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PAGE 14—JANUARY. 1963—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
VIRGINIA
Justice Department Authorized
To Enter Prince Edward Lawsuit
RICHMOND
T he United States Fourth
Circuit Court of Appeals au
thorized the federal government
to enter the Prince Edward
County school desegregation case
on the side of the Negro plaintiffs.
(Griffin v. Prince Edward County
School Board; formerly Davis,
and later Allen, v. Prince Edward
County School Board.)
The order was signed by Chief Judge
Simon E. Sobeloff on Dec. 31, but it did
not become publicly known until Jan.
2.
It said the government may appear
as an “amicus curiae” (friend of the
court) at the hearing in Alexandria
Jan. 7.
The federal government had sought
to enter the case once before, in a
petition filed April 26, 1961, in the fed
eral district court at Richmond.
That petition was denied by Judge
Oren R. Lewis, who, on June 24, 1961,
held that “the granting of intervention
will unduly delay and prejudice the
adjudication of the rights” of the Ne
gro plaintiffs and the county school
board.
In its new motion, the Justice De
partment declared that intervention by
the federal government “is necessary
in order to prevent the circumvention
and nullification of the prior orders of
this court and to safeguard the due
administration of justice and the in
tegrity of the judicial processes of
the United States.”
The motion asked for a court order:
• Enjoining local and state officials
from failing to operate public schools
in Prince Edward.
• Enjoining local and state officials
from paying tuition grants to Prince
Edward children to attend private
schools as long as public schools are
closed.
• Enjoining local officials from al
lowing taxpayers credit on contribu
tions to the private Prince Edward
School Foundation as long as public
schools are closed.
• Enjoining state officials from pro
viding money for public schools any
where in Virginia as long as Prince
Edward schools are closed.
55-Page Brief
The Justice Department filed a 55-
page brief in which it declared that the
Prince Edward case is “of great impor
tance to public education in the United
States” and “to the future course of the
desegregation of the public schools in
this country.”
The federal courts have the authority
to require the levying of taxes to sup
port schools in Prince Edward, the
government contended.
“We do not believe . . . the state of
Virginia [should] be given the Hob
son’s choice of either reopening the
Virginia Highlights
The United States Government
made a second—and this time suc
cessful—attempt to enter the Prince
Edward County school desegregation
case on the side of the Negro plain
tiffs.
Every public school child in Vir
ginia would be made a “hostage” if
a district court order is upheld pro-
hibting the closing of Prince Edward
schools so long as schools elsewhere
are operated, the state contended in
a brief filed with the United States
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
A federal district judge ruled that
Powhatan County must desegregate
its schools and enjoined county of
ficials from closing schools, as they
had threatened to do, to avoid com
pliance with his ruling.
The Alexandria School Board ex-
ressed disapproval of the state’s tui
tion grants program and asked state
legislators from the area to look into
the matter.
public schools in Prince Edward
County or ceasing to maintain and
support public schools elsewhere in
the state,” the Justice Department said.
“Since alternative relief is available,
the court should not consider the dras
tic step of interfering with the edu
cation of children throughout Virginia.
The United States is participating in
this case in the hope and expecta
tion that public education will be re
stored to Prince Edward County; it is
not here to advocate the spread of an
educational vacuum.
“Conversely, this court need not
here decide whether a state is con
stitutionally free totally to abandon its
statewide public school system where
there is a purpose to avoid racial de
segregation. There is no suggestion,
particularly considering the command
of the Virginia Constitution, that the
state has any intention of retiring from
the public school business merely to
assist Prince Edward County in its
program of resisting desegregation."
★ ★ ★
Stale Claims Local Option
As to School Operations
In its brief in the Griffin case, filed
Dec. 28, the state of Virginia said that
Virginia has local option in the matter
of school operation, and that state of
ficials have no duty or authority to
require a locality to operate schools.
If the Circuit Court should issue an
order seeking to require state officials
to operate schools in Prince Edward,
that order would “make hostages of
every public school child in Virginia
until the board of supervisors of
Prince Edward County sees fit to make
available funds for the operation of
public schools in the county,” said the
state in its brief.
