Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 16—APRIL, 1963—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
J
KENTUCKY
Pressure Mounts for University
To Desegregate Athletic Teams
LOUISVILLE
ntense pressure mounted dur
ing March for the University
of Kentucky to desegregate its
intercollegiate athletic teams even
if the action meant leaving the'
powerful Southeastern Confer
ence, in which competition is tra
ditionally all-white.
In a meeting April 2, the board of
trustees discussed the matter and then
voted to give the athletic association
the first chance to consider the proposal
at a meeting set for April 29. Trustee
Sam Ezelle said, “If they don’t do
something, we certainly should.”
Ezelle said he thinks “it is about time
that we review our policy of integrated
education and segregated athletics.”
The 12-member conference includes
major universities in Tennessee, Flor
ida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and
Louisiana.
Interviews with members of the UK
board of trustees and directors of the
athletic association brought out opin
ions that SEC desegregation will come
within a few years and that UK
should avoid a break with the con
ference on the issue at this time.
One highly-placed source at UK, who
declined to be named, indicated to the
Associated Press that the university
would seek to avoid such a break by
“selling” other conference schools on
the need for adopting a policy of de
segregated athletics.
In the background, in addition to the
question of equal rights for Negro stu
dents, was the increasing prominence
of Negro athletes on the teams of
Northern schools.
Sportswriters pointed out that Loyola
of Chicago which won the National
Collegiate Athletic Association basket
ball championship in Louisville March
23 had four Negro players on its five-
man first team. And the University of
Cincinnati which reached the finals
started three Negroes.
It was observed that UK, usually a
national power in basketball, has not
done as well in recent years and that
Coach Adolph Rupp cannot recruit the
increasing number of Negro high school
players making the All-State basketball
squad.
There were these developments:
• The Kentucky Kernel, the campus
student newspaper, declared in an
editorial: “If the university is to live
up to its moral obligation and make
significant progress as a major institu
tion it must divorce itself from the
segregation policy which dominates the
Southeastern Conference. Here and
now with a withdrawal from the SEC
or an announcement that we will be
gin to recruit Negro players by a
certain date, we have a chance to take
a real step forward.”
• The student paper polled 132 stu
dents and reported that 59 per cent
favored desegregated athletic teams
and that 56 per cent favored desegre
gation of off-campus restaurants.
• UK President Frank G. Dickey
issued a statement supporting athletic
desegregation, but added that UK would
face an “ethical problem” in withdraw-
Kentucky Highlights
Pressure on the University of Ken
tucky to desegregate its athletic
teams raised the probability that the
university will step up efforts to
“sell” the Southeastern Conference
on desegregated competition in
sports.
Five school districts took action
to adopt desegregation plans or to
accelerate plans already in effect.
A Negro member of the State
Board of Education expressed dis
satisfaction with the board’s plans
for dealing with districts which still
practice segregation.
A charge that the University of
Louisville’s Southern Police Institute
would “brainwash” law-enforcement
officers at an April seminar on
racial troubles was denied.
A new regulation adopted by a
new state agency prohibits racial
discrimination by business schools.
ing from the SEC because ticket-sale
problems might arise which would
jeopardize the investments of bond
holders on the football stadium and
basketball coliseum.
(Dickey, who is leaving UK this
summer to be executive director of the
Southern Association of Colleges and
Secondary Schools, predicted SEC
athletic desegregation was “inevitable”
over a year ago. (SSN, January, 1962.)
• The state’s largest daily news
paper, the Courier-Journal, published
on March 23 an editorial headed: “UK
Athletic Policy Shouldn’t Be Dictated
By Dixie Bias.” It said UK should
announce that it plans “to recruit Negro
athletes, follow through on it and leave
the next move to the Southeastern
Conference.”
• Again on March 30 the Courier-
Journal declared editorially, “This is
the time for the UK to take the lead
in breaking down segregation in the
Southeastern Conference.” In challeng
ing President Dickey’s position on the
bonds, the editorial asked: “Were the
bonds sold on the condition that the
university would maintain Jim Crow
athletic teams?”
• The faculty of the UK college of
arts and sciences voted against con
tinuing segregation in athletics.
• A. D. Kirwan, a director of the
athletic association, said: “The South
eastern Conference is changing, and
this change in athletics probably is
going to come throughout the con
ference before we could arrange to
play other teams if we withdrew.”
• Professor Thomas Clark, another
director, said: “I don’t know whether
Kentucky should be a sacrificial lamb
(on the issue), but I do know that it
is university policy not to segregate
classes, and I don’t see any difference
between classes and athletic teams.”
Schoolmen
5 Districts Move
To Adopt or Speed
Desegregation Plans
official assigned to “encourage” segre
gated districts to desegregate.
