Blacks seek segregation

Press, 30 August 1984, Page 29

Blacks seek segregation

NZPA-AP Nashville Like civil rights protesters of another era, almost 600 black students of Tennessee State University marched on the Federal courthouse — but this time their banners favoured segregation. Two decades ago, the students’ parents were marching on behalf of racial integration — of schools, lunch counters, and other public places. But today’s chanting, clapping and singing students, only two of them white, had a different theme. The group was protesting against a proposed settlement of a 16-year-old desegregation lawsuit. “Segregation ... and Justice for All,” said one placard carried by the demonstrators.

The peaceful gathering was staged by students and some black faculty members who were upset by the. proposal for the state to recruit as many whites as blacks to the campus by 1993. The demonstrators had marched 7km from the campus to the courthouse, where they mistakenly believed that a hearing was scheduled.

Whites make up only 10 per cent of the student body at the school, built for blacks when education was segregated under laws outlawed by the United States Supreme Court in the 19505. Emotional and sentimental over what they regard as their school, opponents of the agreement calling for a one-to-one whiteblack ratio said they feared it would prevent young blacks from attending a school where they were welcomed and received special tutoring if necessary. “What is to stop them

from making it nine out of 10 whites the next time? “ one of the marchers said.

The suit was brought in 1968 by white Tennessee state faculty members and students who complained that previous efforts to desegregate had been inadequate. Judge Thomas Wiseman of the United States District Court, has ordered all parties, including the state, alumni and the Department of Justice, to try to negotiate an agreement that will speed up integration and settle the lawsuit. The Justice Department is the only holdout.

At recent hearings Judge Wiseman has said repeatedly that desegregation has been slowed by those in the administration . . . who want the school to remain segregated. However, the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, William Bradford Reynolds, said, “It is not clear to me that that 90 per cent black enrolment is discriminatory.” Mr Reynolds has objected to a proposal that the state recruit 75 blacks a year for enrolment in professional schools. He argued that this would single out students on a racial basis without evidence that they were victims of discrimination.

Although the lawsuit was aimed at desegregating all universities and colleges in the state, it has become focused on Tennessee State University. Lawyers said they hoped to reach agreement soon with the Justice Department on the out-of-court settlement, but state officials said they were not optimistic about the prospects for an end to the deadlock.