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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—MARCH, 1964—PAGE 5
TEXAS
State Jury Says
W ill Provisions
•Impracticable’
HOUSTON
4 state court jury held “im
practicable” the two major
restrictions placed by the founder
0 { Rice University in his bequest
which founded the Houston
school. (Rice v. Carr, filed Feb.
21,1963)
The jury of seven men and five
women, including one Negro woman
and one Negro man, found that William
Marsh Rice, who left his fortune for
creation of the institution in 1891, in
tended that it would be used for the
instruction of white students only, and
without any tuition charge.
But the jury agreed with the asser
tion of Rice University trustees, and
' others, that the prohibition on race
and tuition would prevent the develop
ment of a first-quality university.
State District Judge W. M. Holland
was to decide later whether Rice may
admit Negroes and charge tuition. He
indicated the decision would come dur
ing March.
Cites Funds Missed
Dr. Kenneth Pitzer, president of Rice,
said that the university cannot get
> federal funds or hold top staff members
without desegregation. Pitzer said he
himself may leave. Pitzer said a $10,-
000,000 Ford Foundation research grant
was lost because of this and the no-
tuition policy, and that Rice is threat
ened with loss of its Navy Reserve
Officer Training Corps program.
Dr. Carey Croneis, Rice Chancellor,
said the campus may become “an in
tellectual desert” unless the founder’s
provisions are changed.
George S. Brown of Houston, chair
man of the Board of Trustees, said the
university faces a financial crisis unless
it is allowed to charge tuition. Now
i h as a system of fees, but no tui-
1 tion. Its student body numbers about
’000, and has generally represented
top-quality students.
Gr. Logan Wilson, president of the
American Council on Education and
■winer Chancellor of the University of
Texas, testified that the restrictions
must be removed if Rice becomes a
1 Treat university.
We really had a caste system in the
touth when Mr. Rice was living,” Dr.
ulson told the jury. “Now the South
Part of the United States.
If you’re going to make a fetish out
this race issue and run institutions
— ~it belong to the 19th rather than the
■ '’“'century, that is your privilege.”
iri “ e witness said probably few Ne-
n ~ 6 063 would attend Rice, but the uni-
rid*
sd
est£ i
Florida
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matt
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*lect e ^°,^ r ' ^ ore than 200 persons
aij a ran dom were asked to an-
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aiCe of ^ Ues ti°ns about the accept -
55 Well a egroes in all campus activities
The Tj S - m classroom.
^Ptw mV ;f Sity M'arru has been
; ( 3fs ' r ' e &ro students for three
K H 0W ~° longer kee P s racial rec-
polled ^ 6Ver ’, som e 30 Negroes are
l *-
were
''"dents an^^^smen or graduate
,!si stant- n seve ral Negro graduate
. nave tpanVi,r,rf
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Ho ave teaching duties. There
-kfa, au-timo w , . _
3 fcsso rs ~ dtne Negro instructors or
The
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jerc-
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.T "lassie-, department of Education
.'f'etarj, Gibbs Junior College of
V? 1 accnJ!- 33 a desegregated insti-
,, i-’-S. Ofs 1118 1° notification sent
of Education.
K but k , ded Primarily by Ne-
i , " a f had several white in-
• e^dificate * 6 ^ acu lty and awarded
t, hr. j , 0 one white student last
i-. the c -,, Rembert, president,
'Ks e§e ' s open to students
01 race.
■
Texas Highlights
A jury called “impracticable” the
founder’s will for Rice University,
which called for white students only
and prohibited tuition.
University of Texas regents or
dered a biracial policy for new-
apartment housing for married stu
dents. Negro students appeared as
the first of their race to represent
the university in intercollegiate ath
letics.
A Negro college president at Aus
tin said he does not sanction stu
dents participating in racial demon
strations.
A federal circuit court approved,
with minor modification, George
town Independent School District’s
desegregation program.
versity owes a responsibility to help
this 10 per cent of the nation’s popula
tion improve their leadership.
