Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2—DECEMBER, 1962—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
ALABAMA
Leaders Call for Order
In Event of Desegregation
(Continued From Page 1)
dents—transfers and freshmen—“ap
plicants are being told that their appli
cations are being held for processing
for any subsequent semester specified
by the applicant,” the university an
nounced.
Complete credentials required in
clude transcripts and other informa
tion, the university said. The an
nouncement continued:
“The university’s program of selec
tive admissions requires the careful
evaluation of each applicant’s potential
ability to succeed in his academic pro
gram, processing applications on this
basis led five years ago to the inclu
sion of a statement in the university’s
catalog that reads, applications for ad
mission should be made well in ad
vance of the date of proposed en
trance.”
Dr. Rose said “pressure of enroll
ment” dictated the move.
Miss Malone, one of the Negro ap
plicants, said she had not been notified
of the university closing of admissions,
adding that she would have no further
comment until she had heard from uni
versity officials.
★ ★ ★
Editor of Student
Newspaper Protected
The editor of the university’s student
newspaper, Crimson-White, was being
protected by private detectives, it was
revealed Nov. 13. He had received
threatening calls about his editorials
on desegregation.
The student editor, Mel Meyer of
Starkville, Miss., had written, “By all
legal rights, a Negro is entitled to at
tend a Southern University.”
Meyer, son of a former publisher of
the Starkville News, Henry Meyer, re
ported receiving threatening phone
calls. A cross was burned in front of
his fraternity house.
University President Frank Rose con
firmed the assignment of private de
tectives. In a prepared statement, Rose
said:
President’s Statement
“With a campus community which
includes some 9,000 students, the Uni
versity of Alabama has long main
tained a small, but efficient, police
force. On special occasions we also
often make temporary, special appoint
ments to this department for specific
duty.
“This institution has the duty to pro
tect every student from harrassment or
from being subjected to any experience
that might tend to place him in danger.
“The threatening phone calls led us
to the conclusion that such action was
Vivian Malone
Among the applicants.
warranted in this incident.
“We would, of course, have preferred
that our precautions had gone unpub
licized.
“On the other hand, we will con
tinue to use every resource at our dis
posal and which we consider appro
priate to the maintenance of order and
the protection of the students on this
campus.”
Schoolmen
Impacted Areas
Put on Notice
By Government
Letters were reported sent in No
vember to school superintendents in all
Alabama school districts receiving
“impacted areas” assistance from the
federal government, indicating aid may
be cut off after next June 30 unless the
school systems are desegregated.
In Alabama, the reminders from the
Department of Health, Education &
Welfare were reported from Washing
ton to have gone to school officials
in Huntsville and Madison County,
Anniston and Calhoun County, Ozark
and Dale County, Selma and Dallas
County, Mobile and Mobile County,
Montgomery and Montgomery County,
Macon County and possibly others.
The major military and space instal
lations in Alabama are: Redstone Ar
senal and the Marshall Space Flight
Center at Huntsville; Ft. McClellan at
Anniston; Craig Air Force Base at Sel
ma; the Air University and other Air
Force facilities at Maxwell and Gunter
Air Force Bases at Montgomery; the
Army Aviation Center at Ozark; and
Brookley Air Force Base at Mobile.
Officials Reminded
The notices, from James M. Quigley,
assistant secretary of HEW, reminded
school officials in the respective areas
that they “cannot rely” on impacted
area funds after the end of the current
school year, pursuant to the announce
ment of former HEW Secretary Abra
ham Ribicoff. (SSN, April.)
“It is our hope,” Quigley wrote, “that
local educational agencies will proceed
to arrange for the provision of deseg
regated schools in accord with this
policy . .
Montgomery City-County Superin
tendent of Education Walter T. McKee
pointed out, however, that there won’t
be any impacted area funds after June
30 unless Congress renews the law.
None of Alabama’s schools, in 114
districts, is desegregated. Two suits to
desegregate Birmingham schools are
pending there and Negro parents pe
titioned the Mobile City-County School
Board Nov. 14 to desegregate.
Legal Action
Petition Asks
Mobile School
Desegregation
A petition requesting desegregation
of Mobile public schools was presented
to the Mobile City-County School
Board Nov. 14 by J. L. LeFlore, local
Negro leader.
The petition, bearing the signatures
of 27 Negro residents who aver they
have children in Mobile’s segregated
school system, was given to Dr. Cran
ford H. Bums, superintendent o f
schools. The petitioners asked the board
“to present to the community, within
the next 60 days, a plan for such de
segregation which shall include provi
sion for a prompt and reasonable start
toward such desegregation.”
The petition further requested the
board to eliminate all racial distinc
tions from the school system, “includ
ing the assignment of pupils and pro
fessional school personnel on a non-
racial basis, with all deliberate speed.”
