St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1961-11-17
University Of Texas
Students Put Schools
Regents To Shame
(FrOm TIME Magazine Nov. 10,
1851

NrEOm TIME magazine Nov. 10,
1851
The mostly white student
body and the faculty of the
University of Texas turned
against their regents last week
in sharp demand for full in
tegratiOn of the South s biggest
campus. In an atmosphere
charged with resentment, re-
bellion and disgust, Chancellor
Harry Ransom and President
Joseph Smiley found them
selves paralyzed by the need to
accommodate the segregation
ist regents and unable to drop
racial bars at a campus that
plainly wanted them dropped.
With classroom Indignation ten
uously established (there are about
200 Negroes among the 2O,396
students), an absurd glossary of
race-based regulations still rules
in Austin. Negroes may not spend
free hours in the sitting rooms of
white dormitories, may take only
minor roles in drama-department
productions, may not play varsity
sports. Paradoxically, they may
visit white students in dormitory
bedrooms if the door is kept closed,
but may not visit in the dining
rooms or social areas. Said a dor
mitory housekeeper to a Negro
girl visiting the television room of
a white dorm: This is a public
area. Therefore it's segregated"
Want Negroes On The Teams
Last spring, campus opinion be-
gan openly to buck the regents on
two important scores: indignation
Of dormitories and varsity teams.
The student assembly voted % to
2 to integrate Texas teams, % to
o to integrate a mems dorm. But
the nine regents, all of them ap-
pointed by segregationist Cover
nor Price Daniel and former Gov
ernor Allan Shivers, voted to ig-
more the students voice. Marrow
minded, backward and hypocriti-
CAL" Student President Maurice
Olian called the regents decision.
With the opening Of school,
tension began to mount. The re-
gents were presented with a
resolution, signed by 5000 stu
dents, demanding Indignation Of
athletics. Fifty-five Negroes held
sit-ins at segregated dOrmitOries,
and about 80 Of them were put
on disciplinary probation.
That was too much for the fac
ulty. Denouncing the administra-
tons inquisition and punishment |
of the Negroes, Law Professor
Ernest Goldstein said: What hap
pened was they collected all the
known Negroes and then they |
asked them, Are you now or have
you ever been a member of the
Negro race?'"
While student leaders demon
strated and voted 5,132 to 3,293 in
favor of athletics indignation, Pro-
fessor Goldstein circulated a resell
ution of his own. It denounced the
dorm regulations as designed to
degrade the dignity Of the indiv-
idual, subvert the academic COM
and interfere with the edu-
cational process" The resolution
was adopted by the faculty as
3oS-34, then put in the
mail for a vote of the full faculty.
In the face Of both student and
votes, the Regents insisted
that the integrationist force on the
campus was a mere vocal min
GRITTY"
A Test In Court
The students raised money
throughout the week to take the
to court in a test of its
indignation policies. The faculty
cheered them on and contributed
to the legal-aid fund. When stu
dents gathered outside the faculty
assembly to applaud their teachers,
Goldstein (by this time the clear
leader of a popular revolD ap-
peared in an open window, coat
tails Tapping, to encourage the
legal fight. Raise as much money
as you can," he said, assuring them
that they would win in court. "Of
course, I can't actually suggest
this I'm employed by the defend
ant"
Administrators Unhappy
Much as Chancellor Ransom and
President Smiley seemed apostles
Of segregation, those closest to
the struggle said both men were
unhappy voices Of the regents
and ill-spoken views.
Both seemed angry that the re-
gents had forced the administra-