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.

From the description of Sarah M. Bell-Lucas collection of North Carolina Alumni and Friends Coalition records, 1971-1988. WorldCat record id: 767650267

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.

• 1968: Jasper Alston Atkins filed a suit against the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Board of Education and the State of North Carolina (Atkins, Pro Se v. State Board of Education of North Carolina). Atkins brought the suit "to require the State of North Carolina and the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education to provide a racially integrated unitary school system" (418 F.2d 874: J. Alston Atkins, Pro Se, Appellant, v. State Board of Education of North Carolina (1969)). The Fourth Circuit District Court found Atkins did not have standing.
• 1969: The U. S. Department of Health Education and Welfare (HEW) began investigating the desegregation progress of ten states including North Carolina that had historically segregated systems of public higher education. HEW investigated compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which stated "no person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program receiving federal financial assistance."
• February 1970: The UNC System (which at the time included University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, UNC Asheville, UNC Greensboro, UNC Wilmington, and UNC Charlotte) received notice of non-compliance with Title VI. The UNC System was found to be maintaining a racially identifiable system of public higher education.
• October 1970: The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. filed suit against HEW and charged the department with negligence in enforcing Title VI (Adams v. Richardson). The plaintiffs sought to impose more rigorous requirements for desegregation of higher education in the ten affected states and to enforce termination of federal funds to those states that failed to submit satisfactory plans for desegregation.
• July 1 1972: The UNC System incorporated the last ten state-funded universities, including the predominantly African American institutions of Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, North Carolina Central University, and Winston-Salem State University.
• February 1973: Federal judge John H. Pratt found for the plaintiffs in Adams v. Richardson and ordered HEW to begin enforcement proceedings against the affected states within 120 days. On appeal HEW was permitted to solicit desegregation plans before commencing proceedings.
• April 13 1973: The Board of Governors of the UNC System adopted the following policy statement as Section 103 of the Code of the University: "Admission to, employment by, and promotion in The University of North Carolina and all of its constituent institutions shall be on the basis of merit, and there shall be no discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, sex, or national origin."
• June 1973: The UNC System submitted a desegregation plan entitled A State Program to Enlarge Educational Opportunity in North Carolina. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of HEW rejected the plan because it lacked "specific numerical goals for increasing minority faculty and students at both traditionally white institutions and traditional black institutions" (William Link, William Friday: Power, Purpose, and American Higher Education, Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1995.) A deadline for plan revision was set for April 8, 1974.
• May 31 1974: The Revised North Carolina State Plan for the Further Elimination of Racial Duality in Public Higher Education Systems was released.
• August 22 1977: The Board of Governors adopted the Revised North Carolina State Plan for the Further Elimination of Racial Duality in Public Higher Education System, Phase II: 1978-1983.
• 1979: Debate between the UNC System and the OCR focused on the elimination of program duplication at geographically proximate institutions. The University disagreed with OCR that eliminating programs would effect immediate changes in the racial composition of the universities.
• March 1979: Due to a breakdown in negotiations between the UNC System and the OCR in 1978 and 1979, HEW announced it would begin proceedings to terminate federal funding. Judge Franklin T. Dupree, Jr., ruled that funds could not be terminated until the outcome of the Administrative Proceeding had been determined.
• 1980 - 1981 : During the Administrative Proceeding, secret negotiations about a consent decree took place.
• July 1981: The resulting consent decree set enrollment goals rather than quotas (10.6 percent black enrollment at traditionally white institutions and 15 percent white enrollment at traditionally black institutions), added graduate and undergraduate program offerings to the TBIs, and pledged commitment to equitable salaries and racial composition of faculty and staff. The university also agreed to file annual minority presence reports with the supervising court through 1986.
• 1981: The NAACP Legal Defense Fund argued that the 1981 agreement between the University and the Department of Education, approved in the form of a consent decree by U. S. District Judge Franklin T. Dupree, Jr., did not meet applicable legal and regulatory requirements. The North Carolina courts refused to consider their contentions, and the Supreme Court action left standing previous rulings by the U. S. District Court and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which had declined to invalidate the consent decree (University of North Carolina Board of Governors Quarterly. 1984. Volume 7(2), p. 4).
• July 1983: An appeal by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit resulted in affirmation of the consent decree and its supervision by the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
• February 21 1984: The United States Supreme Court refused to hear the case, ending the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's case against the OCR and the UNC System.
• December 31 1986: The consent decree expired.
• December 31 1988: The United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina's control over the case expired.

From the guide to the Sarah M. Bell-Lucas Collection of North Carolina Alumni and Friends Coalition Records, 1971-1988, (North Carolina Central University. James E. Shepard Memorial Library.)