There were these developments:
• The Allen County Board of Edu
cation voted March 6 to desegregate
this fall. The district, previously listed
by the state as a holdout, has six Negro
pupils in a small elementary school
and pays tuition for six high school
Negro students to attend classes in
Bowling Green. The board cited the
Supreme Court desegregation ruling,
“encouragement by the Kentucky State
Department of Education,” and costs.
Supt. T. E. Spear said savings of $5,000
to $6,000 would be realized.
• Barren County will desegregate
six schools this fall, under a plan
adopted by the board of education
March 18. Supt. Mitchell Davis said
about 90 Negro pupils who have been
transported to Glasgow city schools
will be involved and that financial
savings will be considerable.
Davis said the system has had a
“voluntary plan” but that Negro pupils
chose to attend the segregated Bunche
School in Glasgow while the school
board paid expenses. Two all-Negro
schools will remain segregated in 1963-
64.
• The Simpson County Board of
Education on March 4 adopted two
possible plans for desegregating high
schools in 1963-64. The first plan,
favored by the board, would retain
the all-Negro Lincoln High School and
the Franklin-Simpson High School,
giving students an option of attending
either.
The second plan would abolish Lin
coln High, changing it to a grade 1-8
elementary school. Supt. John Bruce
said both plans have been submitted
to the State Department of Education
at the request of Taylor, the depart
ment’s liaison man.
• On March 4, the Oldham County
Board of Education voted to put in
effect what was called “complete in
tegration” next fall. Partial desegrega
tion has been in effect since 1956,
involving two elementary schools.
High school Negro students, who
have attended the state-operated Lin
coln Institute in nearby Shelby County,
will attend the Oldham County High
School under the new plan. A new
desegregation program had been prom
ised last fall to Negro leaders who
were preparing a lawsuit. The suit was
dropped. (SSN, November, 1962.)
• The Caldwell County Board of
Education voted Jan. 14 to close the
all-Negro Dotson High School. The
action was later commended by
the Caldwell County Ministerial Asso
ciation. It presumably means that Cald
well County is desegregating at the
high school level. It previously had
been completely segregated.
If all the plans are carried out, the
number of segregated districts will be
reduced to fewer than 20 of 206.
★ ★ ★
Board Fails to Penalize Units
Lacking Desegregation Plans
The State Board of Education again
failed to act on suggestions that some
punitive action be taken against school
districts which have not adopted de
segregation plans.
At a meeting in Frankfort March
26, the board heard a report from Sam
B. Taylor, assistant director of the
bureau of instruction, who had been
Busts of Lincoln
Attorney General Robert Kennedy makes presentation to Emancipation Procla
mation essay winners Samuel Hensley and Jenny Graves. (See “What They Say.”]
assigned to visit 20 districts still prac
ticing segregation and encourage com
pliance with the state’s view that
desegregation should be put into effect.
(SSN, October, 1962.)
After the report, Mrs. John Walls,
a Negro board member from Louis
ville, said: “Nowhere is there a reason
why there are no plans for integra
tion.”
Taylor commented that “A lot of
colored teachers don’t want to give
up their schools because they know
they’ll lose their jobs.”
But, he said, he believed that de
segregation would be almost complete
in another five to 10 years.
Mrs. Walls replied: “It’s very un
fortunate that we’ve waited almost 10
years since the Supreme Court decision
and now we will have to wait another
five to 10 years. ... I don’t see how
we as a board can continue to allow
that sort of thing.”
She praised Taylor’s efforts, but cited
several districts which she said have
done nothing since the Supreme Court
desegregation ruling and which have
all-Negro schools with one, or only a
few, teachers.
Reduction Told
Taylor reported that Kentucky has
reduced its segregated schools by more
than half since 1955, but said there still
are 127 all-Negro elementary schools
and 32 all-Negro high schools.
With a few exceptions, he said, “in
most of these schools, the educational
program is inferior to the rest of the
schools in the district.”
He listed 15 all-Negro high schools
now classified as “emergency” or “tem
porary” in rating, and said, “I think
it’s high time to lift their accreditation,
but we should give them a year’s
notice.”
The board discussed such a possi
bility, which would threaten the
schools losing accreditation with the
loss also of state financial aid.
State Supt. of Public Instruction
Wendell P. Butler said the board
should not take such sweeping action.
He and other board members agreed
that the State Department of Education
should “take a hard look” at the segre
gated schools when their accreditation
is up for approval next month.
Mrs. Walls commented, “I can’t help
but have the feeling that the State
Board of Education does not want to
face this problem. I seem to be the
only one who wants to carry the ball.”
Punitive measures have been con
sidered by the board before, but it has
adhered to a policy of “persuading”
districts to desegregate.
