The Cavalier daily :: Tuesday, September 12, 1972 :: University of Virginia Library

Charlottesville-Albemarle
School Board to allow
Charlottesville children to
attend school on a
non-segregated system in
accordance with the policies of
the Governor and the State
Board of Education." The
article did not indicate the
petition's success.

Board Stops Construction

Other nearby areas also had
problems. The year-long
dispute over an Ivy site flared
anew November 18,
1959. White residents of Ivy,
complaining that the site
selected by the Albemarle
School Board was a
predominantly white section,
announced that they asked for
an injunction... to stop
construction. The principal
objection was that the action
taken by the School Board and
State Board of Supervisors
"under the threat of
integration of county schools"
would "lend itself to the
integration of a white section."
The article explained that
whites live on one side of the
tracks (C&O), and Negroes on
the other.

On October 11, 1962, The
Cavalier Daily reported, in the
wake of the federal
hearing on the suit of Hazel R.
Adams, who claimed to have
been discriminated against as a
Negro in her attempt to
enter the University's Patrick
Henry branch college, officials
there have said that they are
disappointed and disturbed
that the University presented
no vigorous opposition at court
to her admittance." It was time
for the branch colleges to find
out what the Charlottesville
group knew: you can't win
with segregation in the courts.
There were black
undergraduates here by then.

On October 17, 1962, The
Cavalier Daily reported that
Miss Adams withdrew after one
day of classes. "She was not
spoken to by any of her fellow
students. The Martinsville
paper reported that Miss
Adams' classmates 'couldn't
care less' about her." On the
same page an article appears on
the meaning of University
traditions. One student, voicing
opinions typical of those
interviewed, said, "Tradition to
me means all that the
University stands for...The
University wouldn't be as great
as it is now if we didn't have
traditions such as wearing coats
and ties."

Three years ago there was
much activity in February and
March and April promoted by
the Coalition, a group of
students concerned about the
tiny percentage of the student
body which was black,
about the atmosphere here
which continued to be
indifferent when not hostile to
our token blacks, and about
the startling lack of effort
which the University was
expending to attract black
students to the University and
to make the University
attractive to blacks.

School Recruits Blacks

Rallies were held, students
got excited, administrative
hairs grayed, committees got
appointed, and the University
began, perhaps for the first
time, seriously talking about
changing its attitudes and
increasing its efforts to recruit
black students. A summer
preparatory program was
inaugurated, largely with
student-raised money. Things
started to happen.

Two years ago the
enrollment of 92 black
students in the first-year class
raised the percentage of blacks
in the College from 0.7 per
cent of three years ago to 1.9
per cent. The total black
enrollment at the University
rose to a"peak"of 2.2 per cent.

Blacks Find Hostility

But the reaction to the
increased black enrollment was
not good. Blacks reported
incidents of harassment by
city and University police,
students and University
employees. They charged that
police were indiscriminately
stopping black students in
checks for student
identification. Despite these
discouraging signs, blacks had
established themselves at Mr.
Jefferson's University, but the
process had just begun.

Last year the admissions
office reported some difficulty
in attracting black students to
the University resulting in
little, if any, increase in black
enrollment.

The number of schools
actively recruiting blacks and
the relatively small percentage
of blacks who accepted
admission to predominantly
white schools have made it
difficult to increase the black
student percentage, according
to Ernest H. Ern, dean of
admissions.

Charges of police
harassment flared into a major
issue when the Black Student
Alliance demanded the
dismissal of University Security
Officer Walter Chaffin.

Shannon Meets BSA

According to the BSA, Mr.
Chaffin arrested a black student
in the spring of 1971 and a
black assistant professor later
that year. "Mr. Chaffin only
later dropped the charges
against the two individuals.
The police records remained on
their files," the BSA said. The
organization demanded that
the police records be cleared of
the incident.

President Shannon met with
a representative from the BSA
on March 13 and agreed to
begin an investigation of the
two incidents. He said that he
would contact the BSA in one
week

Ten days later, having
witnessed no satisfactory
progress in the investigation,
the BSA assembled over 200
blacks on the Lawn to demand
the dismissal of Mr. Chaffin.

Blacks Assemble On Lawn

"We felt that we went to
Mr. Shannon in good faith,"
the student leaders said, "but
he had not responded in good
faith. We therefore decided to
visit Mr. Shannon as a show of
black student solidarity." Mr.
Shannon then appointed a
board headed by Law Prof.
Marion Kellogg to look into
charges of harassment.

Student Council backed the
BSA by issuing a statement
censuring the administration
for its "ineptness" in
investigating the complaints of
harassment.

Mr. Chaffin was eventually
removed from his position as
security officer, but remained
on the University payroll.
Interviews were set up in an
effort to find a permanent
position for him on the
University staff.

Thus, although percentages
of blacks enrolling in the
University may be increasing
each year, those entering
students have not found their
receptions quite so
encouraging.