February is Black History Month, and I think it’s appropriate to take a few moments to look at how Wofford arrived at its decision, in 1964, to desegregate the college. Anyone who is more interested in this subject will find a wealth of materials in President Charles F. Marsh’s papers. This will be the first of several posts on this topic. Today – the preliminaries.
President Marsh and the trustees of the college could clearly see that they were going to have to confront the issue of segregation at the college. The decision was for the trustees to make, but they had to consider the opinions of the various constituencies of the college – the faculty, the student body, the alumni, friends of the college, and most significantly, South Carolina Methodists. In 1962 and 1963, as public colleges and universities throughout the region desegregated, usually under court order, Wofford’s officers began quietly to plan for desegregation. They knew, from public sentiment, that they had a lot of work to do.
At its 1962 session, the South Carolina Annual Conference of the Methodist Church soundly defeated a resolution calling for the desegregation of both Wofford and Columbia College in 1963. Proposed by the Rev. James Copeland, then serving churches in Woodruff, SC, the resolution called for all church-wide projects in the state be open to all persons, and Copeland specifically urged the conference to open the two colleges to African-Americans in September 1963. After some discussion, the motion was defeated in a standing vote, with observers noting only about twenty individuals standing in support.
In the fall of 1963, President Marsh presented his thoughts on desegregation to the Board of Trustees. He wrote:
As one individual, whose personal ideas and attitudes have been shaped by his own experiences and environment over the years, I have no personal objection to the admission of fully qualified Negro students to Wofford and, indeed, see strong moral and ethical reasons why they should be granted this opportunity. As a longtime resident of two Southern States, on the other hand, I am sympathetically aware of the strong personal feelings of some members of this Board and many other constituents of the College against the admission of Negroes to Wofford.
As the officially selected leaders of the College, however, our personal desires or opinions with respect to this highly controversial matter must be secondary to a careful analysis of the significant facts and their bearing upon the continued ability of the College to perform its functions as a first-rate educational institution of the Methodist Church.
Dr. Marsh went on to list potential adverse effects of a decision to desegregate, which included
1. Sadness and bitterness concerning the college on the part of some of its alumni, supporters, and friends.
2. Loss of financial support from some South Carolina Methodist churches.
3. Loss of financial support from some individual alumni and other supporters.
4. Withdrawal of some students from college and decline in application from some prospective students.
5. Complications in housing, social life, and attitudes of students and faculty toward Negroes who may be admitted.
He also listed adverse effects of a decision to remain segregated
1. Ineligibility for substantial financial grants by private foundations
2. Ineligibility for National Science Foundation grants
3. Possible ineligibility for National Defense Loans for students (our most attractive loans to students at present)
4. Possibility that the 1964 General Conference may withhold National Methodist Scholarships and Loans from segregated institutions
5. Loss of support – financial and otherwise - from alumni
6. Increasing difficulty in attracting qualified students and faculty.
7. Increasing isolation from the main currents of educational and religious policy and practice.
All but 13 of the 76 four-year Methodist colleges, all eight of the Methodist universities, and all twelve of the seminaries accept qualified Negro students.
Marsh made other points that he wanted the trustees to consider. As a result, the trustees appointed a special study committee, which met several times in 1963 and early 1964. The study committee recommended that the college desegregate, and reported its action to the full board, which held off for several months before making its final decision.
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