What They Say
Attorney General
Hails Practice Code
Kentucky’s new Governor’s Code of
Fair Practices was hailed by U.S. At
torney General Robert F. Kennedy who
spoke at Louisville March 18 at a com
memoration of the 100th anniversary of
the Emancipation Proclamation.
Kennedy said the code showed how
the states may preserve their rights
by meeting their responsibilities toward
Negro citizens rather than waiting for
federal intervention.
The code, signed by Gov. Bert T.
Combs just a few days before Ken
nedy’s visit, prohibits discrimination ®
such diverse facets of state govern
ment as employment, education, train
ing and apprentice programs; hiring W
contractors doing state work, and li
censing.
The State Commission on Human
Rights said the code is the first of i
kind in the South and that only threo
other states-—New York, Michigan, an
Pennsylvania—have such codes.
Kennedy told an audience of ato> u
2,000 that much progress has to*
made in improving the status of
groes in America, but that much
mains to be done to secure rights
voting, education, job opportunities an
access to public places. , u
“It is one thing to open the sen ^
to all children regardless of race, ,
said. “It is another to train the teachC;.
to build the classrooms, and to
tempt to eliminate the effects of P 88
educational deficiencies.”
VC
£
l
s
in|
va
thi
ab
pr<
Co
ha:
ma
cai
Ulj
mi
nei
wl
Na
me
Ne
cat
J.;
liai
I
of
Te;
Ne
Hi|
bu
Sc]
six
En
Ne
(S
me
*S
ins
are
bo
T
*
Georgia
(Continued from Page 15)
about $150,000 annually in federal im
pact funds for the Houston County
school system.
M iscellaneous
School Denies Entry
To Dr. King’s Child
Lovett School, a private school in At
lanta with Episcopal connections, turn
ed down the admission application of
the five-year-old son of Dr. and Mrs.
Martin Luther King. Disappointment
was expressed by Mrs. King, who said
she wanted the child enrolled in a white
private school so he could adjust bet
ter to desegregation.
The Rev. James R. McDowell, head
master, said the board of trustees voted
against accepting the boy. James M.
Sibley, chairman of Lovett’s executive
Five Kentucky school districts took
action toward adopting plans for de
segregation or speeding up plans al
ready in effect.
In several cases the school boards
involved cited efforts by Sam B. Tay
lor, State Department of Education
committee, said, “We are interested in
the education of our students and are
not trying to get in any problems about
race, one way or another.”
The Rt. Rev. Randolph R. Claiborne,
bishop of the Atlanta Diocese, said seg
regation is not a policy of the church
and Lovett is not subject to church
supervision. He suggested the Kings
apply to a church parochial school.
★ ★ ★
The Southern Regional Council, after
making a study, said Macon is doing a
better job in raising the working
standards of Negroes than any other
Southern city. Atlanta’s image as a
leader in the desegregation movement
in the South is only an image, the coun
cil said.
Miscellaneous
University Denies ‘Brainwash’ Charge
A Shreveport, La., city councilman
accused the University of Louisville of
planning to “brainwash” some 100
police officials from the South who
were invited to attend a seminar on
racial tension April 8-10.
The charge was denied March 4 by
David A. McCandless, director of the
university’s Southern Police Institute
where the seminar will be held under
a $20,150 grant from the Ford Founda
tion.
George D’Artois, who sits on the
Shreveport Council as public-safety
commissioner and had been invited to
the seminar, asked:
“Why does the Ford Foundation want
to pick up the tab for this huge bill
that will be used to brainwash South
ern law-enforcement leaders?”
McCandless said the institute asked
the Ford Foundation for the money. He
said, “There will be no attempts at
propaganda. There will be speakers on
both sides of the segregation question,
but they will appear for the sole pur
pose of letting the police officers
examine and discuss their organiza
tions’ purposes and strategy.”
Invitations, he said, had gone to
NAACP officials and Citizens’ Council
leaders.
Later, McCandless said he had invited
D’Artois to give a talk at the seminar
or take part in a panel discussion. (See
Louisiana report.)
★ ★ ★
The State Board of Business Schools
on March 6 adopted a regulation de
signed to open all business schools in
the state to Negroes.
The board, which was created by the
1962
General Assembly, took the
tion at its first meeting. It was to
origin.
It further
states that no
t
ft
a
Oil
th
it
be*
beio^
come effective 30 days after
recorded by the secretary of state- ■
The regulation states that n
ness school . . . shall deny regist^®^
or admission to any qualified app^ ^
for enrollment solely because °^ c
applicant’s race, creed, color, or
ad
ft
4
ft
5a
to
ft
to
catalog 0
ta jni«
publication can be put out co ^
“any statement which directly °
reasonable inference announces
cy of discrimination.” , j b>'
The seven-member board, hea^ in'
the state superintendent of P'Ujjje
struction, has the power to r
suspend licenses for violations,
s.
ft
ft]
f «y
Ci
ft