Dr. Harry Ransom, now Chancellor
at the University of Texas, said North
ern universities currently are recruit
ing the South’s best Negro brains to
help them attract federal and private
research grants.
“Truly great universities must attract
both federal and private research
grants,” said Ransom.
The witness added that he knows of
no major university, except Rice, which
operates without charging tuition.
Faculty Talent
Ransom said that race barriers kept
universities from attracting the best
faculty talent, as well as students.
In the effort to help Negroes and to
attract funds, Ransom said Northern
universities “which found themselves
without Negroes in some programs are
now trying to attract the best Negro
brains in the South.”
Ex-students Val Billups and John P.
Coffee are opposing the trustees effort
to modify the all-white, nontuition
policy. Their attorney said a decision
on appealing the case will be made
after the trial judge’s ruling is an
nounced.
★ ★ ★
University of Texas
Takes Further Steps
Further steps toward desegregation
were taken at the University of Texas,
which began the process in 1950 under
a U.S. Supreme Court order to admit
a Negro to its law school. (Sweatt v.
Painter.)
The Board of Regents approved plans
for constructing a $1,800,000 dormitory
for married students, and specified it
would accept students without regard
to race—a requirement for getting a
federal agency to underwrite the reve
nue bonds.
The board also authorized use of Kin
solving Dormitory for all races attend
ing conferences and short courses on
the campus during the summer. Kin
solving, a girls’ dormitory, has been
restricted to whites only, and is in
volved in a lawsuit filed by integra-
tionists to abolish all racial restrictions.
(Sanders v. Ransom, filed Nov. 8, 1961)
The regents’ latest moves remove
segregation policies in every place un
der their jurisdiction, except dormitor
ies involved in the above litigation.
Music and Athletics
Edward Guinn Jr., a Fine Arts major,
became the first Negro member of the
University of Texas marching band
and appeared publicly as a member at
a basketball game. Oliver Patterson
and James Means, also Negroes, be
came the first of their race to represent
the university in varsity athletics. They
are sprinters on the track team. Neither
was recruited as an athlete, however.
The Daily Texan, campus newspaper,
publicized the lack of desegregation in
social fraternities and sororities. There
are separate Greek-letter organizations
for these races. The paper noted:
“Negroes can go through fraternity
rush. They always could, according to
Inter-Fraternity Council, the Texan
discovered last week.
“Yet Alpha Phi Alpha, the univer
sity’s only Negro fraternity, is not a
member of the IFC, and a Negro has
never signed up for IFC rush. As the
Texan pointed out in an editorial re
cently: ‘Negroes may knock at the door
of the Greek Speak Easy, but being
sent by the IFC probably won’t get
them inside.’ ”
★ ★ ★
Houston school officials considered a
suggestion to desegregate school census
taking. Part of the state’s financial aid
to districts is based on the number of
school-age residents. Most state aid
is based on average daily attendance,
however. Houston has employed Ne-
GEORGIA
Bibb County Files Stairstep Plan
To Extend Over Nine-Year Period
MACON
n compliance with a U.S. Dis
trict Court order, the Bibb
County Board of Education (Ma
con) on Feb. 24 proposed a
desegregation plan for public
schools in the county.
It would start with the 12th grade
in September of this year and extend
over a nine-year period to the first
grade.
Attorney Donald L. Hollowell of At
lanta, representing 44 Negro children
and their parents in the desegregation
suit filed last August after the school
board refused to act without a court
order, said he would have “quite a
few objections” to the plan.
The plaintiffs have until March 16 to
file objections. Judge W. A. Bootle is
sued an order Jan. 24 for the board to
submit the plan by Feb. 24.
Similar to Atlanta Plan
The plan is similar to the reverse-
stairstep desegregation plan adopted for
Atlanta schools in 1961 and put into
effect in the Chatham County (Sa
vannah) school system in 1963. It was
approved by a U.S. District Court and
upheld by a U.S. appellate court but
is expected to be reviewed by the U.S.
Supreme Court next fall.
The Bibb County board said, “It is
the eventual plan of the board to estab
lish a single unitary system of resi
dential areas for school placement,
without distinction as to race, but this
cannot be accomplished immediately.”
