About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1963)
page 14—MAY, 1963—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS SOUTH CAROLINA Proposed COLUMBIA A rambling public debate, with strong expressions of opinion, raged through April over the merits of a tuition-grants plan pending in the South Carolina General Assembly. Designed to provide an alternative for attending desegregated public schools, the plan would provide state cash grants to students who desire to attend private schools. Debate on the measure finally was focused in the House of Representa tives chambers, where the House Edu cation Committee, headed by Rep. Howard Breazeale of Pickens County, conducted a public hearing on April 16. Within 10 minutes after the three- hour hearing closed, the committee ap proved the bill by a 9-to-5 vote. The measure did not reach the House cal endar, however, until April 23 and other bills took precedence. Criticism of the proposal softened somewhat after two major changes were made by the committee on April 10. As originally recommended by Gov. Donald S. Russell in his inaugural mes sage and drafted by the State School (Segregation) Committee, the program would have extended to all areas of the state and provided grants of $225 per year for elementary school stu dents and $250 for high schoolers. The size of the grants drew fire be cause it was estimated that the per- pupil expenditure in the public schools is $150 per year. Local Option Provided The committee amended the bill to provide both local option and local participation in the plan. It further re wrote the section dealing with the size of the grant to limit it to a sum not to ex ceed the public school per-pupil expenditure. The governor previously had advocated both changes. Amid mounting opposition before russell the bill was amended a sideline skirm ish developed over a television program explaining the measure, which was scheduled for screening over the state’s closed-circuit educational TV hookup. The segregation committee, headed by Sen. L. Marion Gressette of Calhoun County, was to take the lead in the ETV program. But members of the House Education Committee objected to the showing. Several threatened to vote against the bill strictly because of the Gressette Committee’s so-called “unwarranted use” of ETV. Gressette canceled the telecast. Center of Opposition Spartanburg, home town of Gov. Russell, was one of the major centers of opposition to the bill. The industrial city was first heard from when its PTA issued a statement in opposition to the grants program. On April 4, the Spartanburg County Board of Education went on record as opposing private school tuition in any form. Board Chairman J. W. Gaston Jr. predicted the issue would become a battleground between the up-coun try (northwest) and the low-country (southeast). W. Leonard Still, who offered the resolution, said the plan would rip the state’s public educational system to pieces. A few days later, a visiting state senator from Georgia, James Wesbury of Atlanta, called his state’s grants plan “one of the worst pieces of legislation ever passed.” The plan, he added, had ended in failure and had helped the rich and harmed the poor. NAACP Statement The state NAACP came forth with a statement, issued by its president, J. Arthur Brown of Charleston, threaten ing an all-out court fight if the bill was passed. Brown said his group felt that the plan “is a part of a scheme to pro long the pattern of separate but un equal educational opportunities” in the state. He said the bill would put an added burden on the taxpayers. Brown added: “the NAACP will use every legal means at our command . . . to have this proposed tuition grant de clared unconstitutional . . .” State GOP Chairman Drake Edens of Columbia kicked off a controversy within his party by issuing a statement opposing the plan. South Carolina’s Republican Na- Tuition - Grants Plan Arouses Heavy Debate S. C. Highlights A proposed tuition grants law was approved by the House Education Committee amid wide controversy. The House of Representatives passed a bill eliminating “class ac tions” in school transfer suits brought in state courts, but legisla tive leaders said the move would have little effect on future desegre- tion cases in federal courts. An appropriations bill amendment to require segregation by sex in South Carolina schools was rejected by the State Senate. The U.S. Supreme Court granted Clemson College an extension until May 15 to perfect its appeal in sup port of a writ of certiorari in its de segregation suit. South Carolina’s cost in legal fees and for expenses of law enforcement officers stationed at Clemson College in connection with the enrollment of Negro student Harvey B. Gantt has been placed at $40,000. U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy made a whirlwind visit to Columbia on April 25, facing numer ous questions involving Negroes and the schools. Bids have been received by the U.S. Department of Health, Educa tion and Welfare for construction of elementary schools at Fort Jackson and Myrtle Beach Air Force Base. tional Committeeman, W. W. Wanna - maker of Orangeburg, immediately said he was for the bill. Mrs. Julia R. Doughtery, a GOP state committee- woman from Charleston, said she