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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—MAY, 1965—PAGE 7
MISSISSIPPI
50 Districts File Compliance
Agreements For U.S. School Aid
Mississippi Highlights
JACKSON
S tate Supt. of Education Jack
M. Tubb announced on April
29 that 50 of Mississippi’s 150
school districts had pledged com
pliance with the 1964 Civil Rights
Act, but a federal official dis
closed in Washington the same
day that neither the State Board
of Education nor any of the dis
tricts have filed acceptable plans.
The announcements were made in-
dependly of each other. Acceptable
compliance pledges must be filed with
the U. S. Department of Health, Edu
cation and Welfare as a prerequisite
to receiving continued federal aid to
education.
U. S. Education Commissioner
Francis Keppel announced in Washing
ton that public schools that expect to
receive federal funds must have at
least four of their 12 grades desegre
gated by this fall and must be com
pletely desegregated by the fall of
1967.
Presumably, the Mississippi school
districts did not meet those new “guide
lines” for complying with the 1964 Civil
Rights Act.
Smaller Figure
Keppel said 41—as opposed to the 50
figure announced by Tubb—Mississippi
districts had submitted voluntary de
segregation plans. But, he added, none
of those plans have been accepted.
Keppel also told a news conference
that acceptable compliance statements
have been received from 27 state boards
of education, but that Mississippi was
not among them.
The State Board of Education signed
a modified version of the federal di
rective.
The Office of Education also an
nounced on April 30 it was withhold
ing school funds from seven “impacted
areas” in Mississippi because they had
not filed acceptable assurances of
desegregation. Under the impacted-
area program, federal aid money goes
to school systems burdened by children
of federal employes.
Neither the 41 districts nor the seven
impacted areas were identified.
Most state and local school officials
declined immediate comments on Kep-
pel’s new “guidelines,” saying they
wanted to study the matter. Gov. Paul
B. Johnson had no immediate comment.
‘Another Example’
But State Attorney General Joe Pat
terson, a member of the State Board
of Education, called the announcement
stepping-up de
segregation “an
other example of
bureaucracy.”
“Assuming this
is a Health, Ed
ucation and Wel
fare Administra
tion ruling, they
are using their
authority to write
rules and regula
tions and I think
they are misin
terpreting the law,” he said.
Tubb declined comment “until I have
a chance to study” the new ruling.
Greenville School Supt. Hal Bu
chanan said he was “at a loss” to un
derstand the latest announcement. He
said all previous contact with the U. S.
Office of Education “has led us to be
lieve that with minor changes our
plan would be acceptable.”
Greenville, the first local school dis
trict to respond to the federal regula
tions, submitted a voluntary desegrega
tion plan calling for one grade this fall
with one or more additional grades a
year thereafter.
Foresees Private Schools
A spokesman for the Citizens’ Council
JQ Jackson predicted the ruling would
lead to a speedy growth of private
schools throughout the South.
'White parents can and will maintain
meir freedom of choice,” he added. “It
J s difficult to conceive of any circum
stances which would lead most white
Parents to let some Washington
bureaucrat make vital decisions con
cerning the education of their children.”
He said a ruling that school faculties
f < J ese 2 re gated would cause a number
°t “superior” white teachers to seek
em ployment in private schools.
The Mississippi legislature approved
curing a special session last year a law
Providing state tuition grants for chil
dren to attend private nonsecretarian
schools. Several private institutions,
^eluding one operated by the Council
Jackson, are already in existence.
PATTERSON
,UBB JOBE
Mississippi was the last state to com
ply with the U. S. Supreme Court’s
1954 desegregation ruling.
Walker Silent
Dr. Kirby Walker, superintendent of
the Jackson schools, withheld any
statement until studying the Washing
ton announcement.
Presumably, most of the school dis
tricts which pledged compliance sub
mitted “stairstep” desegregation plans,
beginning this fall.
Keppel told his news conference that
the 41 districts whose plans were un
acceptable “discriminated.” He did not
elaborate.
