Tackling Desegregation

On June 11,1973, a desegregation plan for the entire University System was submitted to HEW. Less than a month later, a separate plan was filed specifically for Fort Valley State College. Though not without merit, both plans failed to satisfy the authorities.

In November 1973, HEW officials announced that the board's statewide plan showed "significant progress" but added that more "detailed information concerning the basis for projections" was needed. In other words, the department believed the plan demonstrated marked improvement, but it wanted more goals, more details, submitted by June 1, 1974.

Likewise, the Fort Valley desegregation plan encountered opposition. On March 13, 1974, Judge Owens remanded it back to the regents and ordered them to "consider" further action - such as the involuntary transfer of faculty members within the institutions. Shortly after his decision, the board formed a special committee of five regents, members of the staff and representatives from the state attorney generals' office to study the plan and prepare a response. At its meeting the following month, the regents voted to keep the original Fort Valley plan, saying it sufficiently met the needs of that institution.

Still active, however, was the issue of Systemwide desegregation. On May 20, 1974, the board adopted a revised plan that answered all of HEW's 43 suggested actions, and the department accepted the plan two months later. Among the items included were a "clearinghouse" for new System employees, a panel for investigating incidents of possible discrimination and a statewide task force to establish specific goals and statements for every institution in the System.

But while HEW found the plan acceptable, the courts did not. Nearly three years later, a U.S. District Court in Washington said the plan was "not adequate to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964," and thus the Department of Health, Education and Welfare once again requested a revision. To clarify its position, the court that day also said HEW had to issue "criteria specifying ingredients of an acceptable higher education plan." Georgia was not alone; five other southern states were directed to re-submit plans within 60 days.

Neither the court order nor the new HEW directive specified deficiencies in the 1974 Georgia plan, but nevertheless the regents were obliged to conduct special meetings to address the matter. Working against the clock, they eventually resolved potential conflicts and problems, and on August 26, 1977, the board approved a special regents committee's recommendation that the new plan was sound. It went into effect the following year and proposed a seven-year program for desegregation - only to have it come into question again five years later.

The year 1979 brought a somewhat unexpected transition to the University System. Early in the year, many regents indicated a desire to reorganize the central office staff of the University System. In essence, Chancellor Simpson opposed the idea. Because of a basic difference in philosophies with the chancellor, the board on June 4, 1979, voted to remove the chancellor from his post. The vote was 11-4 in favor of dismissal.