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University Daily Kansan Thursday, Feb.-9, 1956.
2 Letters By 2 Alabama Students
Editor's Note: The following was written for the United Press by the first Negro student of the University of Alabama who was suspended because of campus demonstrations.
By AUTHERINE LUCY
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—(U.P.)—I have always wanted to go to the University of Alabama and being there just these few days has made me feel good inside.
I want to go back as soon as the Board of Trustees tells me I can.
I believe the University of Alabama student body will accept me if they are left alone by outsiders.
I want to be an acceptable librarian and I have no other interest in this than that I want to get a good education.
I don't think I'm asking for anything I am not entitled to. I am proud of the University, and I will be proud to be a student there.
Some of the students were very friendly toward me. Others were hostile. But I feel the majority is for me.
Although I think the Board of Trustees probably did what was best in excluding me from class yesterday. I don't think it would have been necessary had they taken the right action quickly.
I really don't know what they should have done. But I feel they could have done something to have prevented my having to discontinue classes.
I deeply regret the incidents of the last few days because I want only to have a chance to learn.
Editor's Note: In the following dispatch a 19-year-old pre-Law student at the University of Alabama tells the reasons why he thinks a Negro should not be admitted to the University.
Bv LEONARD WILSON
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.—(U.P.)—It would be the greatest thing Autherine Lucy ever did if she would withdraw voluntarily from the University of Alabama.
The demonstrations here show beyond a reason- able doubt that integration will not work.
For the safety of herself and of all the other students, she should not be admitted.
I think the violent demonstrations that occurred Monday are certain evidence of this. I believe they would crop up again should she be allowed to return to the campus.
I will also take issue with a report that the participants in the demonstrations have been outsiders. There were probably some taxpaying citizens in the crowds. But in the groups I saw assembled there were more university students than outsiders.
I don't think Autherine Lucy is responsible for what she is doing. Apparently she is being backed and pushed by the wretched National Association for the Agitation of Colored People.
The only solution to the problem will be for Autherine Lucy to withdraw voluntarily and put an end to all connected court litigation.
What Others Said
Sen. Harley M. Kilgore (D-W.Va.) in a letter to the Department of Justice demanding investigation of the desegregation riots at the University of Alabama:
"If our nation is to uphold the banner of democracy, it cannot under any circumstances permit such despicable incidents."
State Sen. Albert Davis of Pickens County in Alabama's "black belt" on the University of Alabama riots;
"Yesterday was a great day in Alabama. This is a time to get mad and raise hell."
Adlai Stevenson on the problem of racial integration:
"It is the spirit, not troops or bayonets, that will solve the problem of successful integration. We cannot upset habits overnight that are older than the republic."
Southern Schools Still Fight Integration. . .
Once again the universities of the south have shown that they will not accept desegregation, in spite of the Supreme Court decree.
The first instance came last December when Governor Marvin Griffin of Georgia and the Georgia Board of Regents sought to keep Georgia Tech from participating in the Sugar Bowl because its opponent, Pittsburgh, had a Negro player on its squad.
We were tempted to blame the actions of a few prejudiced adults, thinking the students would not advocate such measures, in spite of the actions of their elders.
Apparently the amount of feeling on the issue in the South has been greatly underestimated. The situation came to a head this week when Miss Autherine Lucy became the first Negro student at the University of Alabama.
The appearance of Miss Lucy touched off a series of demonstrations on the campus. Following three days of demonstrations, the trustees of the university voted to expell Miss Lucy.
In the three days of roiting, students and others threw rocks and eggs at Miss Lucy, and marched through the downtown streets of Tuscaloosa.
The university requested National Guard help to restore order after the rioters threw stones and eggs at Miss Lucy. Gov. James E. Folsom refused to send troops, saying "We are not excited."
However, Mr. O. C. Carmichael, president of the university had announced earlier that it would be necessary to close the school unless the rioting ceased. The announcement came before the decision of the board of trustees voted to expell Miss Lucy.
Gov. Folsom said, "It is normal for all races not to be overly fond of each other," including "black, white, yellow, and red races."
"We are not excited," said the governor. "We are not alarmists, but in any event we do stand ready at all times to meet with any situation properly." The governor made this statement, but gave no indication as to how he intended to cope with the situation.
However, the board of trustees kindly removed Gov. Folsom from his precarious position with its order to expell Miss Lucy. Another chapter in the war of integration appears to be at an end, with the South again the winner.
... But Students Don't Get All The Blame
Dick Walt
The University of Alabama has taken a desperation move in expelling Autherine Lucy, 26-year-old Negro student, after the rioting on that campus this week.
The indication has been that the rioting was not instigated by students but by people from the nearby area. The frightening and appalling fact is that Alabama University is not following a policy desired by students but the wishes of hoodlums who care little about the school.
The school board of trustees admitted the strength of these law breakers when they said that it was necessary to expell Miss Luey due to the
The decision was made quickly not by good judgment but as a last alternative. The 30 months of effort by the Negro attorney, Arthur Shores, and the drawn out court decisions have been dashed aside by the influence of the rioters.
The most alarming fact is that a few rioters can lead students who if they stopped and reasoned the situation would not take a course of action which opposes a legal decision.
The reason that the school couldn't control the situation was the arrogance of Governor James Folsom in refusing to send National Guard aid when the president of the school warned of the tense situation.
"occurrences on the campus and for the safety of other students and faculty members."
The big hope is that when the students have time to reason the situation they will not follow the leader but will use their intelligent reasoning and will accept Autherine Lucy to the opportunity of education.
