Bell-Lucas, Sarah M., 1937-

Organized in December 1973 in Greensboro, N.C., the North Carolina Alumni and Friends Coalition (NCAFC) sought to strengthen the historically black universities and colleges in North Carolina, broaden African Americans' access to higher education in the state, and eliminate vestiges of the segregated system of public higher education that left predominately African American universities underfunded. NCAFC's membership comprised educators, students, community leaders, and the alumni associations of the five predominately African American universities of the University of North Carolina system (Fayetteville State University, Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Winston-Salem State University, and North Carolina Central University). Sarah M. Bell-Lucas was committee chair of the NCAFC Banquet and Publicity Committee, 1975-1982.

Organized on 15 December 1973 in Greensboro, N.C., the North Carolina Alumni and Friends Coalition (NCAFC) sought to strengthen the historically black universities and colleges in North Carolina, broaden African Americans' access to higher education in the state, and eliminate vestiges of the segregated system of public higher education that left predominately African American universities underfunded. NCAFC's membership comprised educators, students, community leaders, and the alumni associations of the five predominately African American universities of the University of North Carolina system (Fayetteville State University, Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Winston-Salem State University, and North Carolina Central University).

Shortly after its founding, NCAFC issued A Statement on Dismantling Higher Education (Black Perspective), which described discrimination faced by African Americans seeking higher education and the state's neglect of North Carolina's predominately African American public universities. The statement outlined the need for increased development and investment in these universities; significant growth in African American undergraduate enrollment across the state; and the integration of students, faculty, and staff at all University of North Carolina system schools.

The United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) was responsible for enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as it pertained to educational institutions. In February 1970, the University of North Carolina system received notice of non-compliance with Title VI from HEW's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for maintaining a racially identifiable system of public higher education. In response, the UNC system submitted a desegregation plan, A State Program to Enlarge Educational Opportunity in North Carolina, to OCR in June 1973. The plan called for recruitment of minority students and faculty, remedial programs, expanded financial aid for all students, intercampus cooperation and exchange, and an anti-discrimination policy for admissions and employment. In November 1973, HEW-OCR rejected the plan on the grounds that it lacked specific goals for race diversity and details of how the plan would be executed.

Eight years of draft submissions, revisions, rejections, self-studies, and negotiations followed. In March 1979, HEW announced it would begin proceedings to terminate federal funding to the University of North Carolina system. The university system retained the Washington-based legal firm of noted civil rights attorney Charles Morgan to continue negotiations with HEW and, in April, filed suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina to challenge HEW's right to terminate federal support. Judge Franklin T. Dupree Jr. ruled that termination of funds could not occur until the outcome of the Administrative Proceeding had been determined. Hearings for the Administrative Proceeding began in July 1980 and continued through July 1981. Throughout the hearings, negotiations for a consent decree continued in secret. The ongoing dispute over program duplication and the mechanism for evaluation hampered the negotiations until Terrell Bell, then secretary of the Department of Education under President Reagan, removed these criteria.

The July 1981 consent decree set enrollment goals rather than quotas (10.6 percent African American enrollment at predominately white universities and 15 percent white enrollment at predominantly African American universities), added graduate and undergraduate program offerings to the predominantly African American universities, and pledged commitment to equitable salaries and racial composition of faculty and staff. In addition, the university system agreed to file annual minority presence reports with the supervising court through 1986.

Sarah M. Bell-Lucas (1937-) was the committee chair of the NCAFC's Banquet and Publicity Committee, 1975-1982. She attended North Carolina Central University (NCCU) where she received a Bachelor of Science in home cconomics in 1959 and a Master of Arts in counselor education in 1974. Bell-Lucas worked for the North Carolina Department of Corrections in Raleigh, N.C., as assistant dietitian and supervisor; the Wake County Public School System as social worker, teacher, and counselor; the Granville County School System in Oxford, N.C., as a high school counselor; and NCCU as an instructor, counselor, recruiter, director of the Center for Academic Enrichment, and director of student academic advising for undergraduates. She retired from NCCU in 2010.