Geier v. Dunn

• Citation: 337 F. Supp. 573
• Decision Date: 03 February 1972
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 5077.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee
• Parties: Rita Sanders GEIER et al., Plaintiffs, The United States of America, Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. Winfield DUNN, Governor of the State of Tennessee and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Tennessee, et al., Defendants.

337 F. Supp. 573

Rita Sanders GEIER et al., Plaintiffs, The United States of America, Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. Winfield DUNN, Governor of the State of Tennessee and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Tennessee, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 5077.

United States District Court, M. D. Tennessee, Nashville Division.

February 3, 1972.

George E. Barrett, Nashville, Tenn., for plaintiffs.

Charles H. Anderson, U. S. Atty., Nashville, Tenn., Paul F. Hancock, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff-intervenor.

David M. Pack, Atty. Gen. of Tenn., Nashville, Tenn., James E. Drinnon, Jr., Asst. Gen. Counsel, Univ. of Tenn., Knoxville, Tenn., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

FRANK GRAY, Jr., Chief Judge.

Plaintiffs filed this action on May 21, 1968, to enjoin construction of the then-proposed Nashville Center of the University of Tennessee on the ground that it would, as an identifiably white institution, be duplicative of the courses and services offered at Tennessee State University¹ and would therefore tend to perpetuate that latter institution as an identifiably black school, hence preventing the effective disestablishment of the racially dual system of public higher education in Tennessee. On July 22, 1968, the United States intervened as a party-plaintiff, seeking both the injunction against the proposed construction referred to above and an order requiring the defendants to prepare and submit a plan calculated to produce meaningful desegregation of the public institutions of higher education in Tennessee.

Following a hearing, this court found that "the dual system of education created originally by law for the public colleges and universities of Tennessee has not been effectively dismantled." Sanders v. Ellington, 288 F.Supp. 937, 940 (M.D.Tenn.1968). The court then went on to hold that there is "an affirmative duty imposed upon the State by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States to dismantle the dual system of higher education which presently exists in Tennessee." Id. at 942. Based upon its finding that there had been "no genuine progress toward desegregation and no genuine prospect of progress" (id.), this court entered an order refusing to enjoin the construction of the proposed Center, but requiring defendants to submit, by April 1, 1969, "a plan designed to effect such desegregation of the higher educational institutions of Tennessee, with particular attention to Tennessee A & I State University, as to indicate the dismantling of the dual system now existing." Id.

The plan which was submitted by defendants as a result of the aforesaid order placed heavy emphasis upon the individual efforts of the various institutions within the ambit of that order, mainly to increase minority group enrollment, and it stated that each such institution would "continue and expand efforts to recruit qualified Negro students"; would "intensify its efforts to recruit and retain Negro faculty"; and would implement pre-enrollment activities for minority group students who have academic deficiencies by virtue of past academic deprivations.² With particular regard to Tennessee State University, the plan stated that Tennessee State would intensify its efforts to recruit white students, intensify its efforts to recruit additional white faculty members, and "give concentrated attention to developing and publicizing academic programs which will attract white, as well as Negro students, from the Nashville area."³

The plan also stated that the public institutions of higher education in the Nashville area⁴ would institute inter-institutional programs which would help achieve meaningful racial balance in enrollments.⁵ The plan provided that these institutions would arrange for joint faculty appointments, would allow students complete transfer of course credits from one institution to another, and would avoid duplication of degree-granting curricula among these institutions.

Objections to this plan were filed by both the private plaintiffs and the plaintiff-intervenor, and after a hearing on depositions, this court, on December 23, 1969, entered an order stating that the plan — on the basis of the information then before the court — could be neither approved nor disapproved. The court noted the plan's lack of specificity and ordered the defendants to file, by April 1, 1970, "a report showing precisely what has been done on each individual item set forth in the plan...." (Order entered December 23, 1969.) The court also reiterated its previously expressed conclusion "that the state does have a Constitutional duty to dismantle any state-supported dual system of education, at any level." Id.

