The Tribune. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1951-19??, 1952-11-22
S J. Phillips Appointed Collaboration
For George Washington Carver
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Facts and Figures
OF Good Will
BY A WHITE soUTHERNER

Followers Of this column will recaI
that last summer we printed story abou
the protests made by many white south
erners when the trustees of the Uniyer
sity of the South, Sewanee, Tenn, decide
that the time was not yet ripe to admi
Negro students.
Among the protestants were eight mem
bers of the theological faculty at Sewan
ee. They announced that unless the boart
reversed its decision by June, they won't.
feel obliged to resign
The willingness Of the eight southern
ers to sacrifice their jobs for this prime;
pie aroused wave of admiration and sup
port among white southern churchmen
This was met by an opposing wave. Eo
there were many who felt that the eigh
should have voiced their protest in tn,
form Of q threat. Vice Chancellor Edwart
McCrady snmmed up the opposition wheI
he said:
AN ultimatum is not an appeal either
to reason or moral sympathy. 1t implies
that all the clergy and all the laymeI
who voted against it (the immediate ad
mission of Negroes) were too stupid to b,
appealed to by reason and too benighteo
to be appealed to by moral persuasion
That is no way to gain anything"
The eight looked on in dismay. They
had hoped that their drastic action woule
spotlight Christian brotherhood. Instead
the true issue was obscured in darkness
while the spotlight played on their owr
conduct and whether or not they deserved
censure. They decided to make desper
ate effort. to bring the original issue back
before the public. So they wrote letter
which withdrew their controversial "threat
to resign" and changed it to an uncond
tional resignation for principle. We
quote from this letter below:
eve reaffirm the principles enunciat
ed in our. statement of June 9. :.
''The question was at that time cleai
one: Shall this Christian School Of The
ology be opened to Christians, whateve,
has been -. virtually eclipsed 80. 1t i.
our deep concern that this question .. be
restored to its former simplicity -.
$50 long as WE are the center of the
controversy :. our efforts to further the
cause seem only to distract attention from
it. The cause suffers while complicated by
our persons. So great is our love for this
cause, so great is our concern that Sewanee
wrestle with this issue manfully and OBJ
jectiyely, that we have come, after mucf
agonizing searching of conscience, to the
conclusion that we must resign :. =. WIFI
our resignation In your hands, Sewanee
can face the question which confronts her
We hereby submit our resignation"
In the face Of this letter, l urge you te
ask yourself the question, how much alone
is the Negro in his fight for equality il
the South? You have not seen this letter
printed an any of your daily papers--fo'
Christian love is reputed not to interes
the public. Evil sells more papers, it is be
lievcd.
If eight Tennesseans had lynched Ne
gro last month, Virginia papers woUc
have hammered the news. But only Thf
TRIBUNE highlights the story when eight
white southerners sacrifice their career:
in the dim hope that 1t will bring theil
brown brothers a little closer to a fulfill
ment of their lives as Christians and a:
men.
SARAH PATTON BOYLE
Box 1873, Univ Station
Charlottesville, Virgins