The board said it “considers it utter
ly impracticable at the present time, or
within the near future, to reassign
teachers, principals and other profes
sional personnel on any basis different
from the present practice, and does
not include in this plan any proposal
to do so. As the plan progresses that
may become partially or wholly prac
ticable and will be studied and con
sidered when the time seems
appropriate.”
Vocational Education
In the vocational education program,
however, the board said, “it is a part
of the proposed plan that no applicant
will be denied admission in the future
to any vocational program under the
control of the board, or transfer from
one program to another, solely because
of his or her race.”
One Negro has been admitted to a
class at Dudley Hughes Vocational
School in Macon and two new voca
tional programs were approved in
February by the board to be operated
with federal funds on a nondiscrimina-
tory basis.
In reference to the overall desegrega
tion plan, the board said “it is implicit
in the subject which is dealt with in
this proposal that upon the first step
being taken in accordance with the
plan hereby proposed, or even in an
ticipation thereof, frictions may arise
of more or less severity.”
But the board said it “is resolved
groes to take the census in areas where
Negroes predominantly live, and whites
in other areas.
John Eaton, director of the Houston
school census, said some Negroes are
suspicious of white enumerators, and
he asserted also, “it wouldn’t be safe
for a Negro to go into some white parts
of the city.”
Eaton said Negro scholastics are in
creasing faster than whites in Houston,
with a six per cent increase for Negroes
and two per cent for whites this school
year over last. The new count shows
162,612 white and 60,299 Negro school-
agers in the Houston district.
Miscellaneous
Speedup Ordered
For Georgetown
Georgetown Independent School Dis
trict was ordered to desegregate the
first two grades of its system in Sep
tember, 1964, and one grade annually
thereafter by the Fifth U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals (Miller v. Barnes,
filed September 1962).
The trial court had approved the
board’s plan for grade-a-year desegre
gation, which Negro plaintiffs asserted
was too slow. The circuit court speeded
up the schedule for the first year only.
Plaintiffs contended for desegregating
five grades in 1963, three in 1964, and
the remainder in 1965.
Georgia Highlights
A desegregation plan which would
start with the 12th grade this fall
and mix white and Negro students in
all grades by the 1972-73 school
term was submitted to a federal court
by the Bibb County (Macon) Board
of Education. Negro plaintiffs have
until March 16 to object.
A group of white property owners
in Macon protested the proposed site
of a Negro school.
and pledges itself to act with responsi
ble planning and with continuing and
complete obedience to the orders and
directions of this court is bringing
about the transitions herein proposed.
“The board anticipates the full co
operation of the enforcement officers
of the local and state governments, and
will lend its best effort to creating a
climate which will avoid, or as far as
possible minimize, any disruption of the
school program by reason of such
possible frictions or conflicts.”
Transfers Provided
The plan provides for acceptance
of applications for transfer without
distinction based on race in all 12th
grades in the system for the school
year beginning in September. There
after, the plan would be similarly
applied in all 11th and 19th grades for
1965-66, in all ninth grades for 1966-67,
all eighth grades for 1967-68, all
seventh grades for 1968-69, all sixth
and fifth grades for 1969-70, all fourth
grades for 1970-71, all third and sec
ond grades for 1971-72, and all first
grades for 1972-73, thus becoming ap
plicable to all grades in 1972-73.
Under the plan, the board would
establish a period beginning after court
approval of the plan and ending 30
days thereafter for filing of written
applications for transfers and reassign
ments from one school in the system
to the 12th grade of another school
in the system for the 1964-65 school
year.
Written forms would be prepared and
supplied for making such application,
together with a statement of the rules
of procedure applicable to the applica
tions.
Up to Superintendent
The superintendent of schools would
be authorized to approve or disapprove
applications. He “will take into account
the factors which presently guide him
in the placement of pupils and those
which are in accordance with sound
and generally observed practices in the
field of public school education
throughout the country, with a view
to the establishment, maintenance and
operation of a public school system in
Bibb County of the highest attainable
caliber and quality for the benefit of all
the children of the county, and with a
view toward the eventual elimination
of compulsory racial segregation in all
grades within the system.”