At the University of Kansas we should be thankful that the people in this area are well ahead of the narrow thinking of a few in the South.
David Webb
W. A. White Lecture Friday A'Homecoming' For Roberts
Roy A. Roberts, 69-year-old president and general manager of The Kansas City Star, has had an active and influential newspaper career. When he speaks at the seventh annual William Allen WLD lecture Friday, he'll be returning to the birthplace of his newspaper work.
A KU alumnus, Mr. Roberts began as a reporter on the Lawrence World in 1905. He was the paper's city editor until he began reporting for The Star in 1909. On The Star he covered four sessions of the Missouri legislature, was a Washington correspondent from 1915 to 1928, then managing editor, and became president and general manager in 1947.
Considered a political and economic specialist, Mr. Roberts since
ROY A. ROBERTS
1912 has covered national political conventions. In 1948, after covering the Republican convention, he had to miss his first Democratic convention.
Burton W. Marvin, dean of the School of Journalism and director of the William Allen White Foundation, called Mr. Roberts a "powerful journalist in our area."
"I just couldn't stand it again so soon," he said.
Mr. Roberts has been president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Gridiron Club, and served for a number of years on the board of directors of the Associated Press. A past honorary president of Sigma Delta Chi, professional journalistic fraternity, he was the principal speaker for Sigma Delta Chi in 1949 presented its historic sites award to The Emporia Gazette in a ceremony at Emporia.
Mr. Roberts, who was a politician at conventions as well as a reporter, was a key figure in the build-up of Alfred M. Landon in 1936 and Dwight Eisenhower in 1952.
Book Review
"The committee felt Mr. Roberts was a natural for the William Allen White Foundation lecture because he was a close friend of William Allen White for many years and he certainly is a leader in American journalism." Dean Marvin said. "Also he has been a very loyal KU alumnus through the years and a close friend of the School of Journalism."
"Captain Dreyfus: The Story of a Mass Hysteria," Nicholas Halas z, New York, Simon & Schuster, 1955.
Dreyfus-A Man Convicted By Mass HysteriaOfANation
in this story of the famous Dreyfus case, Nicholas Halasz has woven an intriguing pattern of facts and statistics equal to the best of Earle Stanley Gardner or Arthur Conan Doyle.
Captain Alfred Dreyfus was a French Jew who in 1894 was convicted of espionage against his native land, and for the good part of the following 12 years spent his life in disrepute on Devil's Island.
We have seen demonstrations of it in recent years in the United States with the almost blind adulation of Gen. MacArthur and President Eisenhower.
What Mr. Halasz so ably demonstrates in his book is the "mass hysteria," as he calls it, which can sway a group or even a nation. This hysteria can be associated more often than not with the military and its bearing upon public affairs.
But what the book really points up is the injustice of so-called military justice. Here was a man railroaded to prison because a few military men had such power and a few soldiers had such badges, had such ignorance of the law
Sorry to say, much of the same type of justice is handed out in the armed forces of the United States under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Under the current setup, this "law" does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, but rather, the Military Court of Appalachia. It is unclear of the former it would undoubtedly be declared unconstitutional in part.
For instance, Article 15 of the UCMJ states that a commanding officer has jurisdiction over his troops in all instances not covered by the other articles. Seemingly, this would limit his power. But to the contrary, it broadens it. It gives him dictatorial power in any little matter which he believes is wrong. He sits as sole determining factor in the guilt or innocence of a man. There are no judicial proceedings.
This same power is what convicted Alfred Dreyfus and is what has convicted many men in our own armed forces. The law is good only
while it is used as a defense of society. When it becomes a weapon against society it not only is bad but may corrupt that entire society.
Leo Flanagan
Whether attempting to or not, this was the impression that this writer got of the Dreyfus case—a public ignorant of the power of the military, and a military corrupted because of the ability of a few men to attain dictatorial power.
The geographic center of the United States is in Smith County, Kansas, at latitude 39 degrees, 50 minutes and longitude 98 degrees, 35 minutes.
Probably the first musical society in America was the St. Cecelia, organized at Charleston, S.C., in 1762. It still exists as sponsor of the famed St. Cecelia Balls.
Daily Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper.
Founded 1889, became biweekly twice.
It publishes in the Kansas City area.
Telephone Vlking 3-2700 Extension 251, news room Extension 376, business office
Member Inland Daily Press Association,
Associated Collegiate Press. Represented
Madison International Advertising Service, 429
Madison Avenue. Mail subscription
service: United Press. Mail subscription
rates: $2 a semester or $4.50 a year. Pub-
door onno during the University year except
Saturdays and Sundays, University holi-
days, and examination periods. Entered
second-class matter Sept. 17, 1910, at
Lawrence Hall, post office under act of
March 3, 1879.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Marion McCoy ... Manging Editor
Larry Hell, John McMillon, Harry Elliott, Jane Pecinovsky, Assistant Managers; Barbara Bell, City Editor; Joan Gomez, Editor; David Webb, Telegraph Editor; Daryl Hall, Assistant Telegraph Editor; Ann Kelly, Society Editor; Felice Fenberg, Assistant Society Editor; Kent Thorne, Editor; Bob Lyle, Assistant Sports Editor; John Stephens, Picture Editor.
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
lim Wiens Business Manager
David Cleveland, Advertising Manager;
Dick Hunter, National Advertising
Manager; Bill Griffith, Circulation
Manager; Walt Baskett, Classifier,
advertising Manager; Clifford Meyer, Pro-
motion Manager.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Sam Jenkinson, Editor
Dick Walt, Associate Editor