Senator MONDALE. Right.

Now, once again, I think it would be helpful there-I think the courts are supposed to be-I think the courts are responsive to congressional declarations, and it would strengthen and make more certain the law in this field, would it not?

Dr. CODY. I think so.

CHARLOTTE-MECHLENBURG CASE AND RACIAL BALANCE

Senator MONDALE, How seriously do you view the decision in the Charlotte case, the circuit court decision?

Dr. CODY. I think education in the terms of the goals I have been talking about does not meet the standards.

I do not know, though, what the other problems or burdens on that school district are by one of the previous decisions, which tried to achieve racial balance in all schools.

I think racial balance in all schools should be the goal, but I am not familiar enough with the international problems of that school system to know.

Senator MONDALE. Very well.

Thank you for an excellent statement. We stand in recess until tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock.

(Subsequent to today's hearing, the following material was received by the committee:)

Senator WALTER F. MONDALE,

Senate Office Building,

Washington, D.C.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., July 20, 1970.

DEAR SENATOR MONDALE: Please allow me to introduce myself. I am a university professor and president of an organization called Citizens for Better Schools. This group was formed because so many of us were concerned about the condition prevailing in the Chapel Hill public school system.

Imagine our surprise, then, when we read in the newspaper that the Superintendent of the system, Mr. Wilmer S. Cody, had testified before your committee that "his system has proven racially balanced schools can be achieved and made acceptable to the community." Before your committee begins to develop policy on the basis of Mr. Cody's testimony, you should investigate the Chapel Hill school system further. Mr. Cody's system has proved nothing except that the system goes to pieces when there is an absence of effective leadership.

Mr. Cody came into a community in which opinion overwhelmingly supported integration of the schools. As a result of his policies we now have greater animosity between the races than existed upon his arrival. Conditions at the high school are so bad that the committee from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools which visited the school in the spring of 1970 "voted unanimously to recommend to the Central Reviewing Committee of the Association at its annual meeting to be held in Atlanta November 29 through December 3, 1970, that Chapel Hill Senior High School be dropped from membership in the Association and be dropped from the Association's list of accredited schools until such time as Chapel Hill Senior High School can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the North Carolina Committee that it has established and is enforcing certain rules and regulations regarding certain teacher and student behavior and has altered certain governing and administrative procedures in the school's operation." I enclose a copy of that report sent to Mr. Cody by the chairman of the investigating committee.

Further, Mr. Cody said, "There has been no 'white flight' to other towns or shifts in racial composition of neighborhood." That statement is one of half fact. A large exodus of students from the schools is occurring. Some families are moving out of town, others are sending their children off to private and other public schools, and a number of students are simply accelerating their

46-125-70-pt. 3B-12

programs to finish high school in two years so they will not have to remain in the high school a third year. The situation is so bad that in a recent meeting with a group of teachers from the Chapel Hill system, a Negro teacher asked me the question: "Are you going to be able to do anything to stop the white parents from taking their children out of the Chapel Hill schools?"

Integration of public schools can be made to work, but not the way Mr. Cody has implemented it in Chapel Hill. As the president of Citizens for Better Schools in Chapel Hill, let me urge that your committee investigate the facts of the Chapel Hill school system. Do not develop policy on the basis of the testimony of Mr. Cody.

Sincerely yours,

BERT E. BRADLEY.

At its annual spring meeting held in Raleigh, May 21 and 22, 1970, the North Carolina Committee of the Secondary Commission of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools voted unanimously to recommend to the Central Reviewing Committee of the Association at its annual meeting to be held in Atlanta November 29 through December 3, 1970, that Chapel Hill Senior High School be dropped from membership in the Association and be dropped from the Association's list of accredited schools until such time as Chapel Hill Senior High School can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the North Carolina Committee that it has established and is enforcing certain rules and regulations regarding certain teacher and student behavior and has altered certain governing and administrative procedures in the school's operation.

This letter will not attempt to set forth in detail the observations made by the Committee during its visit to the school May 4 through May 6, 1970, of the school's excellences, and there are these; nor of its deficiencies, and there are these; but will rather reserve these observations and specific recommendations for presentation in the full report which will be submitted later.

Suffice it now to say that the Committee is of the opinion that Chapel Hill Senior High School, which has long been noted as a college preparatory school that academically qualifies the majority of its graduates for admission to institutions of higher learning, has ceased to insist that its students adhere to codes of conduct and behavior that are generally considered socially acceptable. The Committee is convinced that there exists in the school an absence of firm leadership, properly supported by the governing body, that has led to an organization that is in certain areas without order and without discipline, to certain deplorable student behavior, and to certain teacher disunity; and that bad conditions have grown worse as they have been contributed to by well-meaning but unwarranted outside interference.

