right to make an investigation on your own as to whether the institution was actually separate and equal or would it feel that you have to leave it to the State agency? Mr. MCMURRIN. I frankly do not know, Mr. Roosevelt. We will inquire with the counsel as to whether or not in his opinion we have that right. I might just add, Mr. Roosevelt, that as you well know I am sure for us to go into an institution and examine its curriculum will open up, I think, a genuine Pandora's Box of problems on Federal control and Federal involvement in the internal affairs of an institution. It is conceivable in this kind of case. But I think there is no question that if we were to follow this action we would create a host of new problems in the matter of the relationship of the Federal Government to educational institutions. Mr. ROOSEVELT. However it would not necessarily have to be on the basis of curriculum. It could be on the basis of facility. Mr. MCMURRIN. It might be on several bases; yes. Mr. ROOSEVELT. It would not be too difficult to establish, would it? Mr. MCMURRIN. We will seek the advice of the general counsel. Mrs. GREEN. Will the gentleman yield? Mr. ROOSEVELT. Yes. Mrs. GREEN. Could you not study the curriculums from the catalogs? Mr. MCMURRIN. This can be done and a good deal can be ascertained from curriculum and from descriptions of faculty which normally appear in the catalogs. That is quite right, Mrs. Green. Mr. ROOSEVELT. Mr. Commissioner, on the same line, do you think it appropriate that if you find or feel you cannot do it directly that you will ask the State agency to specifically certify that they are equal, as well as separate? Mr. MCMURRIN. Well, as a matter of fact, the agency in effect does this. You are saying what-to make it specific? Mr. ROOSEVELT. Yes. Mr. MCMURRIN. I presume, sir, that we could put this in the regulations administering the act. Mr. ROOSEVELT. I am asking whether you will do so. Mr. MCMURRIN. We will undertake to do so, unless we run into some legal difficulties on it. But we certainly will undertake to work this problem out with our legal counsel. Mr. ROOSEVELT. And if you run into those legal difficulties will you let the committee know what they are? Mr. MCMURRIN. We will advise you; yes. Mr. ROOSEVELT. Mr. Chairman, not as a question to the witness, but may I make the request that in line with what my colleague, Mr. Zelenko, was talking about with respect to giving funds to school districts where the funds are going to be used, or have been used, for the building of new segregated schools, that we invite the Attorney General to come before the committee and express the opinion of the Department of Justice as to whether or not this is a violation of the law and the committee may then be able to pass on that information to the Commissioner and the Department? Mr. DANIELS. Your recommendation will be taken under consideration. Mr. ROOSEVELT. Thank you. Mr. DANIELS. May we have the certification that Mr. Roosevelt previously requested for our records? Mr. MCMURRIN. We will be very happy to submit it to you, Chairman. Mr. Mr. DANIELS. It is important for this committee to inspect them in connection with this study. Mr. MCMURRIN. As a matter of fact, we will make a search through the entire Office program and if you would like, bring to your attention as many things as we feel that you may have some interest in in connection with this program and this problem. That is, in the line of applications for Federal money. Mrs. GREEN. This strays a bit from the subject under discussion, but while the Commissioner is here, I should like to refer to the study my subcommittee is undertaking of the role of the Federal Government in various educational programs. Mr. MCMURRIN. Yes. Mrs. GREEN. I am told that the Department of Agriculture has a graduate university program here, in Washington with nearly 10,000 students enrolled, offering courses in history, languages, and everything else. Why is that not under the Office of Education instead of the Department of Agriculture? Mr. MCMURRIN. Frankly I have no answer to this, Mrs. Green. I do not know under what circumstances it was established or what the discussions which may have taken place between the Secretaries of the two Departments were on this matter. I am just not acquainted with the issue. This is an old establishment and I do not know what the history of it was. Mrs. GREEN. Regardless of whether it was old or new, it seems strange to me that the Agricultural Department has a graduate program, and the Office of Education does not. Mr. MCMURRIN. It does seem very strange. Mrs. GREEN. May I express to you, Commissioner, my thanks for coming before the subcommittee and I am especially appreciative of the very forthright way in which you have answered the questions. I recognize your views are, by and large, the views of those of us who are concerned about this matter of segregation; and, as one of the members of the subcommittee, may I say that it is always a pleasure to receive the honest and frank answers you have given us. Mr. MCMURRIN. Thank you. May I say, Mrs. Green and Mr. Chairman, it is a great pleasure for us to appear before the committee and we deeply appreciate the opportunity. Mr. DANIELS. Mr. McMurrin, I planned to ask you a few more questions, but time is running out and we did request two other witnesses to appear here today. They come from great distances and I would like to extend the courtesy of hearing them today. So on behalf of the committee I would like to thank you and your associates for your forthright and frank statement here this morning. Just one other point. In the event the committee feels a need for additional testimony, I hope you will make yourself available. Mr. MCMURRIN. I will be very happy to be here again, sir. Mr. DANIELS. Our next witness is Mr. G. Watson Algire, director of admissions and registration of the University of Maryland. Mr. Algire, will you come forward, please, sir? STATEMENT