University of Virginia Library

At Student Council Meeting

No Action Taken On Wheatley

By Tom Adams
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Student Council refused last
night to take any action on the case
of Chase Stuart Wheatley, a
member of the Board of Visitors
and a leader of Virginia's "massive
resistance" to integration in the late
1950's.

In one of its longest meetings of
the year, the Council, refused to
take either the step of asking for his
resignation or for asking him to
explain his views. Two motions
calling for these requests were
defeated during the meeting, to the
apparent displeasure of most of the
150 students who attended the
open meeting.

Earlier in the meeting Kevin
Mannix presented two motions
which passed with little opposition.
the first of these was, basically, the
11 proposals the coalition of
students who are seeking to "end
racism" at the University. They
were presented at a rally of
students yesterday afternoon on
the Lawn.

Division Requested

Gene Angle vowed to vote
against the motion unless it was
divided into ten parts, but when the
roll-call vote came, he merely
abstained and the motion passed
with no dissenting votes.

Mr. Mannix refused to allow an
amendment by Jim Roebuck calling
for the resignation of C. Stuart
Wheatley to be part of this motion
because he wanted that considered
separately.

Mr. Mannix's second motion
asked that "Student Council
reiterate its approval of the
following: "making the application
photograph optional, waiving the
$10 application fee for
underprivileged students, the
University's hiring of a full-time
black recruiter to replace Fred
Stokes when he retires after this
semester, ans asking the athletic
department for a description of
their efforts to recruit black
athletes and a black coach.

Mr. Mannix's motion further
requested President Shannon's
approval of the above at the earliest
possible date. This second motion
passed unanimously.

Mr. Roebuck then presented his
motion asking for the resignation of
Mr. Wheatley, explaining when he
introduced it that he was doing so
because he wanted discussion on it.
For nearly two hours the 22
Council representatives as well as
students in the audience of a little
more than 150 persons discussed
the motion.

Walt Morris, from the audience,
described Mr. Wheatley's role in
Virginia's "massive resistance" to
primary and secondary school
integration in the late 1950's. "If
we don't urge his resignation," he
said, "we are tacitly agreeing with a
policy of racism."

Deprived Children

Mr. Morris added that Mr.
Wheatley deprived many black
children of a chance to get an equal
education in Prince George's
County and was largely responsible
for the public school closings of
eight years.

Ron Cass said that it was futile
to try to get Mr. Wheatley to resign,
because his successor would be
named by another leader of massive
resistance-Governor Mills Godwin.

Tom Slater spoke against Mr.
Roebuck's motion, saying that
"you can't judge a man by his
past. He cited Lyndon Johnson as
an example of a person who
became a strong advocate of civil
rights after running for Congress on
a "racist" platform.

Steve Squire, from the audience,
said that approval of Mr. Roebuck's
motion would help attract black
students to the University by
showing them that the students "do
not condone the racist policies of
the state."

Opposes Dismissal

Bob Englander said that he did
not favor the dismissal of Mr.
Wheatley from the Board of
Visitors because he might be
replaced by an integrationist, and he
"could not support going from one
extreme to the other."

Reynold Levy said that he knew
of "no other way to judge a man
than by his past."

Jackson Lears then presented a
motion asking that Mr. Wheatley
repudiate his actions while a
member of the Virginia General
Assembly. His motion asked for
such explanation by February 25,
and if one were not received by
that time the Council would then
ask for his resignation.

Gene Angle then introduced a
substitute motion asking for a
pledge from Mr. Wheatley that he
wouldn't be a part of any
discrimination in the future.

These two motions were each
discussed at length and eventually
merged into one motion, which
failed by a 3-18 vote. Only Messrs.
Lears, Mannix, and Angle
supported it.

Jim Roebuck's motion to ask
for the resignation was then voted
on and failed by a 6 to 15 roll-call
vote, with Messrs. Lears, Chandler,
Murdock, Sherman, Ogle and
Roebuck voting for it.