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MISSISSIPPI SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS-^JUNE, 1965—PAGE 15 School Districts Study Rejected Plans of Compliance JACKSON J ack M. Tubb, state superin tendent of education, has in formed Mississippi school officials he believes comphance pledges for first- and second-grade deseg- ! ' r egation will be accepted by the ,r U.S. Office of Education. Tubb made his statement on June 5 j following a conference of education of- '■ ficials at Oxford, which David Seely, e assistant to the U.S. Commissioner of 5 Education, also attended, v Tubb also disclosed the Office of Edu- t 1 cation had accepted a local school board compliance plan, the first on the local l level from Mississippi. 1 Accepted was a plan submitted by 5 the Long Beach Separate School Sys- | tem. It will desegregate all of its grades this fall. 50 Plans Restudied Tubb said on May 27 that some 50 Mississippi school districts were re studying their civil rights comphance * plans to decide on revisions that might make them acceptable to the federal government. The U.S. Department of Health, Ed ucation and Welfare accepted the state board of education’s compliance pledge the middle of May. Seventy-eight of the state’s 150 school d’stricts have moved to comply with the federal directive calling for dese gregation as a prerequisite to receiving further federal funds. They submitted plans calling for lowering racial barriers in e’ther one or two grades a year. Tubb said he felt the compliance plans calling for two-grade desegregation would be accepted where the local boards “offer good reasons for it.” After most of the plans were filed. HEW advised the districts they must desegregate four grades this fall and all of them by 1969 if they are to receive additional assistance. Special Cases The government, however, said al lowances would be made for special cases. Because of the overall racial climate in the state, officials hope the government will eventually settle for fewer than four grades a year. On May 17, Tubb said he was “happy” HEW had accepted the state board’s pledge to disburse federal funds to qualified school districts. Commissioner of Education Francis Kepoel announced in Washington the previous day the Mississippi board had agreed to “assign its staff without re gard to race and assures the Office of Education it will not distribute funds under federally assisted programs to any school districts not in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.” Louisiana (Continued from Page 14) activities and that plans be made to desegregate faculties and staff. Legislative Action House Committee Kills Proposal To End Grants Two legislative moves in May touched on the segregation-desegregation issue. One bill, introduced in the current fiscal session by Rep. Harry Rollins of Calcasieu Parish, would have abolished the state’s grant-in-aid program, which Pays tuition to pupils who choose to attend private nonsectarian schools. It died on a 13-3 vote in a House committee. The other would authorize the Lake Charles City School Board to seek legislation, probably in the regular session of 1966, to consolidate the Lake Charles and the Calcasieu Parish school systems. In his proposal to end the $3.6 mil lion state program of support for pri vate education, Rep. Collins suggested that the money now dedicated to the Louisiana Financial Assistance Com mission be diverted during the coming year to state colleges and universities. The program is financed by $300,000 ■ monthly from the state sales tax. Consolidation of the Lake Charles jmd Calcasieu Parish school systems has been discussed for some time. Both systems recently were directed by fed eral district courts to begin desegre gation in the fall and have submitted similar plans for compliance with the court order. Mississippi Highlights State Education Supt. Jack Tubb said he believed the U.S. Office of Education would accept two-grade desegregation plans. HEW approved a full-desegrega tion plan to become effective this fall in the Long Beach Separate School System. It was the first local plan approved in Mississippi. About one-third of Mississippi’s 150 school districts restudied their federal compliance pledges after they were rejected in Washington. The Greenville public school sys tem voluntarily desegregated its first and second grades effective this fall. Contempt charges stemming from the desegregation of the University of Mississippi in 1962 were dis missed against Gov. Paul B. Johnson and former Gov. Ross R. Barnett by the U. S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. U. S. District Judge Harold Cox ordered the Meridian Separate The State Board of Education filed a mildly revised disbursement pledge earlier this year. The principal change in the federal directive added this language: “The state agency in submitting this compliance agreement does not commit or obligate any local agency or school board to enter into any form of com pliance agreement under the 1964 Civil Rights Act of 1964. “The state agency recognized and shall adhere to the pronouncement of the U. S. Supreme Court in Brown vs. Board and decisions thereunder, to the effect that the fourteenth amendment does not command integration of the races in the schools, or that voluntary segregation is not legally permissible.” There are 150 school districts in Mis sissippi, which is currently receiving some $23 million a year in federal as sistance funds for public schools. Tax Votes Held On May 21, voters in the North Pike County school district approved an in crease in the school maintenance tax ceiling from 25 to 28 mills but voters in the South Pike district rejected the proposals stemming from the contro versy over the compliance pledges. Complete but unofficial returns from the referendum showed the north dis trict voted 216-111 for the increase while the south