OF G. WATSON ALGIRE, DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS AND REGISTRATION, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND Mr. DANIELS. Mr. Algire, the House will convene at 12 o'clock. May I make the suggestion that you file your statement and summarize your views, or you may go ahead and submit the views you have incorporated in your statement. You may proceed in any manner you desire. Mr. ALGIRE. Mr. Chairman, I had intended to read this statement as the admissions officer in charge of admissions and registration of the College Park undergraduate department, professional schools of the university, and the university college extension services. I would prefer to, if you think that time does not permit, to present this. I think all have had an opportunity to read it and if you care to ask me any questions I will be glad, if I can, to answer them. Mr. DANIELS. All right, Mr. Algire. Your statement will be incorporated in the record at this point and it will appear as though you had testified to its contents. (The statement referred to above follows:) STATEMENT OF G. WATSON ALGIRE, DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS AND REGISTRATION, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I am appearing before you as an alternate for Dr. Wilson H. Elkins, president of the University of Maryland, who has asked me to express his regrets at being unable to appear because of a previous committment. As for my part, it is a pleasure to appear before you and to comment on topics referred to the university by your committee through your Education Chief, Dr. Deborah P. Wolfe. I believe you already know that integration began in the Law School of the University of Maryland in the midthirties and progressed in the graduate school and in some undergraduate curriculums of the university. In 1954 the board of regents declared all colleges and divisions of the university open to the admission of Negro applicants who could meet our established admission requirements. The topics that we have been asked to comment on are (1) the proportion of Negro students in the various branches of the university; (2) our admissions policies and the effect if any of integration on these policies; (3) and discernible changes in achievement levels of students as a result of integration; (4) Negro participation in the several federally assisted programs; (5) the use of research grants to assist the institution; and (6) steps that are being taken to reach all groups of teachers. It is virtually impossible for us to give the committee the exact number of Negro students enrolled in our undergraduate, professional, and graduate programs since the university has not felt it desirable to gather or to prepare enrollment statistics on the basis of racial origin. Based entirely upon observations shared with faculty and administration, I would say that we have a higher percentage of Negro students in attendance in our late afternoon and evening courses and in our summer school classes than we do in the full-time fall and winter sessions. This is probably due to the fact that the majority of the students in these programs are teachers from the public schools of Maryland and the District of Columbia. I do not want to leave the impression that Negro students have been accepted on a token or nominal basis either as part-time students or as full-time students, either as undergraduate students or as graduate students. Full-time undergraduates certainly number more than 100 and possibly 200. In a 1-year period, it is our consensus that more than 1,000 Negro students are enrolled in our programs. At the undergraduate level our admissions policies require (1) that the applicant be a graduate of an accredited or State-approved secondary school; (2) that the secondary school work be accomplished at least at an average grade level as indicated on the high school record; and (3) that the applicant has included in his secondary school program those specific subjects that are required by the curriculum for which he is applying and which are set forth in the university publications. In selecting students, preference is given to residents of the State of Maryland since we are the State University. At the graduate and professional level admission is based upon the qualitative and quantitative nature of the applicant's undergraduate record and on the availability of space in the professional school or department concerned. The admissions policies of the university have not been affected by the occurence of integration nor has the fact of integration influenced the formulation of admissions policies. The University of Maryland, like most institutions of higher education, is continually studying the quality of its academic operation. Adjustments in admissions and retention policies may result from such studies. These studies are always related to the student's performance while attending the university and do not reflect-nor are they intended to reflect-either praise or criticism of the secondary or preparatory school from which the student came. The factors which initiate such studies may be varied but at no time have individual personal characteristics of the student been the motivating force. Because of these facts, we are unable to give any definitive answer regarding studies relating achievement in college to secondary school preparation to personal characteristics of the student. Our standards of academic achievement in college will continue to be established discipline by discipline in accordance with what our faculty members construe as a sound level of college performance. The University of Maryland has received Federal support for several programs intended to increase the teacher supply and to aid inservice teachers. Academic qualifications alone have controlled admissions. Acceptance to an institute or program has been determined by the conditions set forth in the institute plan. As examples