Tubb declined to identify the 50
districts he said had filed the compli
ance agreement, although about half of
them previously announced locally they
would adhere to the initial federal di
rective.
Tubb said the districts would be
identified later, probably in May.
The Alcorn County school board is
the only one which has announced
it would remain uncommitted to oper
ate its school system on a desegregated
basis.
Junior Colleges Agree
Tubb also announced that 10 of the
17 state-supported junior colleges had
agreed to comply with the federal re
quirement. He declined to identify the
white schools—there are 14 white and
three Negro junior colleges. He did
say, however, that Harris and Utica
Negro junior colleges had complied
and that the third, Coahoma, was ex
pected to sign the agreement.
He said HEW had not advised the
department whether the signed agree
ments were acceptable.
None of the junior colleges had indi
cated they would not sign.
The state board signed on Feb. 24
its own modified version of the federal
order authorizing it to disburse federal
funds to schools which agree to de
segregate their systems. Tubb said he
had not been advised whether the state
pledge was acceptable.
Four-Year Colleges
Dr. E. R. Jobe, executive secretary
to the Board of Trustees of State
Institutions of Higher Learning, said
all of the state-supported four-year
colleges had signed compliance agree
ments, although he had not been told
by HEW whether they are acceptable.
The five white senior colleges are
Delta State, Mississippi State College
for Women, Mississippi State Univer
sity, the University of Mississippi and
the University of Southern Mississippi.
The three Negro senior colleges are
Alcorn A&M, Jackson State and Mis
sissippi Vocational.
Privately endowed colleges which
have announced they have signed are
Mary Holmes Junior College, Millsaps,
Mississippi Industrial, Natchez Junior
College, Prentiss Institute, Rusk, Tou-
galoo, William Carey and Wood Junior
College.
HEW had not announced the status
of their compliance agreements at the
end of April.
Private schools which have an
nounced they will not sign are Mis
sissippi College, Belhaven and Blue
Mountain.
HEW Announcement
HEW announced in Washington April
17 that 31 Mississippi public schools and
27 colleges and junior colleges would
continue receiving federal aid. They
were not identified.
The federal agency said more than
Fifty of Mississippi’s 150 school
districts have reported filing compli
ance agreements with the U.S. De
partment of Health, Education and
Welfare.
School officials in Madison County
and Canton were ordered to submit
a desegregation plan by July 15.
A federal judge took under ad
visement a request from the NAACP
Legal Defense Fund for a broader
desegregation order at Clarksdale.
The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a
decision freeing federal officials
from damage suits stemming from
riots accompanying desegregation at
the University of Mississippi in 1962.
$40 million had been alloted for the
state in the new budget which will
affect the educational institutions com
plying with the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
In a report to the U.S. Civil Rights
Commission, the equal educational
opportunities division of HEW’s Office
of Education said it received assurances
of compliance from 26 schools. Schools
under court orders to desegregate sub
mit court orders rather than signing
the pledge of compliance.
The school systems in Jackson, Bi
loxi, Leake County and Clarksdale
began operating desegregated systems
last fall.
On March 13, U.S. District Judge
Harold Cox ordered the Moss Point
School Board to submit a desegregation
plan no later than July 1.
Plans Ordered
Since then—on April 9—Cox ordered
school officials in Madison County and
Canton, the county seat, to submit a
desegregation plan by July 15.
HEW’s report April 17 said estimated
federal obligations for various educa
tion programs in Mississippi for the
fiscal year beginning July 1 will total
$40,689,405. A total of $2,800,500 wifi go
into existing programs direct to school
districts; $6,983,751 will be in direct
payments to the state; and $30,905,154
will be channeled into a new elemen
tary and secondary school program.
On April 22, State NAACP Field
Secretary Charles Evers and State
President Aaron Henry asked President
Legal Action
Court Orders Madison County Plan
Federal District Judge W. Harold Cox
of Jackson ordered school officials in
Madison County and Canton, the
county seat, to submit a desegregation
plan by July 15.
