Poe Sees DYP On Black Profs

Poe Sees DYP On Black Profs

Recent controversy between the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and President Davis Y. Paschall over the College's compliance with the 1964 Civil Rights Act is understandably "an issue of foremost concern" to black admissions officer Lillian Poe. Meeting with Paschall last week to discuss newspaper accounts of the federal officials' dissatisfaction with the College's progress in integration, Poe said the President implied a shift in the administration's position since the July 27 letter he wrote to HEW. "The general tone of his letter as reported," Poe explained Friday, "was offensive to me." At the time of the letter Paschall rejected HEW Regional Director Eloise Severinson's suggestion that "extraordinary efforts are required to recruit faculty members of a particular race." Last week, however, he assured Poe that there would be a change in the racial composition of the faculty by September, 1971. "The President voiced no disagreement when I pointed out the necessity of seeking out black students and faculty who are first black and, secondly, qualified." Especially concerned about the necessity of integration at the faculty and administration level, Poe suggested that the administration hire black instructors if enough professors were not available by September. Noting that "more than one or two" faculty members would be necessary in any meaningful desegregation effort, she stressed her view that "it is incumbent upon the College to begin desegregation effort each and every department right away. Since the faculty has been imbalanced for so long, Poe continued, the idea of "hiring black faculty because it is black" is both rational and valid, "especially if the administration is serious" about recent efforts to step up minority enrollment recruiting efforts. In the July letter to HEW, Paschall severely criticized Severinson's implication that the College should consider lowering academic standards "if necessary" to admit more blacks. Poe agreed the practice would be undesirable at this time. "There are substantial numbers of black students who can readily meet William and Mary's admission standards." Most of these qualified students do not seriously consider the College, according to Poe, because they do not feel welcome to the predominantly white institution "at this time." This view does not pre¬ clude the desirability of future programs aimed at "the challenge of turning academically disadvantaged students into academically advantaged ones," Poe feels, but such specific programs should involve "both white and black." Perhaps referring to the generally hostile environment of the College noted by Kermit Dance, Black Student Organization President, or to the reluctance of the administration to follow HEW guidelines, Poe emphasized that "I have every reason to accept this entire change (of administrative attitude) cautiously." She set the following goals as "a measure of the administration's sincerity" in attempting to improve the racial composition and situation at the College: • A list drawn up by the College of approved non-discriminatory housing.
• A significant number of black faculty hired by mid-summer. This, of course, excludes Dr. Nancy McGhee, expected in the English department this spring.
• Black studies courses in the curriculum which acknowledge the contributions made by black Americans.
• Commitment on the part of the College to resolve the Bland College situation in light of William and Mary's changed attitude.
•An expression on the part of the administration which will inform the public of policy changes, especially as in regard to the racial situation.
The College maintained a list of approved off-campus housing until approximately a year ago, when HEW requested that all facilities be non-discriminatory. Rather than check into property owners' policies, the College abolished the list entirely. William and Mary's branch college in Petersburg, Richard Bland, has been the center of much controversy between state, college and federal officials. Its proposed elevation to a four year institution by the General Assembly last year represents both a waste of funds and an attempt to perpetuatd a dual system of higher education in Petersburg, according to some HEW sources, in view of the fact that predominately black Virginia State College could easily assimilate students who might wish to attend Bland.

