Support for NC A&T

Julius Chambers was one of the three African-Americans on the Board of Governors to vote against the location of the Vet School at North Carolina State University (NCSU). Chambers stated in an article published in the News and Observer that the compromise of giving North Carolina Agriculture and Technical (NC A&T) a related activity sort of passes a crumb . . . if NC A&T cannot get the veterinary program, it ought to get a comparable program to the veterinary program, and not some minor supportive program.

In the same article Eva Clayton, vice chairman of the North Carolina Alumni and Friends Coalition (NCAFC), stated that the reason the Vet School was located at NCSU was solely based on the fact that NC A&T is a traditionally black institution. She went on to say that the Vet School should be built at NC A&T in order to enhance the resources at the historically black college.

Peter Holmes, director of the Office of Civil Rights, in a later interview said he felt that the placement of the Vet school on a historically black campus would demonstrate a good faith effort on the part of North Carolina. While he did not feel that North Carolina was more resistant to desegregation than any other state, he felt that by placing the Vet School at an historically white institution was enough basis for him to find the UNC system in noncompliance.

Visit other Exhibits in Crossing the Color Line.