was swamped with calls from Charlestonians who supported the measure. Farley Smith of Lynchburg, son of the late segregation stalwart, U.S. Sen. E. D. (Cotton Ed) Smith, and leader of the South Carolina independent movement in the 1956 presidential campaign, attacked Edens for “criticism without remedy.” The Republicans made outward peace after an April 20 meeting of the state executive committee. This came after the bill had been amended. The party voted to take no official position on the bill. At the House Education Committee hearing, the chief critic was the Most Rev. Francis F. Reh of Charleston, the state’s ranking Roman Catholic prelate. A representative of Bishop Reh read a statement from him which contended the proposal is discriminatory and undemocratic because it prohibits grants to church-supported schools. “The very freedom which the bill proposes to insure and implement is, in an undemocratic fashion, denied to some citizens . . his statement said. Among others speaking in opposition to the measure were: • L. L. Hyatt of the Spartanburg P-TA, who said the plan would waste millions in state funds “on an experi ment which has proved impractical and unmanageable in Virginia and Georgia . . • Professor Ray Rutledge of Clem son College, representing the South Carolina Chapter of the American As sociation of University Professors, who read a resolution from his group op posing any form of tuition grant and questioning the effect of “diverting funds from public to private educa tion” and the quality of education that could be offered in private schools. • Jerry Gainey, a Clemson student from Hartsville, who presented a peti tion signed by 168 college students op posing the bill. Charles Plowden, educational and business leader in Clardendon County where one of the current three de segregation suits is pending, led the proponents of the bill. Plowden said the plan would give children of both races “full freedom of association.” He also said the plan would be a formidable defense against desegregationist attempts of “outside agitators.” The South Carolina Congress of Par ents and Teachers, meeting at Green ville, voiced opposition to tuition grants by a 3-1 margin. Legislative Action ‘Class Actions’ Banned In Bill Passed By House In an admitted gesture of disapproval for federal court rulings in desegrega tion cases, the South Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill elimin ating “class actions” in school-transfer suits brought in state courts. Desegregation suits now pending in the state were brought in behalf of the plaintiffs and “others similarly situ ated.” Federal courts have permitted this over the objections of South Caro lina attorneys. Even as the measure passed, legisla tive leaders admitted the move would have little effect on future desegrega tion cases. Federal courts have taken jurisdiction because of allegations that (See SOUTH CAROLINA, Page 15) Segregation-by-Sex Proposal Voted Down by State Senate Turned down during the State Sen ate’s lengthy late April debate over the annual appropriations bill was an amendment that would have required segregation by sex in South Carolina schools. Union County Sen. John D. Long, its sponsor, had called the amendment the answer to prospective desegrega tion in the state’s public schools. He said he proposed the amendment to “place a barrier between our white women and colored men.” Long argued that the measure would “take the heart out of the integration crowd, because the ultimate goal is to conglomerate the races.” “The Federal Government has not yet pre-empted sex, thank God,” declared the legislator. Long found little support for his measure in debate or vote. Sen. L. Marion Gressette of Calhoun County, chairman of the state’s seg regation committee, voted against it, declaring it was not needed now but might be in the future. Gressette spoke after Long, in pre senting his arguments for “segregation by sex,” had said that the January desegregation of Clemson College and the state’s failure to close the land- grant institution had given the state “the reputation of a quitter—a big talker but no action. “Now, you brave South Carolina protectors of womanhood, I’m asking you to place a barrier between our white women and colored men, to keep them from being insulted.” Gressette, in reply, said his commit tee has considered such action but has not recommended it “for the simple reason we don’t think we have reached Sen. John D. Long Segregation by sex. the point where it is necesary.” “There may be a day in the not too distant future when it becomes neces sary, and maybe I will join the senator from Union in this proposal,” Gressette continued. The Long amendment failed by a voice vote. He then proposed an amendment simply to require non-co- educational public schools without mention of segregation. It failed by a 38-5 vote. Waiting at the Columbia Airport Attorney-General Kennedy was en route. Miscellaneous U. S. Attorney General Visits; Faces Queries on Schools, Races Questions involving Negroes and the schools were posed during U.S. Attor ney General Robert Kennedy’s whirl wind visit to Columbia April 25. The President’s brother generally re ceived a warm reception in the city where he is frequently criticized as he swept through two