TIt's been two years now that the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the agency charged with enforcing federal civil rights legislation, has been wrangling with the College over its compliance (or lack of it) with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. During that time, which has seen repeated visits to the campus by HEW investigators and volumes of correspondence from the HEW regional office, the College has been accused more than once by the federal agency of showing a general reluctance to shed its historic identification as a white institution. But not until this week did it become apparent that the College is in fact challenging its federal critics. In a July 27 letter made public for the first time in an exclusive story last Sunday by Richmond Times-Dispatch education wri¬ ter Charles Cox, President Davis Y. Paschall let HEW know in unequivocal terms that, the way he views it, the College is already in "full compliance" with the law. The Paschall letter was in reply to an earlier letter from Eloise Severinson, the regional HEW civil rights director, obliquely threatening to begin procedures aimed at cutting off the College's federal funds, which total over $1 million a year. In her letter, Severinson told Paschall it was her intention "to bring to your attention some of the deficiencies disclosed by our view which I feel require corrective measures by the College if its eligibility to receive federal financial assistance is to remain unchallenged." Similar controversy has arisen at Virginia Commonwealth University between President Warren Brandt and HEW over that institution's compliance with the 1964 law. There are some basic differences in the two situations, however, as VCU enrolled over 100 freshmen in a federally-financed remedial program last summer and employs a full-time black re¬ cruiting officer. Last year the student population was 4%black, compared with the Colper cent, en and acknowledges slightly more than 1% minority enrollment. Situation Unchanged The situation at the College is roughly the same as when HEW first examined it in 1968, Severinson said: a black student enrollment of less than black faculty. Of nine suggestions made by HEW fol¬ lowing their initial investigation, she said, the College has followed only three: the admissions office has stepped up its recruitment efforts in black high schools, the College no longer maintains the off-campus housing list which made no requirement^ that landlords be nondiscriminatory and practice teachers are being placed in black as well as white schools. Among the six ignored suggestions, she said, the College has failed to insert a non¬ discrimination statement in the catalogue, to sponsor campus visits by blacks, to solicit alumni support for recruiting black students other than athletes, to obtain equal opportunity statements from employers, to sponsor institutional agreements with predominantly black Hampton Institute and Norfolk State, or to give priority to hiring black faculty members. Severinson also recommended that the College consider "certain revisions of its academic criteria so that the potential for the academic success of black students is determined by means other than Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) scores, which now appear to be the principal determining factor for admissions." She added that the College might consider setting up remedial programs for black students. "To fulfill the purposes and intent of the Civil Rights Act of 1964," Severinson con¬ tinued, "it is not sufficient that an institution maintain a nondiscriminatory policy if the student population continues to reflect the formerly de jure (by law) racial identification of that institution." She concluded that the College has not yet "adopted effective measures to overcome the effects of past segregation." Paschall prefaced his reply to Severinson by noting that not only is William and Mary the second oldest college in America, it is also "the first such institution in America to be integrated racially." Long before the College became a state institution in 1906, Paschall said, it "did in¬ deed have Negroes in attendance and conferred degrees on the same." The president took exception to HEW's contention that "William and Mary cannot be in compliance...unless a particular racial mixture is reflected within the student body... "This is the first time that the College has been told that a quota system prevails" under the civil rights law. "I have been unable to find where the Supreme Court has specified that racial balance of any dimension must be achieved in an institution of higher learning," he said. Paschall allowed that the College is "interested in advising that everyone qualified under its standards for admission...be admitted to its facilities...without regard to race," but he specifically rejected the idea of changing admissions criteria. "...Even had I the power," he said, "I would be most reluctant to direct a lowering of admissions standards and the offering of non-credit remedial instruction. I question whether such is required in order for William and Mary to remain eligible for financial assistance. "Surely you would not envision William and Mary offering remedial non-credit instruction to minority group students and permitting them to take less than a full academic load but denying such opportunities to the similarly deserving non-minority applicants who would have been admitted to William and Mary but for a failure to meet the admissions standards and required level of preparation." Discriminating Against Whites With regard to black faculty, Paschall told Severinson he questions "your suggestion that extraordinary efforts are required to recruit faculty members of a particular race." In fact, he said, he would consider it a violation of the law to discriminate in favor of black applicants. To Severinson's charge that the College has failed to follow up on the student-initiated drive for a student exchange program with Hampton Institute, Paschall responded: "l am at a loss to understand how this is an area of major concern. I do not understand how the presence of cooperative arrangements bears on the question of whether William and Mary discriminates" under the law. Nevertheless, he said, the administration is exploring the Hampton exchange idea (see related story, this page). He added that plans were in the making for the hiring of a black admissions officer 'this year (subsequent to Paschall's letter, the College hired Lillian Poe, a black graduate student, as a part-time admissions officer) and:a visiting black lec¬ turer next semester, besides adopting an equal employment opportunity policy. He also said College publications "...to a greater extent in the future...will continue to emphasize the nondiscriminatory nature of the College, and will attempt to dispel any impression that the College is an all-white institution." But regardless of these developments, Paschall concluded, he is confident the Co lege is already in "full compliance" with the law. Yesterday Paschall issued to news media an "informational statement" designed, he said, "to clarify any misunderstandings that may have resulted" from the Times-Dispatch story. "To correct any impression that the Col¬ lege has not attempted to comply with HEW guidelines," he noted recent developments in minority hiring practices, the dissemination of a statement of nondiscrimination, intensified high school recruitment efforts, the hiring of Poe and the black faculty member and the exploration of the Hampton exchange. The statement concluded, "Correspondence and discussions by the College have endeavored to raise legitimate questions and to resolve honest differences, and these efforts will continue with attendant good will on both sides." Reaction among student leaders to the Paschall letter was generally hostile. A Stu¬ dent Association news release distributed to students Tuesday night talked of "tentative plans" for "a peaceful, non-violent demonstration of concern over Dr. Paschall's actions." Later, however, SA president Winn Legerton sought to dampen speculation on any such public protest. She was scheduled to meet with Paschall today, at which time, she told reporters, she would press for further discussions next week involving Paschall, herself, SAmi¬ nority affairs committee chairman Tom Rees and Black Students Organization president Kermit Dance. A lingering question in the wake of the Paschall HEW dispute concerns the possibility of; a cutoff of the College's federal funds. Such a move by HEW is considered a drastic one--only three colleges in the country have lost their funds, South Carolina's fundamentalist Bob Jones University and two Mississippi Bible colleges. The likelihood of the College's joining that group is generally considered slim at this point. However, Paschall's response to HEW is seen in many quarters as a comparatively defiant one. According to Cox, William and Mary was "resisting the federal pressures with considerably more energy than VCU--or any other college in the state.

Swem Special Collections

Tuesday, October 6, 1970
Volume 60, Number 5

William & Mary Flat Hat

Tuesday, October 6, 1970

Rahul Truter