The defendants filed their report on April 1, 1970. The report stated that the number of black students enrolled in public institutions of higher education in the state (exclusive of Tennessee State) increased 42.2 percent between the academic year 1968-1969 and the academic year 1969-1970. This represented an increase of from 2,720 students to 3,869, but it should be noted that this increase in black students attending predominantly white institutions occurred at the same time that Tennessee State was making no gain. Nevertheless, it is readily apparent that, with the exception of the situation at Tennessee State, substantial progress was made on a statewide scale in attracting members of the Negro race to the public institutions of higher education in Tennessee.

The report revealed that, although the percentage of black students receiving financial aid decreased from 31.7 percent to 28.2 percent during the period covered, the actual dollar amount of financial aid utilized by black students increased from $507,000 in the academic year 1968-1969 to $775,000 in the academic year 1969-1970. This represented an increase of 53 percent, which is quite substantial.

The report showed somewhat more disappointing results, however, with regard to the success of the institutions in question (with the exception, of course, of Tennessee State) in attracting black faculty members. According to the report, the percentage of blacks among the faculties of these institutions increased from .4 percent in the academic year 1968-1969 to .9 percent in 1969-1970. The report stated that seven (7) members of the Tennessee State faculty taught on a part-time basis at the U.T.-Nashville Center in 1969-1970, while two (2) members of the engineering faculty of U.T.-Nashville taught, on the same basis, at Tennessee State.

Although the report revealed efforts to establish a joint engineering program between U.T.-Nashville and Tennessee State, no agreement had been reached on the matter as of the time the report was filed.

On June 3, 1970, the individual plaintiffs filed a "Motion for Further Relief." The ground for this motion was the individual plaintiffs' contention that the plan and report discussed above (of April 1, 1969, and April 1, 1970, respectively) did not "set forth a plan for the dismantling of the dual system of public higher education in the State of Tennessee, as ordered by this Court."

A hearing was set for June 14, 1971, on the individual plaintiffs' motion for further relief. However, on that date defendants filed a "Desegregation Progress Report." Thus, in order to allow time for the court and the parties to consider and evaluate the new report, the date of the hearing was reset to June 15, 1971.

The June 14, 1971, report again emphasizes the efforts of each institution in question, on an individual basis, to increase the pace of desegregation. The only cooperative program to be revealed which appears to be of any significance is the recently-arranged joint engineering degree program between U.T.-Nashville and Tennessee State.⁶ Even so, the report does not clearly indicate either the number of students and faculty that would be involved or the amount of time each participating individual would spend at the respective schools. Hence, the impact of this program upon the disestablishment of Tennessee's dual system of public higher education cannot be accurately evaluated.

With regard to the success of the efforts of the individual institutions in question, the 1971 report discloses varying results. Significant success in desegregation has been attained by Memphis State University and by the recently-established community colleges. The results attained by the other formerly all-white institutions were fair but less impressive, at least in terms of the rate at which desegregation is being accomplished. Further, none of the predominantly white institutions showed any significant progress in faculty desegregation; in a majority of these institutions black professors constituted less than two percent of the total faculty. It is beyond question, however, that some good faith efforts have been made to attract black faculty members to these institutions and that such efforts have in large measure failed for the reason, simply stated, that more attractive employment opportunities are available elsewhere.

By way of contrast, the student body of Tennessee State is shown as 99.7 percent black during the academic year 1970-1971 and its faculty as 81 percent black during that period. Also of significance is the reported fact that the freshman class at Tennessee State for this year was 99.9 percent black.

It is thus clear that Tennessee State remains, in all practical respects, a black institution, while the institutions in close proximity to it, as well as some other institutions in other parts of the State, remain in large part white. And, while it is clear that the desegregation progress of the predominantly white institutions has been steady, the phenomenon of a black Tennessee State, so long as it exists, negates both the contention that defendants have dismantled the dual system of public higher education in Tennessee, as ordered by this court, and the contention that they are, in any realistic...