Letter with Petition
LeFlore, a postal employe, also sub
mitted a letter supporting the peti
tion. The letter was signed by LeFlore
as director of case work for the Mobile
Citizens Committee.
The petition said that a similar peti
tion had been submitted in 1955 and
that no reply was received. (Petitions
were also submitted to city and county
boards in many parts of the state about
the same time.)
Only one public school desegregation
action is pending in Alabama—in Bir
mingham, where U.S. District Judge
Seyboum Lynne concluded hearings on
Alabama
Faced with new desegregation at
tempts, the University of Alabama
went on record in Novembajt. in''sup
port of law andr • drier 'and against
mob violencV
Two moreV applicatwhl'jsppe'l-e-
ceived from !\egro sfudellfsTthe uni
versity confirJ|*!P^ov. 26. With an
earlier application Oct. 24 (SSN,
November), the total was presum
ably three. The university, in keep
ing with established policy, declined
to identify any of them. However,
Miss Vivan Malone, 20-year-old Ala
bama A&M student from Mobile,
said Nov. 26 she is among the appli
cants.
President Frank A. Rose, the uni
versity board of Trustees, the faculty
and the Alumni Council—all issued
statements of firm resolve to main
tain order should Negro students be
admitted to the campus.
From over the state, ministers, re
ligious groups, businessmen and
newspapers pleaded for law and or
der in whatever situation faces the
state.
However, Gov.-elect George C.
Wallace, who takes office in January,
repeated his intentions to intervene
Highlights
personally in an effort to block any
desegregation of any school in Ala-
bama. “If they are sending resold
tions to me thinking I will ease of
my segregation stand,” Wallace said,
“they are wasting paper.”
Letters have gone out to school
superintendents of “impacted areas”
in Alabama, as elsewhere in the
South, indicating that federal funds
for these districts may be cut oB
after next June 30 unless the school
systems are desegregated. Several
city and county school systems neat
federal installations would be af
fected.
A petition requesting desegrega
tion of Mobile public schools was
presented Nov. 14 to the Mobile
City-County School Board.
Alabama’s veteran Senator Lister
Hill narrowly escaped defeat in the
Nov. 6 general election by a Re
publican, James D. Martin of Gads
den. The University of Mississippi
situation was one reason for Martin’s
surprisingly strong showing, obsen-
ers believed. Hill himself said: “It
came at a bad time, a mighty bad
time.”
two combined suits Oct. 25 and gave
attorneys until Dec. 1 to file additional
briefs and until Dec. 31 for filing an
swers. (SSN, November.)
The state remains segregated
throughout the 114-district system.
Political Activity
Segregation Issue
Figures in Vote
For U. S. Senator
Alabama’s senior senator, Lister Hill,
a veteran of 39 years in Congress, was
almost unseated by a political new
comer Nov. 6.
The challenger was James D. Mar
tin, Gadsden businessman who led his
Republican Party to its strongest bid
in the state since Reconstruction.
Most political observers agreed that
Martin benefited enormously by the
government’s intervention at the Uni
versity of Mississippi. As the votes
were being tabulated election night,
Sen. Hill seemed to agree: “It came at
a bad time,” he said, “a mighty bad
time.”
Martin waged a spirited campaign,
calling Hill “the biggest national De
mocrat I know,” and “Alabama’s Jacob
Javits.” He chided Hill for not speak
ing out sooner on the use of troops
and marshals in Oxford. Said Martin:
“We have waited too long for Hill ti
fight for Alabama and the South; he
should have fought when the troop;
marched on Oxford. It’s no hour to
send telegrams. I urge you to go to
the polls with a Rebel yell. . . .”
Official Vote
The final, official vote: Hill, 201,931
Martin, 195,092. Hill’s victory margii
of 6,845 gave him less than 51 per cei:
of the total vote. He piled up hi
biggest totals in North Alabama, when
the race issue is less explosive. He alst
carried the Negro vote solidly, as indi-
HILL
cated by representative boxes over the
state. !
Some Alabama Democrats, though
party loyalists, conceded the state
might go Republican in 1964—largdf
because of the segregation issue.
Gov.-elect George Wallace said ha-
fore the election: “We must once
for all disassociate ourselves from t»
(See ALABAMA, Page 3)
MARTIN
Statements Issued Urging Prevention of Violence
In the wake of the Meredith inci
dent at the University of Mississippi,
the president, Board of Trustees,
Alumni Council and faculty of the
University of Alabama in separate
statements called for the preserva
tion of law and order and the pre
vention of violence on the Alabama
campus. Excerpts from the statements
are reprinted below:
President Frank A. Rose
The times are too serious and edu
cation too expensive for the University
of Alabama to dissipate her resources
on lesser goals than academic and in
tellectual accomplishment. ... We have
had some people less informed, both in
side and outside the university com
munity, who have sought to alter our
leadership and bring confusion, but the
University of Alabama has had too
much of this activity in the past to be
misled. . . .