of supported programs, the National Science Foundation has provided subventions for a series of summer institutes for teachers with instruction being offered in botany, chemistry, entomology, microbiology, and physics. The best estimate of the program director is that, during the past four summers, the percentage of Negro students varied from 10 to 20 percent depending upon the summer under consideration. The total number of students in the program has been between 75 and 80 per summer. For 3 years the National Science Foundation has granted assistance for teachers of physics at the secondary school level. Initially the program provided for 40 students; the number has now reached 55. In the first year approximately 15 percent of the students were Negro and in the current year the estimate is 40 percent. Both percentages are judgmental estimates. The National Defense Education Act has provided for one summer language institute. Of the known total of 39 students, our estimate is that 13 were Negro. The same act has supported three summer guidance institutes. Of 30 students enrolled each summer Negro students have numbered 2, 2, and 6 respectively as a retrospective estimate. The presence of Federal assistance has not altered admissions policies. Specific grants do impose special conditions as has been stated. For example, a foreign language institute has unique requirements for acceptance measured in terms of previous foreign language instruction, as a case in point. It should be emphasized that the same policies of selection prevail at the university regardless of the source of financial support. The University of Maryland is deeply committed to teacher education and to teacher improvement programs. The on-campus teacher education program is the largest in the State and the most comprehensive. By granting more than 100 Ph. D's per year we increase the higher education teacher potential also. We offer courses throughout the State to aid schoolteachers during the school year. The summer session includes a multitude of special institutes and workshops as well as courses for the purpose of upgrading teachers in service. The widespread availability of these offerings is the most effective means of teacher improvement since the approach eliminates many of the roadblocks of costs, travel problems, and family responsibilities. In addition, the university has placed great emphasis upon developing and refining materials of instruction and behavioral science data. With independent resources we have pursued a highly important project in secondary school mathematics and we have developed a corps of teachers capable of handling the new mathematics. Through our child study institute we have made avail able to all teachers of the State, and to other States as well, the basic science data relating to human behavior and learning. Efforts of this sort, along with those supported by Federal grants, have been directed toward all teachers and toward school personnel generally. Research grants have helped immeasurably in supporting activities which complement our on-going programs of instruction and research. In many instances the grants have made it possible to enter into areas of essential research for which institutional funds were not available. All or nearly all of this effort has been in the national interest primarily, rather than in the interest of conditions peculiar to the State of Maryland. Basically, the Federal grants support the work of well-established and highly productive professors. These professors, with support available to them in a university, not only push forward the frontiers of knowledge but they also bring along another generation of productive researchers and scholars. Mr. DANIELS. I have prepared several questions here which I would like to present to you. In 1936 Donald Murray enrolled at the University of Maryland Law School under court order. In Person v. Murray the Maryland Court of Appeals held that the State must support equal educational opportunities in its own institutions. This was the beginning of desegregation in higher education. How much progress toward desegregation has been made in the University of Maryland since then? Mr. ALGIRE. Following that order, and I am not familiar now with the actual dates, various curriculums, the graduate school, and certain undergraduate curriculums were opened. This was years prior to the Supreme Court decision and involved curriculums such as engineering which was not offered by any of the other State-supported schools. We admitted Negro students in curriculums of this type prior to 1954. In 1954 and since that time all branches, all curriculums of the University, have been opened to the admission of Negroes. I have indicated here in the testimony that even though we were asked to give proportions of Negro students, we do not keep any records by racial origin of any of our students. Mr. DANIELS. Are Negro students actually participating in all branches of the curriculum today? Mr. ALGIRE. Yes. I have given some estimates here that might be of interest. Let me say that after receiving your clerk's letter, in which she indicated certain questions that she would like to have us respond to, the numbers that appear here are estimates only and are based on the best estimates that I could get from people who were directly in charge of programs in the university which we knew had Federal support. I would say, as I said in my presentation that in the course of 12 months more than 1,000 Negro students are enrolled with the university. How many more I just do not know. Mr. DANIELS. Do you keep records by race? Mr. ALGIRE. No, we do not. Mr. DANIELS. To what extent are Negro students desegregated as to housing and extra-class activities? Mr. ALGIRE. Completely desegregated. We have Negro students living in dormitories throughout the university. There is no distinction made in the classrooms. Mr. DANIELS. Do they participate in all campus activities? |