rejected the proposed boost 325-207. The election was called after the Consolidated County School District refused to sign the compliance direc tive. The tax increase would help offset the federal funds which would be with held from districts declining to agree to desegregation. School officials said the tax increase would go into effect in the northern district while the rate would remain unchanged in the southern district. The city of McComb, the county seat, operates as a separate school district and was not involved in the referen dum. School District to prepare a deseg regation plan. Expelled school children in Issa quena and Sharkey counties lost their suit seeking reinstatement. The University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson an nounced that Negro faculty members and students will be accepted. The University of Mississippi an nounced rules for gathering of stu dents on the campus. The Greenville City Council equalized the salaries of white and Negro teachers. An NAACP Legal Defense Fund report issued in New York noted that Mississippi was moving toward “moderate tokenism” as opposed to total segregation. A Clarksdale attorney involved in the state’s private school tuition plan was appointed to the State Sovereign ty Commission. tive with the 1965-66 school year, be coming the first district in Mississippi to lower racial barriers without court orders. Seventy Negro children registered for classes in previously all-white classes on May 28 and 29. There were no inci dents during the two-day registration period. Twenty-eight registered for the sec ond grade in five schools. Forty-two registered for the first grade. Dr. Matthew Page, a Negro physician and leader in the school desegregation field, said he had expected about 100 Negro children to seek admission to both grades. But he called the regis tration “a very good start.” Many Not Registered “There are several hundred Negro first- and second-grade children who have not registered in any school,” he said, “and they are still in town. I don’t expect all these children are going to stay out of school.” He suggested that the school admin istration hold another registration pe riod in either August or September to accommodate those who have not regis tered. New pupils are customarily registered at the fall opening of school. School officials had expected 1,330 Negro children to register in both first and second grades, but only 678 ap peared at 11 elementary schools oper ated by the Greenville Separate School District. The white registration was down 243 from estimates. Reportedly, many Negro parents whose children will enter the second grade in September considered their children already registered for the fall term if they planned to attend the same school. In the Colleges Educators will now determine if fac ilities are adequate for all applicants. All will be accepted if there are suf ficient facilities. If not, the proximity of the pupil’s home to the school where he applied will establish priority for admission. Assignments will be made by July 15. The freedom-of-choice desegregation plan filed by school officials with the U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare calls for total desegrega tion by 1969. The federal agency has not notified Greenville whether its desegregation plan is acceptable. Jackson, Biloxi, Leake County and Clarksdale were desegregated at the first-grade level under federal court orders last fall. Meridian, Madison County, Canton and Moss Point are under federal court orders to file first- grade desegregation plans, with racial barriers to be removed this fall. Legal Action Court Dismisses Johnson - Barnett Contempt Charges The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Ap peals has dismissed criminal contempt charges against Gov. Paul B. Johnson and former Gov. Ross R. Barnett, his predecessor, stemming from their un successful effort to bar Negro James H. Meredith from the University of Mis sissippi in the fall of 1962. The court, sitting in New Orleans, also said the civil contempt judgments against the two Mississippians would stand but that no sanctions would be imposed. Neither Johnson nor Barnett com mented publicly on the court’s rulings. “No sufficient reasons exist for fur ther prosecution of the proceedings,” the majority said in the 4-3 opinion on May 5. The majority of judges also said they were doubtful they could give Johnson and Barnett a fair trial. Wisdom Dissents Judge John Minor Wisdom of New Orleans disagreed with the majority and termed Barnett “the man in high office who defied the nation.” Barnett in particular, he said, should be tried for his actions in seeking to thwart the re moval of the racial barriers at the uni versity. Meredith was enrolled at Ole Miss following a night of bloody campus rioting in which two persons were killed and scores injured. Several hundred U. S. marshals and more than 20,000 soldiers were eventually called in. A year later, Meredith became the first Negro ever to receive a degree from the previously all-white state school at Oxford. Two Negroes were enrolled at Ole Miss during the 1965- 66 school year. Another Negro was en rolled during the summer of 1963 but was later expelled for carrying a pistol on the campus. ‘Changed Circumstances’ In the brief majority opinion, the appeals court said that “changed cir cumstances and conditions . . . rendered the further prosecution of criminal proceedings unnecessary.” “The Civil Rights Act of 1964 has been generally recognized as creating a status under which the ‘Law of the Land’ is beyond question,” the opinion said. “Indeed there has been wide spread voluntary compliance. ... It is highly improbable that other persons will hereafter commit acts similar to those herein charged.” The U. S. Supreme Court held a year ago that the two Mississippians were not entitled to a jury trial. Pointing out that Johnson