deny any student applicant because of race. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. of Atlanta told a Southern Christian Leadership Conference convention in Birmingham that a stepped-up cam paign is contemplated to enroll Negroes at both institutions. (See “Community Action.”) Wallace said legislators backed him in his position. Most of them signed a message of support to Gov. Barnett. “If you stand up to them,” Wallace said, “they’ll back down every time.” The Birmingham News was sharply critical of Wallace’s support for Bam- its first Negro, George Starke, to its law school. The first Negroes were accepted by the undergraduate division at the beginning of the current school year. In three states where resistance to desegregation at the elementary and high schools has been so strong as to result in school closings and mob vio lence, the public colleges had begun desegregation several years before. Troops in Little Rock At Little Rock, the only other school desegregation besides Ole Miss that has resulted in the use of federal troops, the trouble occurred in 1957 and 1958, nine years after the University of Ar kansas voluntEirily began admitting Ne gro students. The remainder of the public colleges and universities in Ar kansas desegregated voluntarily in 1955, and 46 Negroes attended these in stitutions with whites in 1961-62. Virginia offered “massive resistance” to the court-ordered desegregation of schools in Norfolk, Front Royal and Charlottesville and closed them tem porarily in 1958. The University of Vir ginia had admitted its first Negro in 1950 by court order, and three other state colleges followed voluntarily in 1951. A fifth state school desegregated in 1953, and the five institutions had 56 Negroes attending these schools last year. When violence broke out in New Or leans in 1960 because Negro children were entering the first grades, the state had more Negroes in biracial public colleges than any other Southern state. Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge desegregated by court order in 1950. LSU and the four other Louisiana colleges that have desegregated, only by court order, had 724 Negroes at tending college classes with whites last term. The region’s 161 public colleges and universities that have desegregated are located in: Alabama, one; Arkansas, eight; Delaware, two; District of Co lumbia, one; Florida, eight; Georgia, three; Kentucky, eight; Louisiana, five; Maryland, twenty; Mississippi, one; Missouri, fourteen; North Carolina, nine; Oklahoma, twenty-four; Tennes see, seven; Texas, thirty-three; Vir ginia, six; and West Virginia, eleven. South Carolina has none. Although statistics are not kept by SERS on private schools, at least 130 in the Southern and border states are known to have admitted Negro students or have adopted a desegregation policy. # # # ett. The Mississippi governor has com- mitted himself to a policy of potential tragedy, the News said, and “Alabama cannot afford this enormous error.” The campaign is over, the News sai<( and it’s time for Wallace to “cease this fiery utterance and do the thinking of which all who know him well believe him capable. This is no time fot bravado.” The News also criticized James Mar. tin of Gadsden, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate against Sen. Lister Hill, for his similsir support of Barnett Alabama Republicans, making their strongest bid in years with a candidate for the Senate, three for congressional seats and others for state and local of. fices, hit hard on the silence of the state’s Democratic congressional delega- tion on the Mississippi situation. Silence Broken That silence was broken in late Sep. tember as the entire delegation, includ ing Senators Hill and John Sparkman, sent Barnett a telegram saying: “Mississippi’s fight is Alabama’s fight We support you in the principle that you are so forcefully defending, and we commend you for the courageous battle you are waging for constitutional gov- ernment.” Attorney General MacDonald Galliot pledged the “full resources” of his office to assist Mississippi. He said he had dispatched a special assistant attorney general, Nick S. Hare, to aid Mississippi counselors. The National States Rights Party wired Barnett pledging “armed volun. teers” to help Mississippi. The message said “our lives and our fortunes” are at the disposal of Barnett. The Montgomery County Republicat Executive committee also wired its sup port to Barnett, commenting: “The existence of our nation is at stake.” Community Action King Says Negroes To Seek Entrance To Two Colleges The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. of Atlanta, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said in Birmingham in September that the group was going “all-out” to get Ne groes to apply for admittance to the University of Alabama within a year. The university is still under a permanent injunction not to bsir any applicant because of race. The injunc tion dates from the 1956 Autherine Lucy case. “We hope to include Auburn Univer sity in the movement,” Dr. King added. King characterized Alabama as one of the “hard core” segregation states, along with Mississippi and South Caro lina. At news conferences during the four-day SCLC conference in Birming ham, King said he had no doubt that James Meredith would gain admittance to the University of Mississippi. Inspire Something’ The Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, an other conference official, said that while Alabama is lagging behind other state* in meeting the racial problem, he hoped the group would “inspire something to ward school segregation.” He did not elaborate, but presumably referred to the Birmingham school de segregation case, which was to be heard in the state’s largest city beginning Oct 3 in U.S. District Court there (SSN> September). Most observers expected that this action (Armstrong et ah Birmingham Board of Education) would bring the state’s first order to desegre gate public schools, probably by ne** fall. Prior to the SCLC meeting, severs! members met with Attorney Genera! Robert Kennedy in Washington to dis cuss what was termed “the Birminghafl* problem in general.” At one of the conference meetingSi 1 white man, Roy James of Arlington Va., jumped to the platform and bea* King as he was speaking. The man, wh° said he was a member of George Lin coln Rockwell’s American Nazi party told police he was infuriated by King s reference to entertainer Sammy Da''* 5 Jr. because Davis is married to a wh‘ t£ woman, actress May Britt. King did not fight back and ' vaS reluctant to prosecute. But police P re ' vailed on him to testify in BirminghaJ Recorder’s Court, where Judge Chari H. Brown sentenced James to 30 day- in jail for the assault and fined hi® $25. . King received bruises on the jaw back. 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