There have been times of impatience
and frustration, and all of us have had
to fight these. ...
I am fully aware that there are some
serious questions on your mind about
the immediate future. First, let me say
that I do not know when we will be
faced with the problem of enrolling a
Negro student. Each semester we have
several Negro students, along with
hundreds of other students, to begin
making application; but we have not
had one to complete his registration
since 1956. With our new admissions
program requiring higher standards for
admission, we have turned away more
than 3,000 students during the last four
years. All applications are treated in
the same manner with the final decision
left with the Admissions Committee.
The people of his state want a great
university; they have confidence in
what we are doing here; and they are
determined to see us move on to even
greater achievements.
I have been assured by our authori
ties that the state will use every force
at its command to see that we do not
have mob violence. I am most encour
aged by this response from the citizens
of the state. This is a great University,
with more than 100 million dollars of
facilities; and with a distinguished fac
ulty it carries on some of the most
critical work for the space program and
our natonal defense. This University
must never become the scene of mob
violence, battle troops, or bloodshed.
Board of Trustees
.... Mindful of its responsibility to
manage and control the affair of this
University, as provided in the consti
tution of the State of Alabama, this
board finds it appropriate during this
period of tension to issue the following
statements to the citizenry of Alabama,
to whom the board is responsible:
1. We want to assure the students,
their parents, the faculty, the officers
of administration, the alumni and the
people of this state that we intend to
meet any crisis which may face this
university in such a manner that will
not compromise the intellectual integ
rity of the institution. We know the
people of Alabama want a great Uni
versity, that they have confidence in
what we are doing here; and that they
are determined to see us move on to
even greater achievements. We hope
to be able to continue our magnificent
institution with the traditions of its
founders.
2. We intend to exercise our respon
sibilities both to the people of Alabama
Dr. Frank A. Rose
‘Most encouraged.’
| and to the University community to
the best of our ability, being ever
mindful of the trust placed upon us
by our election to the governing board
of this, one of America’s great state
universities. With the help, under-
j standing and support of the general
| citizenry, the alumni, the faculty and
i the students, the increased ability of
this University to continue to grow
in stature, strength and service is
assured.
3. In keeping with the Standard of
Excellence which has been attained
by this institution and its responsibil
ity in representing the highest deals
of integrity and honor in our great
state, this board feels compelled to
publicly express its determination that
law and order must be maintained at
all times on the University of Alabama
campus and that it will not condone,
and will take such measures as it may
deem necessary to prevent violence,
riot or disorder. This Board will stand
behind the President in his adminis
tration of discipline and order on the
campus, and it confidently expects the
full cooperation of its faculty and
students toward this end. It further
solicits the continued support and en
couragement of its alumni and the
citizens of Alabama in the mainte
nance of law and order on the Univer
sity campus.
Alumni Council
... Be it therefore resolved . . .
1. That the Alumni Council does
hereby express to the Board of Trus
tees, the president, the administrative
staff, the faculty and the students its
appreciation for the high standing and
the accomplishments of the University
of Alabama.
2. That the Alumni Council reaffirms
to the Board of Trustees, the president,
the administrative staff, faculty and
students its confidence in and support
of the Board of Trustees in the man
agement and control of the University.
3. That the Alumni Council com
mends Governor John Patterson and
Governor-Elect George Wallace, both
alumni of the University of Alabama,
for their assurance to the Board of
Trustees and to the president of the
University that law and order shall and
will be maintained at the University
of Alabama to insure that the tradi
tions, the prestige and the acadeffl 1
integrity of the University shall con
tinue untarnished. Also that the °\
ficials and the people of the City ^
Tuscaloosa and Tuscaloosa County
commended for their assurance
law and order shall be maintained 1
the University community. . I
4. That the Alumni Council is win
ful of the desire of the great major 1 -
of our more than 60,000 alumni, so®j
and daughters who have posfj
through the halls of the Universe
and of the desire of the members
the Alumni Council, that the tra
tions of our great University be m®"
tained; and,
5. That the future of our youth u ■
mately depends upon the uninterrup
ability of this institution to produce
kind of leadership and to provide
kind of education they want and
serve. To the attainment of these f?
we pledge our active support. . . •
University Faculty
We the faculty of the University
Alabama, hereby affirm these truths
That this institution must disch^
its duties in a manner consistent
the law of the land. $.;
That it is the duty and purpos ^
the faculty to teach all students
rolled at this institution. . j
That learning can flourish onty ^
peaceful atmosphere free from
threat of violence.
As teachers and scholars, por 5
of these truths, we commend P re ** jj,e
Rose, the Board of Trustees, a®
alumni on their forthright state. ^
and join with them in a firm r
to maintain peace and order
campus and to preserve the unhin
pursuit of knowledge at this univ ,