Racial Inclusion in Church-Related Colleges in the South

Abstract

Racial integration in higher education has become a topic of great interest in recent years. Probably this interest has been increased by the court decisions which have directed white state universities in Southern states to admit Negro students to graduate schools. As a result of these court decisions, it has been estimated that between 1,000 and 2,000 Negro students are attending college and university classes with white students in the seventeen Southern and border states. This movement is symbolical of some actual as well as many potential changes in the pattern of higher education in the South. It has raised many questions about the future of higher education in this region, not a few of which still require careful and systematic consideration. These changes will affect church-related colleges as well as state and private institutions. This, coupled with the other activities of the churches for the improvement of race relations, has caused discussion in a number of church conferences and conventions of the issue of racial inclusion as it concerns the church-related For instance, a study was made of racial policies in Methodist church-related educational institutions by the Youth Commission of the Methodist Conference on Christian Education and presented to the Youth Commission meeting at Grand Rapids, Michigan in November, 1 949.1 Another instance of this concern is found in a meeting held in November, 1951 at Birmingham, Alabama in which Leaders from 15 Episcopal dioceses in the Southeast, . . . voted 66-25 to recommend that students of all races be admitted to Episcopal seminaries. 2 Still a third instance is found in Christian Education, a magazine devoted to Christian higher education which says in a discussion on the topic, Christian College and Minority Groups: If a Christian college lives up to its ideal of being Christian, it should exclude no student because of race, color or nationality. At another point in the same discussion it is stated that The Christian ideal calls for the admission of qualified Negro students to the Christian colleges. 8 This interest on the part of church people and organizations in achieving racial integration in church-related colleges indicates the need for information about the several aspects of this issue which will serve as a basis for constructive action. This study aims to discover whether or not persons of racial groups other than the one which the college normally serves are admitted as students.