Cox rendered his decision on the
NAACP Legal Defense Fund desegre
gation suit after a closed hearing in
his chambers on April 9.
Cox told attorneys he will conduct a
hearing on the case after the plan is
submitted if objections to the plan are
filed.
He refused a Legal Defense Fund
request that he offer desegregation
guidelines to the school officials.
Forty-nine Negro children filed the
suit in mid-March. (SSN, April.)
Refuses Dismissal
On April 15, attorneys for the two
school districts asked Cox to dig™;cg
the suit. They contended that both
races “will be injured by the operation
of a compulsory integrated school sys
tem.”
“There are no schools attended by
members of both the white and Negro
races,” the suit said.
It also denied, however, that “a com
pulsory biracial (segregated) school
system was operated in the county
and city.
It admitted that a group of Canton
area Negroes once tried to gain ad
mittance to white schools, but said
they did not follow “procedure applic
able to all pupils in the district.”
Four Mississippi school districts—in
Jackson, Biloxi, Leake County and
Clarksdale—began operating under
court-ordered desegregation last fall
On March 13, Cox ordered the Moss
Point School Board to submit a de
segregation plan no later than July 1.
★ ★ ★
Broader Order Asked
In Clarksdale Case
U.S. District Judge Claude Clayton
took under advisement on April 9 a
request from the NAACP Legal De
fense Fund for a broader school de
segregation order in Clarksdale. He
indicated it may be two months before
he renders a decision.
“I have no idea of disposing of this
case summarily today,” he said in
Clarksdale after a hearing.
He allowed the court reporter 30 days
to prepare a transcript, followed by
15 days for attorneys to submit briefs.
NAACP attorneys sought to prove
during the hearing that a school zoning
system approved by the court last year
was designed to perpetuate segregation.
No Negro children applied to attend
white schools under a school desegre
gation court order handed down by
Clayton last year.
Gycelle Tynes, superintendent of
Clarksdale schools, told the hearing he
“categoricaly denied” that overcrowd
ing existed in Negro schools as sug
gested by witnesses presented by the
NAACP.
‘No Apologies’
“We have no apologies to make,”
Tynes said, assuming the position that
the school board was merely carrying
out orders of the court which approved
the zoning plan.
Derrick Bell of New York, Legal
Defense Fund attorney, sought to link
with the zoning plan a recent city
action in buying Negro property and
de-annexing a Negro area.
Both Tynes and School Board Presi
dent William T. Wilkins said the first
they knew of the city’s actions was
when they read of them in a news
paper.
“We have never said we can go all
the way from A to Z in one 12-month
period,” Tynes said.
He acknowledged that inequities
existed between schools attended by
Negroes and whites but said gradual
steps were being taken to correct the
situation. Tynes said “basic salary
schedules” of Negro and white teachers
had been equalized for the 1965-66
school year and predicted a ratio of
one teacher for 30 students would be
achieved in all city schools by the
1966-67 term.
Dr. Myron Lieberman, a professor
at Rhode Island College, told the court
a study he made showed three all-
Negro elementary schools with over
flowing classrooms, while a white
school was below its student capacity.
Last year Judge Clayton approved
a plan for the local white public schools
to admit Negroes at the first-grade
level last fall and the second grade
last January. No Negroes, however,
applied for enrollment.
The plan orders desegregation of one
additional grade annually through 1968
with grades 7-9 in 1969 and grades
10-12 the following year.
School systems in Jackson, Biloxi and
Leake County admitted Negroes to
previously all-white schools for the
first time last fall. The initial court-
ordered desegregation was on the first-
grade level.
★ ★ ★
Supreme Court Upholds
Immunity of Officials
The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed on
April 26 a decision freeing federal offi
cials from damage suits stemming from
the riots which accompanied the de
segregation of the University of Missis
sippi in the fall of 1962.