The Prince Edward School Board
also filed its brief in the Griffin case
on Dec. 28, declaring that public
schools in Virginia are purely local in
stitutions.
“Neither the commonwealth, nor the
Governor, nor the State Board of Edu
cation or any state officer or agency
can compel the establishment, mainte
nance or operation of a single school
in the commonwealth of Virginia,” said
the board.
“We say, and it is time that again
this court should make perfectly ap
parent what the situation is, that the
operation of public schools is not an
obligation laid on anyone by the Con
stitution of the United States and no
court has so held . . .”
★ ★ ★
Authority Over Schools
Debated Before Court
Conflicting views as to what agency
has the authority to operate public
schools in Virginia were presented
Dec. 14 in a hearing before Judge John
Wingo Knowles in the Richmond Cir
cuit Court. (Prince Edward County
School Board v. Griffin.)
This is the case in which the Prince
Edward School Board and the State
Board of Education have asked for a
ruling as to whether the state must
operate public schools in the absence
of county operation.
Collins Denny, Jr., representing the
school board, said that board alone has
the power to operate schools, subject
to financial restrictions by the county
board of supervisors.
S. W. Tucker, representing Negro
children, contended that schools are a
joint function of the local school board,
the board of supervisors and the State
Board of Education.
Assembly’s Power
Tucker said it is “perfectly ridicu
lous” to say that the General Assem
bly of Virginia is powerless to com
pel the board of supervisors to ap
propriate public school funds.
Denny contended that there is no
obligation upon the state or anyone
else in Virginia to operate schools in
any locality that does not want schools.
Robert D. Mcllwaine HI, an assistant
state attorney general, told the court
that if a Virginia locality chooses to
operate schools, those schools must be
open to both races.
But there is no obligation to operate
schools, he continued. He said federal
courts have consistently upheld the
right of localities to sell such munici
pally owned facilities as swimming
pools to avoid desegregation. In the
same manner, he said, a locality in
North Carolina
(Continued From Page 13)
chronological basis, according to the
dates of applications.
Each year, Queens College has re
ceived an average of two or three in
quiries from Negroes, Dr. Walker said.
The college admissions office has tradi
tionally said Negro applications would
not be processed.
The college trustees approved the ac
tion on the basis of the recent federal
government’s directive on federally aid
ed housing, Dr. Walker said. He ex
plained this sequence:
Since the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court
school desegregation decision, Queens
College has had a trustee committee,
headed currently by C. P. Street of
Charlotte, to study possible desegrega
tion problems. This committee has
made reports each year, but no action
has resulted.
Pushed Vote
Originally, the board had planned to
vote on desegregation at its May meet
ing, but pushed the vote ahead of
schedule because of plans to build new
campus housing. The school is planning
to seek federal loans for new dormitory
space.
The housing order, issued in Novem
ber, refers specifically to college campus
housing as part of a federal directive
to reduce racial bias in housing built
with federal help.
The board favored desegregation by
a heavy majority without any “division
of feeling or spirit,” Dr. Walker said.
He also reported that the faculty ap
proved the action unanimously.
H. H. Everett of Charlotte, board
chairman, said Queens has a “moral
obligation” to desegregate. “We were
just waiting for the propitious time, and
this was it,” he said.
This action will not be favored by
some supporters and friends of the
college, Dr. Walker said. “And if this
is true,” he continued, “it would cost
us some support and gain us some sup
port. I couldn’t forecast what the net
change would be.”
Student reaction appeared to be fa
vorable. “I couldn’t be any more
pleased,” Miss Maywood Nisbet of At
lanta, Ga., president of the Resident
Student Council, said.
“There are only a very few students
who are real, real upset,” she said.
Virginia can simply stop operating
schools if it chooses to do so.
★ ★ ★
Powhatan Desegregation
Ordered; Closing Enjoined
Federal District Judge John D. Butz-
ner Jr. on Jan. 3 struck down school
segregation in Powhatan County and
enjoined county officials from taking
any steps “direct or indirect” to close
public schools. (Bell v. Powhatan
County School Board.)
