University of Virginia Library

Wide Range Of Opinion Expressed

Racial Issue Prompts Response

In the past few days the
University of Virginia has taken
great strides forward from the days
of a conservative, segregationist
past to a future of equality for all,
men and women, black and white.
The struggle has been a difficult
one, but with the meeting of the
Board of Visitors on Saturday, the
barriers to a better University
community have been breached.

However, the highest praise goes
not so much to the achievement
itself, but to the methods whereby
the goals were (and are being)
realized. Unlike many campuses
across the nation, this University
has proven that rational action on
the part of concerned students can
accomplish as much, not so
dramatically, but perhaps as
quickly, as violence and
destruction.

Gentlemen like Robert Rosen,
Ed Hayes, and all the others who
sponsored and participated in the
demonstration yesterday have
proven beyond any doubt that, at
the University of Virginia, "we are
not afraid to follow truth wherever
it may lead, nor to tolerate any
error, so long as reason is left free
to combat it." Errors have been
made in the past, but they can
better be rectified with reason than
with resort to violence. I can only
hope that activists throughout the
nation will learn and profit from
the example of a small university in
the Old South.

Wheatley's
Resignation

I would like to take this opportunity
to reply to the several articles
in the February 17 edition of
The Cavalier Daily concerning the
resignation of Mr. Wheatley from
the Board of Visitors. In doing so I
ask the community of the University
to demonstrate some rationality
and reason. I indeed question
whether such logic has been considered.

Let us rationally look at the
situation. Firstly, do we know that
Mr. Wheatley is a racist? Is it
possible for anyone to know that
but for Mr. Wheatley himself? Is it
not possible that Mr. Wheatley
simply opposed the Integration
Acts of the 1950s because he
believed that such decisions should
be left to the discretion of each
state, rather than to the Federal
Government? If so, then he was
indeed acting in the shadow of
Jeffersonian concepts of States'
rights.

Let us now suppose that it can
be established that Mr. Wheatley is
indeed a racist, (even though this is
impossible to establish without a
public statement from Mr. Wheatley
himself). I question as to
whether this allegation is reason
enough for his resignation. If
indeed he is a racist, does that make
him an invalid element of legislative
debate? Does that make him any
less wise in administrative and
administrative policy? One might as
well say that since Edgar A. Poe
was a dope addict that his writings
are worthless!. I repudiate the
statement that "this man can bring
no good to the University." That
would be to say that only good
policies are formed by similarities and
that diversity in opinion is evil.
Such a statement is absurd!

I wonder if the University is
using good judgment in this issue or
just massive emotionalism in the
plight of the black man. I have
always been known as a 'liberal,'
yet I question another of Mr.
Rosen's demands: "to put a Black
Virginian on the Board..." Why
must this man be black? Would not
any capable man suffice? I wonder
if the University is not overly
enthusiastic with 'tokenism.' Why
must there be a "token black" on
the Board? Can we that easily
deceive ourselves? Tokenism is
worthless, as any honest person will
admit, and a token Negro on the
board will be just as worthless. I
wonder if this community is not
overly reactionary to its past.

In closing, I ask that we
honestly examine this situation,
and divert from the paths of
emotional and impulsive action.
When the facts are made public,
action should be taken, but not
before that time. As John F.
Kennedy once wrote in a speech to
be delivered in Dallas, Texas:
"leadership must be led by the light
of learning and reason, and we can
hope that fewer people will listen
to nonsense." Is a new "Joe
McCarthy era" to begin?

Fashionable
Allegiance

"While the best lack all conviction/
The Worst are full of passionate
intensity."

Remembering Mr. Yeats' incantation,
I have heretofore formed no
opinion of the political conventions
of my peers (Student Leaders). I
have duly considered the excesses
committed in the name of reason
and compassion, accepting as
axiomatic, transmutation of reason
to rhetoric, compassion to publicized
pomposity. Yet I wonder if
the Student Leaders have breached
the just limits to which I as a good
egalitarian democrat subscribe.
More precisely, I disagree with the
propriety of attack being levied
against C. Stuart Wheatley, Jr.; an
inhabitant of that delightful town
of Danville, Virginia.

Do Student Leaders have the
expertise to explore the character
of the Board of Visitors? Shall in
the future all appointments to that
Board be subject to approval by ad
hoc groups of Student Leaders?
Does a statement or political
opinion made years ago reflect the
basic ability or integrity with which
a man discharges his responsibility
as a member of the Board of
Visitors? Have the Student Leaders
heard of the late Senator Joseph
McCarthy? Do they remember his
attempts in the early 1950's to
purge from American life, highly
placed government officials on the
basis of political opinions they held
in the depression era? Perhaps it is
that, although time and opinions
change, politicians remain comparable
to litmus paper, reflecting
the most fashionable opinion of
their time. As for Mr. Wheatley,
what can one expect from a
politician? Apparently about what
one receives from our Student
Leaders — allegiance to fashion.

Sam Robinson

Medicine 1

Student Council Representative.

Any consideration of
Mr. Wheatley's status was
conspicuously absent from all
statements made by the "Student
Leaders." It was the SSOC-SDS
that demanded his resignation—ed.

Retain Potter

I read with interest the article in
Friday's paper concerning the demand
by the SDS and others that
Mr. William Potter resign from the
Board of Visitors.

It seems that perspective has
been lost somewhere along the line.
The SDS and others condemn Mr.
Potter for his silent approval of
"the occupation of Wilmington's
black community by a white
army." Yes, it is true that as a
prominent member of the DuPont
Corporation in Delaware he might
have been able to exert his
influence to end the "military and
political repression." However, let
us be pragmatic and realistic about
this situation. Regardless of the
influence of the DuPont Corporation
in Delaware, it does not
influence the conduct of the
individual black.

