George C. Wallace and the Founding of Alabama's Public Two-Year Colleges

Abstract

Introduction In State of Alabama, George Corley Wallace is widely recognized by both friends and foes as father of state's publicly controlled two-year colleges. By January of 1987, as his final term as closed, these forty-one separately administered institutions, governed by a single board, served over sixty-two thousand students [29]. Wallace's prominent role is reflected in very naming of institutions -- two are named for him, one for his late wife Lurleen, and one for his late father, who served in Alabama House of Representatives in 1920s. In personal visits to all forty-one institutions, I noted at least thirty George C. Wallace buildings and ten B. Wallace buildings or halls. In Fountain and Tollefson's compilation of histories of forty-nine state community college systems published in 1989 by American Association of Community and Junior Colleges, official history of Alabama's publicly controlled two-year colleges, authored by then-chancellor of Alabama two-year colleges, Charles L. Payne, cited George Wallace as the of Alabama's Two-Year Colleges [27]. The literature of George C. Wallace's four presidential campaigns and his influence on national political scene is considerable and largely critical and negative in tone [28, 33]. Mostly ignored, however, has been his performance as governor of Alabama, and in particular, his record in area of education. Elected four times to serve four-year terms in 1962, 1970, 1974, and again in 1982, Wallace in 1966 audaciously ran his wife as his stand-in, following his unsuccessful effort to convince Alabama State Senate in previous year to approve Wallace-sponsored constitutional amendment to allow gubernatorial succession. Governor Lurleen captured 54 percent of vote, easily defeating a field of ten prominent politicians, while none of seventeen Alabama state senators who opposed changing state constitution to allow succession were re-elected [29]. George C. Wallace thus held reins of power in Alabama during eighteen of twenty-four years between 1963 and 1987. This represents one of longest tenures in office of any state chief executive this century. Wallace's education program had as its cornerstone his junior college and trade school program; within state it is widely recognized as his most important contribution to education during his tenure. In what ways did founding of public two-year colleges in Alabama reflect George Wallace's pragmatic, populist politics and his desire to continue governing Alabama? The answer, described in detail below, is a great deal. The title Father of Alabama's Two-Year Colleges was certainly well deserved. This article tells story of creation of these institutions during first term of four Wallace administrations, with special focus on ten tumultuous months of Wallace's initial administration in 1963, which in addition to his well-known stand in door at University of Alabama, saw him inherit a fiscal mess, pass a major highway program, pass major new taxes for education, and pass legislation that allowed creation of a network of two-year colleges by breaking a 107-hour filibuster in Alabama State Senate [16]. As Wallace fought and eventually broke opposition to what had been longest filibuster in state history, he sowed seeds that would allow him to expand two- year college program far beyond what legislature had originally contemplated. The program state legislators thought they were approving ostensibly created five new junior colleges and five new trade schools. By end of 1964, however, program had expanded to eleven junior colleges and twenty-four trade schools (which were elevated to technical college status in 1980s), and by 1987, there were forty-one publicly controlled two-year colleges under direct governance of Alabama State Board of Education (ASBE) [29]. …