A student, Cyril T. Faneca Jr., filed
suit against the United States and
federal officials after the riot. He sought
damages because of alleged mistreat
ment of himself and his date.
The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Ap
peals had ruled, in a 2-1 decision, that
federal officials were immune from
Faneca’s damage suit. That was upheld
by the Supreme Court in a brief order.
The riot erupted when federal mar
shals escorted Negro James H. Mere
dith to the university for enrollment.
The marshals fired tear gas to subdue
a group of students and other whites.
Two persons were killed and scores
injured during a night of rioting.
Faneca said he and his date were
walking across the campus when offi
cials fired tear gas at them. He said
they both were nauseated, and the girl
became hysterical.
About 500 University of Missis
sippi students demonstrated against
racially mixed visitors at the uni
versity campus. Two students were
expelled.
George A. Owens was named
president of Tougaloo College.
Mississippi’s private-school tuition
program was discussed at a Missis
sippi Economic Council meeting.
U.S. District Judge Sidney C.
Mize, who ordered Mississipi’s first
college and public school desegrega
tion, died.
The Mississippi Citizens Council’s
“Council School No. 1” was accred
ited by the state.
Johnson in a telegram to use his in
fluence “and withhold federal funds
immediately from all school districts in
Mississippi that did not sign the civil
rights compliance pledges.”
In the Colleges
Ole Miss Students
Demonstrate During
Visit of Negroes
Two University of Mississippi stu
dents were expelled April 30 for par
ticipating in a demonstration against a
biracial group on the campus for the
Southern Literary Festival.
University officials said the dismis
sals were approved by Chancellor J.
D. Williams upon the recommendation
of the Student Judicial Council.
The students were not identified.
Several hundred students demon
strated against the presence of five
Tougaloo College students—three Negro
women and two white males—and their
white professor the night of April 22.
Another on Probation
A university spokesman said a third
student was placed on disciplinary pro
bation upon recommendation of the
Student Council, which also suggested
that charges against another student
be dropped. The university, however,
suggested the Student Council review
the case.
The student newspaper printed a let
ter on April 29 carrying the names of
88 students who condemned the dem
onstration. The “letter to the editor”
called the protest an “outburst of ju
venile vandalism.”
Among the names which appeared as
signers of the letter were those of
Student Government President John
Carlew of Pascagoula, Keber Ladner
Jr., son of the secretary of state, and
former student newspaper editor Kath
erine Webb of Jackson.
During the demonstration, a car
used by the biracial visitors was dam
aged and a cross was burned on a hill
overlooking a dormitory where the men
visitors were staying.
The Ole Miss students started gather
ing about 10:30 p.m. and by 11 p.m. the
street between the men’s dormitory and
the university cafeteria was filled with
students. The students sang segrega
tionist songs, set off firecrackers and
shouted at the Tougaloo group inside
the dormitory.
Dean Franklin Moak told the demon
strators that the persons in the dormi
tory were guests of the university. He
urged the demonstrators to return to
their dormitories. One Ole Miss student
was injured slightly by a bottle which
was thrown.
Dispersal Ordered
At 11:50 p.m., Campus Police Chief
Burnes Tatum told the crowd it would
have to disperse. He gave the demon
strators five minutes to leave before he
started taking names and student
identification cards. They left.
There were no demonstrations at
Lavauve Dormitory, which houses two
Negroes attending Ole Miss. Neither
was there any undue activity at the
residence hall where the Negro coeds
from Tougaloo were staying.
Tougaloo is a mostly Negro College
near Jackson.
In an official statement from the
university on April 23, Information
Officer Pat Smith said the university
regretted the incident. He said it did
not reflect the attitude of the faculty
and the student body.
“This act by no means represents
the dignity and maturity of the Univer
sity of Mississippi student body,” Smith
said.
The biracial group left the campus on
April 23. The decision to leave followed
a hurried visit to the campus by George
(See ONE-THIRD, Page 15)