The Technician (Raleigh, NC), February 23, 1951
Title
The Technician (Raleigh, NC), February 23, 1951
Description
First published in 1920, The Technician is North Carolina State University's oldest student newspaper. This issue from 1951 includes an article on page four entitled, "Not Ready?" about potential integration at the college. White students asked for their opinion on the "possibility of Negro students to State College" resoundedly rejected the idea. The article's author, however, thinks that gradual integration could occur without "a slow erosion of all our Southern Traditions." In 1951, the Consolidated University of North Carolina ruled that African American students could be admitted to graduate programs at the state's public colleges and universities.
Creator
Bill Haas, Editor
Source
Bill Haas, ed., The Technician (Raleigh, NC), vol. 31, no. 18, February 23, 1951.
Date
1951-02-23
Contributor
Rose Buchanan
Subject
Integration
Format
PDF
Language
English
Type
document
Text
NOT READY?
As a test of democratic thinking in State College, THE TECHNICIAN posed a very controversial question in this week’s Inquiring Reporter.
Several students were asked their opinion of the possibility of admission of Negro students to State College. To a man, the students raised a vociferous NO!
Most of them were true to the Old Southern Tradition, “Would You Let Your Daughter Marry A Negro?†Some said that they wouldn’t room with a negro; some said that the fine parents of the South would take their children
out of State and send them elsewhere.
We got what we asked for, but we are surprised that at least one man didn’t favor true democratic education rather than the old sticky “ give ’em equal facilities of their own.â€
Greater University officials and our own Governor are nonplussed over the question. There are accusations of delay and strong disapproval of the plan of admitting negro students to branches of The Greater University.
Our beloved South is progressing; industrially and spiritually. We feel that we are handling “OUR†problem of the negro adequately.
But even the fiercest antagonist of the negro situation must admit that the negro student has a very good argument.
We don’t feel that wholesale admittance of the negro to North Carolina colleges is wise. But we do feel that a selected few could be admitted in the Graduate level as a first step.
After these few made contact; and with the position they would be placed in, they would almost surely make an excellent record scholastically, then more negro students should be admitted at lower levels.
It would not be a slow erosion of all our Southern Traditions. The plan would serve to show that the Negro IS human and does deserve the best in education, and is ready for it on the highest levels.
The plan would help North Carolina to maintain its title as the most progressive state in the South and would help up to move into the title of most progressive state in the union.
Other colleges have tried the plan; and, in all but a very few instances, it is working.
“Equal Facilities†is not the answer to the question. It has gone beyond that point. The plan could work at State College and at The University at Chapel Hill.
We feel that State College, despite the hurried answer of the students who write for this week’s Inquiring Reporter, is ready to accept Negro students at the graduate level.
As a test of democratic thinking in State College, THE TECHNICIAN posed a very controversial question in this week’s Inquiring Reporter.
Several students were asked their opinion of the possibility of admission of Negro students to State College. To a man, the students raised a vociferous NO!
Most of them were true to the Old Southern Tradition, “Would You Let Your Daughter Marry A Negro?†Some said that they wouldn’t room with a negro; some said that the fine parents of the South would take their children
out of State and send them elsewhere.
We got what we asked for, but we are surprised that at least one man didn’t favor true democratic education rather than the old sticky “ give ’em equal facilities of their own.â€
Greater University officials and our own Governor are nonplussed over the question. There are accusations of delay and strong disapproval of the plan of admitting negro students to branches of The Greater University.
Our beloved South is progressing; industrially and spiritually. We feel that we are handling “OUR†problem of the negro adequately.
But even the fiercest antagonist of the negro situation must admit that the negro student has a very good argument.
We don’t feel that wholesale admittance of the negro to North Carolina colleges is wise. But we do feel that a selected few could be admitted in the Graduate level as a first step.
After these few made contact; and with the position they would be placed in, they would almost surely make an excellent record scholastically, then more negro students should be admitted at lower levels.
It would not be a slow erosion of all our Southern Traditions. The plan would serve to show that the Negro IS human and does deserve the best in education, and is ready for it on the highest levels.
The plan would help North Carolina to maintain its title as the most progressive state in the South and would help up to move into the title of most progressive state in the union.
Other colleges have tried the plan; and, in all but a very few instances, it is working.
“Equal Facilities†is not the answer to the question. It has gone beyond that point. The plan could work at State College and at The University at Chapel Hill.
We feel that State College, despite the hurried answer of the students who write for this week’s Inquiring Reporter, is ready to accept Negro students at the graduate level.
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Citation
Bill Haas, Editor, “The Technician (Raleigh, NC), February 23, 1951,” The State of History, accessed April 27, 2024, https://soh.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/items/show/545.