The plan continued to say that the
superintendent would give written
notice of his action on the applications
and would inform the applicants with
respect to their rights to administra
tive review and appeal, and all such
applications “will be processed and
acted upon without distinction based
solely on race.”
Students first entering the system in
1964-65 in the 12th grade “will be af
forded without distinction based solely
on race the opportunity to request
original assignment to the school of
their choice in accordance with pres
ently established procedure.”
The board also would establish under
the plan “a committee or group of not
less than six or more than eight mem
bers composed of principals or other
teaching or administrative personnel of
the various schools in the system, to
consist of an equal number of white
and Negro members, which will be rec
ognized as a recommendatory commit
tee with which the superintendent of
the school system or other adminis
trative personnel designated by the
superintendent will discuss and con
sider proposals, suggestions, complaints
and other matters involving this plan.”
The committee will have “authority
to make recommendations to the sup
erintendent, and through him to the
board, but this authority is not to
supersede any existing authority within
the system.”
The board acted on the plan at a
closed meeting. Earlier, after reporters
sought to obtain information, Dr. H. G.
Weaver, board
president, noted
that various news
media had re
quested permis
sion to be at the
meeting or meet-
i n g s involving
consideration of
the plan, and said
discussion, prep
aration and ap
proval of the plan
constitutes a part
of the court proceedings, and it would
be violative of the board’s obligation
to the court to permit others to see it
prior to submission to the court.
The Macon News urged Negroes, in
the interest of community good will,
to accept the plan and co-operate in
its implementation.
Negro Baptist ministers, however,
denounced the plan as “inadequate and
far from being candid or sound.”
Negroes Object
The Baptist Ministers Brotherhood of
Macon said that Negroes “insist on ex
ercising all of our constitutional and all
other rights not tomorrow, not next
year, not in the next nine or ten years.
We want them here and now—today.”
The ministers said desegregation
“should commence with the elementary
grades and work upward.”
The statement added that “Negroes
do not subscribe to nor condone grad
ualism, especially that brand which the
white man wants the Negro to ob
serve.” While the group indicated it did
not expect school desegregation all at
once, it said, “We should not, we can
not, we must not be nine, 10 or 12
years hence desegregating our public
school system.”
The statement was signed by the
Rev. E. S. Evans as president and the
Rev. Charlie L. Wilson as recording
secretary of the Ministers Brotherhood.
★ ★ ★
White property owners in the Co
lumbus Road-Burton Avenue area of
Macon protested to the Bibb County
Board of Education early in February
against location of an elementary school
for Negroes on Anthony Road. The
group asked for a public hearing.
At the board’s January meeting,
authorization for purchase of a 14-acre
site for a school on Anthony Road and
Columbus Road had been given.
A board spokesman said it had not
been determined whether a school for
Negroes or whites would be located on
the property and it would depend on
whether the purchaser of a nearby
larger tract of land develops it as a
white or Negro residential section.
A petition signed by 283 property
owners objected to a plan by the board
to relieve crowded conditions in Pleas
ant Hill (a Negro section) by building
a new school in the disputed area and
transporting Negro students by bus
there.
R. A. McCord, chairman of the
board’s special school needs commit
tee, said another school is needed to
relieve crowded conditions in Pleasant
Hill but the price of property there
would be prohibitive. He said the pro
posed new school would mean five
Negro schools would be located on
Anthony Road, and added he was look
ing for a Pleasant Hill site because
another school would have to be built
in that area within five years.
What They Say
Senators Score
Rights Measure
U.S. Sens. Richard B. Russell and
Herman Talmadge, addressing the
General Assembly of Georgia, criti
cized the proposed
civil-rights bill.
Russell said the
bill was bad dur
ing the Kennedy
admini s t r a t i on
“and even worse”
in the Johnson
administration.
Later in the
month, R u s s e 11
said the South is
being discrimi-
RUSSell nated against in
(See GEORGIA, Page 6)