On the following day he stayed that
part of his order which had called for
immediate admittance of three Negro
children to the all-white Powhatan
(See U.S. AGAIN, Page 15)
Negro College Enrollment
Increases at Faster Rate
Negro college enrollment has ij.
creased at a faster rate during the pas;
three years than that of white col.
leges, figures released by the Stats
Board of Higher Education revealed it
the December issue of State School
Facts.
Enrollment increase for Negroes j;
five state colleges was greater than thf
increase at six non-public colleges
Among whites, the increase was greatet
for 23 non-public colleges than fot
seven state-supported colleges.
Total enrollment in all colleges ol
the state has nearly doubled since the
1949-50 school year.
The state chart covered four-yea;
colleges in one section, junior colleges
in another section and Bible and theo.
logical schools in another.
North Carolina’s 1962-63 total en
rollment is 80,804 students, an increase
of 5,603 over last year. It includes 40,542
in state four-year colleges, 2,877 jj
public-supported junior colleges, 30,694
in senior non-public colleges, 2,175 it
non-public junior colleges and 809 it
four Bible schools.
These figures do not include a break
down by race of Negroes enrolled it
the white colleges.
White Increases
Enrollment in white state colleges
includes 20,661 men and 11,394 womer.
for a total of 32,055, a 28.5 per cent in-
crease of 7,117 students in the past
three years.
Negro state colleges have 3,804 mo
and 4,683 women for a total of 8,487, at
increase of 43.3 per cent or 2,564 stu
dents in the past three ears.
It may be noted that in Negro col
leges, a majority of students are wom
en, but in white colleges, the maiorily
are men. This is true for both public
and private colleges. Only the Agri
cultural and Technical College it
Greensboro, a state-supported college
among Negro schools has a larger en
rollment of men than women. It has
1,814 men and 1,037 women.
In the private colleges there are
16,022 men and 10,698 women for a
26,720 total in the white schools, an
increase of 7,123 or 36.3 per cent. This
increase is greater numerically and bv
percentage for the private institutions
Story Different
The story is different in the Negrc
private colleges. Their enrollment totals
are 1,388 men and 2,586 women for at
846 increase or 27.0 per cent.
Junior college enrollments are:
WHITE: 1,810 men and 815 women for
2,625 total, a 69.6 per cent increase i:
I. 077 in four public schools; and 3,16'
men and 2,715 women in private schools
for a total of 5,882, a decrease of 755 or
II. 4 per cent.
NEGRO: 81 men and 171 women f°-
a total of 252, a decrease of 36 or l- :
per cent at two public schools. The on [
private school, Immanuel Lutheran ®
Greensboro, which had 30 students i®
1959-60, has closed since then.
The Bible school total included nl
Negro school.
SPECIAL REPORT
Speaker Says Charlottesville Is
NASHVILLE, TENN.
he Charlottesville, Va., pub
lic schools have moved from
“crisis to crossroads” in their de
segregation program, according to
a report presented to a race rela
tions conference here on Dec. 28.
Dr. Paul Gaston, Department of His
tory at the University of Virginia, made
the observation in his report, “Educa
tion—The Charlottesville, Va., Experi
ence,” that he had prepared with Dr.
Thomas T. Hammond. The detailed
study covered the years 1955 through
1962.
The two-day conference on “The
South: The Ethical Demands of Integra
tion,” was sponsored by the Southern
Regional Council and the Fellowship of
Southern Churchmen.
In his report, Dr. Gaston said that the
“immediate origins of the school de
segregation issue go back to 1955,”
when the Negro parents first petitioned
for desegregation. “By the spring of 1958
a crisis atmosphere was developing.”
The events he cited diming the period
of crisis for the city schools included
the federal court order to desegregate,
the closure of the public schools under
the “massive resistance” laws, establish
ment of private schools, and the de
cision to reopen the schools in early
1959 with an agreement to admit Ne
groes to schools with whites that Sep
tember.
Dr. Gaston told the conference:
“In September, 1959, nine Negro chil
dren entered Venable Elementary
School and three enrolled in Lane
High ... By the time desegregation
finally came, most responsible citizens
recognized that it was unavoidable and,
on the day school opened, there was no
violence and little tension in the city.
