Allred v. Heaton

• Decision Date: 19 May 1960
• Docket Number: No. 3760,3760
• Citation: 336 S.W.2d 251
• Parties: Margaret E. ALLRED et al., Appellants, v. H. L. HEATON et al., Appellees.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 251

336 S.W.2d 251

Margaret E. ALLRED et al., Appellants, v. H. L. HEATON et al., Appellees.

No. 3760.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, Waco.

May 19, 1960.

On Motions for Rehearing June 9, 1960.

John M. Barron, Bryan, for appellants.

Will Wilson, Atty. Gen., John Reeves, Asst. Atty. Gen., J. A. Amis, Jr., College Station, for appellees.

TIREY, Justice.

This is an appeal from the judgment of the district court of Brazos County denying appellants an injunction against appellees for refusing admission to appellants to enroll in the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. The cause was tried without the aid of a jury, and partly on stipulations filed to be made a part of the statement of facts. In the decree we find this recital:

'Whereupon the plaintiffs moved in open court for leave to proceed with a class action, as well as for the plaintiffs individually, under Rule 42, T.R.C.P.; and the Court, after considering the motion and hearing evidence in support thereof, including the stipulations filed herein, in all things permitted the class action as a true and a spurious class action for the benefit of all Texas women similarly situated, as permitted by law; and defendants' special exception having been overruled by the Court, to which exception was duly made, all parties then announced ready for trial, subject to the special exception filed herein.'

We quote the findings of fact and conclusions of law recited in the judgment:

'(a) That the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas is a land grant college established by State and Federal Law, fully owned and operated by the State of Texas.

'(b) That the plaintiffs are bona fide female resident citizens of the City of Bryan, of the State of Texas, and of the United States of America.

'(c) That the plaintiffs each bring this action individually and as a class action under Rule 42 in good faith and that the degree programs and courses asked for here, at all times matterial to this case, are the genuine, lawful desire and to the best interest of each plaintiff under the circumstances.

'(d) That Mary Ann Parker desires to study at the College for a degree in Architecture; that Sarah C. Hutto desires to study at the College for a degree in Science with a major in Biology; and that Margaret E. Allred desires to study at the College for a degree in the program and courses in Floriculture at the School of Agriculture, as prescribed, all as undergraduates; that all requests and demands are real, genuine, and made in good faith for sufficient reasons.

'(e) That the College refuses to admit any women as students during regular sessions regardless of their qualifications or educational abilities, and that specific or detailed proof of educational qualifications by the usual application is futile and unnecessary for women in view of the involved Resolution of September 3, 1925, and the type of relief prayed for herein.

'(f) That plaintiffs have done all things reasonable or possible for admission while the exclusionary Resolution is being enforced and is effective; that they were advised by the Registrar that women would in no event be admitted to the College as students; and that a real, genuine, and justiciable controversy exists between the plaintiffs and defendants, who are authorized and qualified presently to bring this suit, which is proper in form and substance.

'(g) That the College is suited and adapted for the education of women as well as of men, and the exclusionary Resolution is without reasonable relation to the educational objectives of the College.

'(h) That the military program at the College forms no reasonable basis for the exclusions of women from other courses of study in the School, since, inter alia, R.O.T.C. is necessarily offered only to certain young men, and about 3500 students of the College are now not required to study or be connected with military or air training.

'(i) That plaintiffs will be unreasonably deprived and damaged if they are required to remove to another place to obtain the college courses they desire and request at this school.

'(j) That the A. and M. College of Texas is the only institution in Texas offering degree programs in Floriculture, and that Margaret E. Allred is totally deprived of effective study and a degree or major in such field unless she leaves Texas to study.

'(k) That many courses and degree programs are offered at the College which are offered nowhere else in Texas, as listed in the stipulations and Statement of Facts herein, suitable and valuable to women as a class.

'(l) That plaintiff and women as a class are barred in limine by the Resolution from fair and reasonable consideration for admission to the school solely because of their sex, causing any further attempt to enroll under present circumstances to be a vain and useless act.

'(m) That the nature, scope, and extent of the College are fully shown by its Graduate and Undergraduate Bulletins or catalogues introduced in evidence and the stipulations in evidence.

'(n) That women have been excluded from the school, with rare exceptions, except for summer instruction, since its beginning in 1876, but that the reasons for their exclusion no longer exist.

'(o) That women, especially the individual plaintiffs, are not accorded substantial equality in higher education by reason of the exclusionary Resolution, considering the extent, scope, cost, and nature of the A. and M. College of Texas and its offering of various courses obtainable nowhere else in Texas.

'(p) That except for the exclusionary Resolution the plaintiffs and women as a class would be able to present and determine their eligibility for admission as student fairly and with meaning.

'No implied fact findings are made against plaintiffs.'

The decree is assailed on six points; they are substantially to the effect that the trial court erred in upholding as valid the exclusionary Resolution of the Board of Directors of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas;

(1) attacked in this case, and thereby denying plaintiffs the relief sought, said exclusionary Resolution on its face being repugnant to the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution;

(2) attacked in this case, and thereby denying plaintiffs the relief sought, said Resolution being repugnant to the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution as it is construed and applied to the female plaintiffs and Texas women as a class;

(3) attacked in this case, said Resolution being repugnant to the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution as it is applied to plaintiff Margaret E. Allred, seeking a degree-program in floriculture, which is offered at no other college or university in Texas;

(4) Attacked in this case, said Resolution being repugnant to the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution as it is applied to women as a class desiring to study the named subjects offered at no other state college or university in Texas;

(5) in denying the rilief sought by plaintiffs under the Declaratory Judgment Act, Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. art. 2524-1 et seq.;

(6) in denying the injunction restraining the defendants from enforcing the exclusionary Resolution, all necessary facts having been shown entitling plaintiffs to the relief sought as a matter of right.

A comprehensive statement is necessary. We quote paragraphs one through nine (also twelve) of the Stipulations:

'1. Plaintiff, Margaret Elizabeth Allred, is 18 years of age, a resident of Bryan, Brazos County, Texas, and is presently attending Texas Technological College at Lubbock, Lubbock County, Texas. Margaret Elizabeth Allred desires to enroll as a student at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas subject to her qualifications for entry other than sex. She desires to study as an under-graduate for a degree in floriculture. She desires to attend the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas to obtain that course of study and because it is more convenient and less costly for her than attendance at any other institution of higher learning because it is nearer her home. If she resided near any other senior State supported college or university in Texas, she would probably desire to attend the school nearest her home. In June, 1959, Margaret Elizabeth Allred made application for admission to a summer session of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas and stated that the course of study she was pursuing or expected to pursue in the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas was law.

'2. Plaintiff, Sarah C. Hutto, is 22 years of age, divorced, with one minor child to support. She resides in Bryan, Brazos County, Texas, and is presently attending Allen Military Academy at Bryan, Brazos County, Texas. She desires to enroll as an under-graduate for a degree in biology as a major, subject to her qualifications for entry other than sex. She desires to attend the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas to obtain that course of study and because it is more convenient and less costly for her than attendance at any other school because it is nearer her home. If she resided near any other senior State supported college or university in Texas, she would probably desire to attend the school nearest her home.

'3. Plaintiff, Mary Ann Parker, is 39 years of age, married, has two children, one 17 years of age and one 11 years of age. She resides at her home in Bryan, Brazos County, Texas, with her husband, M. L. Parker, Jr., and their two children. She is not attending any college or university at the present time. She desires to study for a degree in architecture. She desires to attend the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas to obtain that course of study because it is more convenient and less costly for her than attendance at another institution of higher...