University of North Carolina (System). Division of Legal Affairs.

Along with its other duties, the Division of Legal Affairs was involved in the desegregation of the University of North Carolina system. In 1970, the U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare notified the University of North Carolina system that it was violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by maintaining a racially dual system of public higher education. In response, the University began drafting a desegregation plan. Nine years of draft submissions, revisions, rejections, self-studies, and negotiations followed. The matter was finally resolved through an administrative proceeding that began in 1980 and ended with a consent decree in 1981. Implementation of the provisions of the consent decree continued for a number of years.

From the description of Records of the Division of Legal Affairs, 1931-1999 (bulk 1970-1981) [manuscript]. WorldCat record id: 45855074

In 1969 the United States 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 was responsible for enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as it pertained to educational institutions receiving federal funding. Title VI legislated that 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.

In February 1970 the University of North Carolina (System) received notice of its non-compliance with Title VI from HEW's Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The university was found to be maintaining a racially identifiable system of public higher education. In response it began drafting a desegregation plan that would comply with Title VI. In October 1970 the Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People filed suit against HEW and charged the department with negligence in enforcing Title VI. The plaintiffs in the suit (Adams v. Richardson) sought to impose more rigorous requirements for desegregation of higher education in the ten affected states and to enforce a termination of federal funds to those states that failed to submit satisfactory plans for desegregation.

In 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. The University of North Carolina (System) submitted its 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 funds 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. The irresolvable dispute between HEW-OCR and the university revolved around the means by which desegregation should be achieved and monitored. Various initiatives were discussed over the years, including black enrollment quotas at traditionally white institutions (TWIs), increased black enrollment in graduate and professional programs, preservation and enhancement of programs and facilities at traditionally black institution (TBIs), establishment of remedial programs, and affirmative action admissions and employment policies. By 1978, however, the debate had focused on elimination of program duplication at geographically proximate institutions. OCR contended that shifting programs from one campus to another would effect immediate changes in the racial composition of the institutions. OCR would monitor the university's progress toward desegregation via semi-annual reports and by exercising prior approval over major changes to university policy.

Under political pressure from LDF and the Adams court to enforce Title VI, HEW-OCR maintained a hard line on how and when desegregation should be achieved. University of North Carolina President William C. Friday and the Board of Governors resented OCR's dismissal of the university's voluntary good faith efforts toward desegregation in the 1970s. They countered OCR's attack by taking a firm stance against interference by outside agencies in the educational affairs of the state. The university asserted that it had done enough and that the criteria prescribed by HEW were neither legally required nor practical and potentially would harm the state educational system. The university attempted to demonstrate that its own program of slow change was preferable to HEW's micro-managerial attempts to dictate the course of higher education in North Carolina.

Shuttle negotiations between Washington, D.C., and Chapel Hill in 1978 and 1979 failed to produce a lasting compromise. In March 1979 HEW announced it would begin proceedings to terminate federal funding to the University of North Carolina (System). The university 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 black enrollment at TWIs and 15 percent white enrollment at TBIs), added graduate and undergraduate program offerings to the TBIs, and pledged commitment to equitable salaries and racial composition of faculty and staff. In addition, the university agreed to file annual minority presence reports with the supervising court through 1986.

The consent decree and its supervision by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina was affirmed in an appeal by LDF to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in July 1983. The matter did not close officially until the Supreme Court refused to hear LDF's appeal of the D.C. circuit court's affirmation.

From the guide to the Division of Legal Affairs of the University of North Carolina (System) Records,  , 1927-1999, (bulk 1970-1981), (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. University Archives.)