The authors of the statement
demanding Mr. Potter's resignation
have stressed the idea that there
was a harsh military occupation of
Wilmington and a repression of
individual rights. This theory is
untrue on two counts.

1. There was no military occupation
as such and such a harsh
context as put forth by the
former authors is false. True, the
National Guard were present in
Wilmington, but these authors
fail to mention that it was a
relatively small force and that its
main function was not to
enforce military rule but to
merely be ready to reinforce the
police in the event of civil
disorder. Except for a number
of jeeps patrolling the street at
nights, the National Guard was
fairly inconspicuous. There certainly
wasn't an armed occupation
of the city as suggested by
those of the SDS and their
associates.

2. The authors who demand Mr.
Potter's resignation have overlooked
a very important fact.
Until two years ago there was a
great deal of violence in the
Wilmington slums. There still is,
but while the National Guard
was there in token force, the
situation was greatly mitigated.
There has been a definite disregard
of the fact that the violence
in Wilmington prior to the
"occupation" of the guard was
extreme. Why don't the formerly
mentioned authors cite the
fact that the Negroes wrecked a
great part of their own section
of the city and parts of the
Italian and other lower middle
class sections as well.

I don't believe that "military
occupation" of a city is good in
itself, but I do believe that it is
necessary to obtain order before
any social programs can be executed.
It might be noted that
Governor Terry who had initiated
these measures has not been reelected.
Subsequently the new
Governor, Governor Peterson, has
removed the National Guard. Since
then the redevelopment programs
begun by Governor Terry have had
to be suspended as a result of new,
and more vicious, outbreaks of
violence. The inference is obvious.

It seems, therefore, that the SDS
and others who composed this
document have made a mistake.
They have asked for the resignation
of the wrong man (of course there
is no one else, is there?) because
this gentleman has no control over
the black community or the violence
they are capable of committing.
Also they have failed to
recognize the fact that the violence
was widespread and an attainment
of order was necessary for the
beginning and continuation of productive
social programs.

These men, the authors I have
mentioned, have stated that they
have done a great deal of research
on this topic but they have failed to
make an in depth on-the-scene
report. I feel I am somewhat better
acquainted with the situation in
that I worked in the Negro section
of the city for 3 consecutive
summers. Furthermore, my information,
may be slightly more
reliable in that my father, Mr.
Benjamin F. Shaw II was the
former police commissioner for the
State of Delaware, and is currently
involved with the present political
administration in Delaware.

In short, the demand that Mr.
Potter resign is fallacious.

Pre—College Aid

Nineteen sixty-nine portends to
be a remarkable year. Hardly seven
weeks have gone by, and already
the University has been aroused
from her quiet apathy over a truly
worthy issue — that of integration
— for perhaps the first time in her
history. It is, however, unfortunate
that seemingly many a University
man, having been aroused from his
stupor, has jumped on the proverbial
bandwagon without so much as
even casually examining the facts
and concepts behind the cause in
favor of which he has prepared to
do battle.

Among these true believers are
the perpetrators of the blue sheets
which we dorm-dwellers received
Sunday evening. The resolutions
proposed by the authors contain an
astounding number of inaccurate
assertions, the examination of one
of which can at least start us on the
road to a calm and logical consideration
of the facts.

In this pastel immortalization of
Mr. Jefferson and his ideals, the
reader finds the passage, "...all Men
are created equal;" but as usual, the
quotation is employed entirely out
of context. Had the authors of the
sheet bothered to read further in
the Declaration, they would have
realized that the idea relates to the
equality of men with respect to the
God-given rights they possess at
their creation; and that it has no
meaning in relation to the issue of
integration, here or anywhere else.
Indeed, all men are created equal —
but only in relation to these rights.
On a somewhat less lofty plane,
men are disturbingly unequal.

Examine, for instance, the educational
opportunities of the black
Virginian — not on the college level,
but on the secondary level. Negro
high schools in Virginia are, I fear,
strikingly inferior in general. A
concrete example: the University's
Upward Bound Program takes disadvantaged
black (and white) students
primarily from rural areas of
the state, students who show high
potential but somewhat lesser
achievement, College board scores
of these students (when they begin
the program) are frequently less
than half of the mean score of the
University student. Granted, the
SAT is perhaps as much a measurement
of socio-economic acculturation
as of academic preparedness
for college, but it does have some
validity as a measurement of the
latter. How, then, are such gaps to
be overcome by the rural black
student? Of course, a number of
urban black students will undoubtedly
exhibit a greater preparedness
— yet these will tend to be
students from middle class families.
I fear that those who could keep up
with their studies at the University
would be in the great minority; and
that the ghetto or rural Negro, who
must be our first concern, will
benefit little from a crash integration
of the University.

Therefore, in petitioning the
Governor, the Board of Visitors,
and the Administration, should we
not only ask that the qualified
black students be admitted, but
also that a serious effort be made to
improve the quality of the high
school education, and indeed, of
the elementary education, of the
urban and rural Negro student?
When that is done, the cry for
large-scale integration will be valid;
and the average Negro will be able
to compete for admission on a
more nearly equal basis to this and
other southern universities. Mass
integration today, if not conducted
with the greatest of care, could
easily result in the academic failure
of many black students or in the
lowering of the University's academic
standards. No thinking man
could sincerely desire either.

Indeed, the days are not g
in which "progress can be measured
by minute degrees." The
black student, like all men, must be
taught to walk before he can be
expected to run.