The Committee realizes that the picture it saw of Chapel Hill Senior High School is gaudily colored by the behavior of a minority of students and teachers, and it also realizes that the majority of students and teachers are a credit to themselves, to their school, and to their community; and the Committee considers it untenable that this good majority is forced to pursue the processes of learning and teaching in an atmosphere that is blighted by the activities of those others who are not conforming to an acceptable code of behavior, and, who, unless their conduct can be altered, should be dismissed from school to prevent them as disrupters from causing further deterioration of this potentially fine institution.

Standards of the Commission on Secondary Schools state: "Assessment of the level of quality and excellence of any organization, process, or service is the central purpose of evaluation. In the case of school evaluation and accreditation. sound determination of quality or excellence can be achieved only in terms of criteria that indicate whether or not the school's operations and accomplishments are in conformity with acceptable purposes."

In the opinion of the Committee, present operations of Chapel Hill Senior High School do not conform with acceptable purposes, and because “school evaluation and accreditation . . . are assumed in the Southern Association to be significant measures by means of which stimulation of improvement in its member institutions may be fostered," the North Carolina Committee offers for consideration. and for implementation if Chapel Hill Senior High School is to remain accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the following proposals: 1. That the Principal of Chapel Hill Senior High School determine and enforce rules and regulations of acceptable conduct for teachers and students, and that he establish regulations concerning what visitors on what business will be al

lowed on the campus during the school day and that all visitors enter the school grounds only with his knowledge and permission.

2. That the Principal and his administration maintain adequate and functional student records that are immediately accessible and that show where every student is during every hour of the school day and draw up and enforce rules and regulations that require students to be during those hours wherever they are supposed to be-in class, in study hall, in the library, in the cafeteria, in the gymnasium, on the playing fields, and not loitering at will in the courtyards, in the hallways, in the parking lots, or off campus, and in the last two connections that the principal declare that all student automobiles parked in student parking lots will be used only as transportation to and from the school at beginning and close of day and will not be entered or used for any purpose whatsoever during the interim.

3. That the Central Office provide adequate custodial services to keep the school plant and school grounds safe, sanitary, neat, clean, and attractive with all personnel cooperating in the endeavor.

The Committee agrees that the new principal of Chapel Hill Senior High School is faced with a formidable task and believes that if he is to accomplish it, he must have the full support of the School Board, the Central Office, the faculty, the student body, the parents, and, by no means last, the University community. The Committee is also of the opinion that the new Principal must determine in advance what his policies and procedures will be and will implement and enforce than to the letter immediately upon assuming the duties of his office, for if he hesitates in this unstable situation, he may be lost. Approved: (Signed)

WILLIAM J. CHANDLER, Chairman.

(Whereupon, at 12:25 p.m. the Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity adjourned, to reconvene at 10 a.m., Wednesday, June 24, 1970.)

EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 1970

U.S. SENATE,

SELECT COMMITTEE ON

EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY,

Washington, D.C.

The committee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to notice, in room 1318, New Senate Office Building, Senator Walter F. Mondale (chairman of the committee) presiding.

Present: Senators Mondale, Randolph, and Javits.

Staff members present: William C. Smith, staff director and general counsel; and Leonard P. Strickman, minority counsel.

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. WALTER F. MONDALE, CHAIRMAN OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

Senator MONDALE. The committee will come to order. This morning the committee hears from a panel of private attorneys involved in the enforcement of the Constitution in the field with which this committee is concerned.

We are extremely fortunate to be receiving the testimony of Mr. Henry Marsh, Legal Defense Fund of Richmond, Va.; Mr. George Strickler of the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee of New Orleans, La.; Mr. Julius Chambers of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Charlotte, N.C.; and Mr. Melvyn Leventhal, NAACP Legal Defense Fund of Jackson, Miss.

Our first witness will be Mr. Henry Marsh. Mr. Marsh, we are delighted to have you with us and you may proceed as you wish. STATEMENT OF HENRY MARSH, ESQ., NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND, RICHMOND, VA.

Mr. MARSH. Senator Mondale and other persons present, the message that I have for you today is relatively brief. I will not read my written statement but will attempt to supplement it.

Senator MONDALE. We will include your full statement as though read for the record. I would appreciate it if you would touch on the key points for our purposes.