“For the next three years the pattern
was much the same. There were 12
Negroes in desegregated schools that
first year, 18 the following year, and 35
the next. A clear pattern of tokenism
emerged that the white community
found acceptable. In fact, a University
of Virginia law professor, reporting to
the Civil Rights Commission in mid-
1962, declared that Charlottesville’s
‘temperament is such that it can accept
more desegregation. . . .’ Commenting
on this study in December, the editor
of the Charlottesville Daily Progress
(who is also a member of the School
Board and an advocate of ‘freedom of
choice’) concurred in this view but
asserted that any large increase in the
number of Negroes entering formerly
all-white schools would endanger
popular support for public schools.”
Summarizing the developments since
1958, Dr. Gaston said:
“The crisis out of which Charlottes
ville came in 1958-59 was followed by
a three-year period of tokenism, a
School Board policy of containment,
and a gradual acceptance in the com
munity of the new situation. That pe
riod has come to an end and Charlottes
ville finds itself at a crossroad again.
There is no crisis atmosphere and
probably none will develop, but the
time has arrived when new and crucial
decisions must be made.
“Two recent and related develop
ments make the new departure immin
ent. First, the Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals on September 17, 1962, in
validated key features of the school
assignment plan. Second, the crowded
condition of Lane High School has led
to mounting pressure from all sides to
expand the school system. How the
community — and particularly the
School Board—will respond to these
new developments is difficult to pre
dict.”
The immediate effect of the Septem
ber decision, Gaston said, was to in
crease to about 60 the Negroes in the
two desegregated schools and to end
segregation in a third school with the
admission of four Negroes.
“Nearly all signs point to a continued
and slow but steady advance of deseg
regation,” he reported. But he said that
for “many years to come, however,
there is likely to be a considerable
at the *Crossroads
9
amount of voluntary segregation, espe
cially among those who have had sev
eral years of segregated school experi
ence.”
Dr. Gaston said in his report that
within a “restricted framework” he con
sidered Charlottesville’s desegregation
experience “highly successful” and he
gave this explanation:
“Before any Negro students were ad
mitted, a majority of the white parents
probably looked upon desegregation
with either disapproval or fear. Some
of the Negro applicants were worried
that they might be beaten, humiliated,
or ostracized by the white students.
Arch segregationists warned that there
would be fights, knifings and riots.
Many predicted educational standards
would decline. But when desegregation
became a reality the world did not
come to an end and these fears proved
groundless. In the three years since
desegregation began, not a single
serious incident has been reported. In
no significant way has the situation in
the desegregated schools worsened.”
Discussing the private schools opened
during the period of crisis, Dr. Gaston
said they were considered to be “safety
valves” that made unlikely any trouble
in the public schools. “They are still so
regarded today,” he said. He continued:
“Political leaders, and many others,
look upon them as providing a nec
essary alternative for those who find
desegregation repugnant and unaccept-
tjjt
able. Most observers agree that P u “,.
school desegregation has gone smootj£
in part because of the existence of
. . . schools.”
There was some doubt when
schools began that they could sur*
for very long, Dr. Gaston said. ‘ W a [:
pears now, in their fourth y ear £ -.
operation, that their future is rd 3 * 1 '.’ f
secure, provided tuition grants con
to be available,” he told the confe reB ^l
The acceptance of desegregation j
the city may tend to erode the e ^
ment, the professor said. Desegref? 8 .
of the county schools probably
broaden the base of enrollm ent '
added.
The Nashville conference open 1
ed* itf
Lu^
an address by the Rev. Martin
- tb^ i
King, Jr., president of
Christian Leadership
*e Sout^
Conference-
J yjtP
two other case histories presente ^
“Employment—the Greensboro, ^
Experience,” and “The Role 0
Church in Desegregation Efforts &
lanta.” The final session con<*
“Reports from the Action
sissippi and Albany, Ga.”
Front-
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a a‘
&
The conference was held in a®
torium on the Vanderbilt j
campus, but the school had no
tion with the meeting.
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