speaches, private talks with Gov. Donald S. Russell and U.S. District Attorney Terrell Glenn and at least six separate question-and- answer sessions with various groups. The primary point he emphasized was that the Justice Department has no desire to take a part in South Caro- lian’s desegregation difficulties as long as the state continues to demonstrate the ability to handle them. The conference with Gov. Russell was not mentioned on Kennedy’s ten tative itinerary but was predicted three days before by State Rep. A. W. (Red) Bethea, an outspoken segrega tion leader in the General Assembly. Bethea, while introducing Mississippi Lt. Gov. Paul B. Johnson to a Citizens Council meeting in Florence, charged that Kennedy was coming to “integrate the University of South Carolina.” He predicted Kennedy would talk to the “present governor” as he had talked to a “former governor” on a visit that preceded by some months the desegre gation of Clemson College. The “former governor” reference was to Ernest F. Hollings, who went out of office in January and who is widely credited with being a leader in the peaceful admission of a Negro student to Clemson. ‘Preconceived Plan’ Bethea charged the Kennedy visit was part of “a preconceived plan.” Gov. Russell insisted that the race issue was not brought up in his 24- minute talk with the attorney general. He said they did not discuss any local matters because “we take care of our own local affairs.” Asked whether the Clemson desegre gation case, now on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, or the pending action against the University of South Caro lina was discussed, Russell replied: “No, those are state institutions.” The governor said they discussed world conditions and several national problems. He said it was strictly a “so cial call”; the attorney general later termed it a “courtesy visit.” Kennedy said they touched on school dropouts, improved teaching, the labor market for young people, juvenile de linquency and organized crime. The attorney general said state offi cials had made it quite clear to him that they did not want the federal government to be involved in desegre gation matters and “we have made it quite clear that we didn’t want to be involved.” State Complimented At a later press conference, the chief legal officer complimented South Caro lina on the desegregation of Clemson without violence. (His brother, President Kennedy, had thanked a group of South Carolina newspaper editors and publishers for helping create a climate of opinion that permitted peaceful desegregation at Clemson during a White House lunch eon on April 4.) Asked what brought the climate about, Robert Kennedy said from the “outside” it looked as if the political, business and educational leaders of South Carolina had decided that “how ever distasteful it may be, the laws of the United States had to be upheld.” In a speech before law students at the State University, the attorney gen eral called the racial situation “the most difficult internal problem this country has—and not just in the South . . .” He said that segregation in the North is sometimes “more sinister than subtle.” He said he saw the need for “greater tolerance and understanding,” adding that if progress is not made, “extremists are going to take over in all parts of the country.” He termed South Carolina “a diffi cult area.” Without any reference to the state, Kennedy predicted that “there is going to be more bloodshed’ before the desegregation problem is solved in the nation. Kennedy flew to Columbia from Alabama and a conference with Gov. George Wallace. The attorney general was greeted at Columbia Airport by about 100 per - sons. These included 22 Negroes who identified themselves as students from Benedict College, a Baptist Negro school in Columbia. The Negroes carried two placards, which read: “Welcome to South Carolina, La nci of Segregation and Discrimination. “Let there be justice for all.” ★ ★ ★ ‘Change of Mood’ Noted by Council ‘A very significant change of mood in racial relationships in South Caro lina was noted by the Christian A c tion Council in its annual report, ^ sued April 18. . “Racism as a political issue 'died the elections,” said Howard G. Clain, editor of the monthly tion of the group, which is compos of Protestant leaders. t The report said that the impact o the “vicarious suffering” the state t for Mississippi in the Ole Miss deseg regation crisis resulted in a growrws opinion that “it must not happen here, “The united and determined effo of the state’s political and econo leaders helped make possible ‘ dese regation with dignity” at Clemson lege in January, the report said. { It adds that another important was “the preparation of the soil <j opinion in which many churches ^ Christians—lay and clergy—in the S* 8 had a part.” m “There are indications that there be greater freedom in the future^ meet and discuss our problems togs as Christian brethren,” the report c eluded. ★ ★ ★ The U.S. Department of Heal* Education and Welfare during P fl f received bids for the constructs ^ on-base elementary schools st ^ Jackson and Myrtle Beach Air Base. aI t- The action was a step in the uep 1 ^ ment’s plan to provide non-segreg _ facilities for children of military F* sonnel at six Southern bases.