and Barnett were previously adjudged guilty of civil contempt in the Meredith case, the appellate court opinion said: “We are doubtful, to say the least, whether we and the other judges may not have formed a fixed opinion that the defendants are guilty.” The majority opinion noted that the statutes make no provision for re placement of judges who might thus be disqualified from sitting on a court trying the two. ‘Public Interest’ Chief Judge Elbert P. Tuttle of At lanta, in a brief dissenting opinon, said “the public interest requires that a trial be held and that the guilt or innocence of these two respondents be deter mined.” Barnett and Johnson were cited by the court on four counts of interfering with Meredith’s enrollment. Before Meredith’s admission, the ap peals court held Barnett and Johnson guilty of civil contempt. The criminal contempt charges were filed at the re quest of the appeals court on Nov. 16, 1962, by the Justice Department. Judge John R. Brown of Houston was the third dissenter to the majority opinion. Wisdom’s Comment Judge Wisdom, who wrote the orig inal appeals court decision issued June 25, 1962, ordering Meredith admitted to Ole Miss, said that “I do not com plain of Ross Barnett’s escaping punish ment. I complain of a governor’s escaping the risk of punishment an (See MAJORITY, Page 17) Medical Center To End Segregation JOHNSON BARNETT Considered Complying Jackson, Biloxi, Clarksdale and Leake County are considered in compliance because they desegregated their sys- stems under federal court orders last fall. A federal judge has also called for desegregation plans to be submitted for Moss Point, Meridian, Canton and Madison County, with biracial classes in at least one grade to become opera tional in September. Mississippi has a total of 25 predom inantly white and predominantly Ne gro senior and junior colleges. HEW has accepted the compliance pledges submitted by 23 of them. The other two institutions were expected to comply. Gov. Paul B. Johnson was among nine Southern governors who met in Atlanta on May 9 on HEW’s liberalized desegregation requirements. He also met with the governors and Southern congressional delegations in Washington on May 18. Although Johnson has not commented on the meetings publicly, he did say on May 6 that the federal agency was “doing the children and people of the South a tremendous disservice” by establishing its guidelines. ★ ★ ★ The Greenville public school system announced it will voluntarily desegre gate its first and second grades effec- The University of Mississippi Medi cal Center in Jackson has announced that Negro faculty members and stu dents will be accepted “within weeks and months.” Dr. Robert Q. Martson made the statement to the faculty and students. It was disclosed during May in the current issue of the Medical Center Report. He pointed out that the 1964 Civil Rights Act requires that “we eliminate discrimination on the basis of race in the entire Medical Center comprehen sively and without exception.” The center receives federal research grants and funds for construction. “Our purpose and our responsibility is to abolish all—not some—discrim ination,” Martson said. “The college board, the chancellor and I are totally and completely obligated to achieve early, total and complete comphance with the letter and spirit of the law.” Basis of Qualification He said the medical center already had hired and contracted to hire peo ple at the professional level, the secre tarial level and in other areas on the basis of qualification without regard to race. He noted that the entire medical cen ter complex was designed originally in anticipation that it would be a deseg regated institution and added: “You (faculty) and all the more than 2,000 employees and students have demonstrated repeatedly that you can adapt to change while continuing to perform at the high levels required in this institution.” He pointed out that Chancellor J. S. Williams had signed the required as surance of compliance early in 1965. The chancellor and Medical Center of ficials acted with approval of the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning. Warned from Washington Earlier the federal government told the center to end discrimination or be confronted with losing hospital funds. A spokesman for the U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare had said in Washington that investigators uncovered violations of the Civil Rights Act at the Jackson facility. Charges of discrimination were made by the NAACP against the Mississippi Medical Center and other Southern hospitals. Asst. Secretary of HEW James M. Quigley said on May 29 that the medi cal center was among about a dozen of those hospitals which “have now satisfied us with their corrective actions.” ★ ★ ★ The University of Mississippi admin istration, in an apparent attempt to avoid any further demonstrations on the campus at Oxford, has announced rules for student gatherings. The university said in a statement published in the student newspaper that all parades, rallies or other meet ings must be cleared through the school’s director of student activities before they could be held. “A gathering for any purpose” must be scheduled at least three days in ad vance of the event. Students were urged to carry their identification cards at all times. Presence Means Guilt The statement added that a student’s presence in the immediate area of any unlawful disturbance “makes one as guilty as if guilty of an overt act of violence.” The policy statement said persons holding or attending unauthorized events would be liable for stiff student discipline. A noisy demonstration broke out during the Southern Literary Festival on the campus in April. The incident resulted in expulsion of four white Ole Miss students. The demonstration stemmed from the visit of a biracial group from predominantly Negro Toug- aloo College near Jackson.