24 I History 2012 The Desegregation of University i 25

The Desegregation of George Washington University and the District of Columbia in Transition, 1946–1954

by Andrew Novak

or much of the mid-twentieth century, ger history at George Washington than at the the George Washington University in other District universities because, with only Washington, D.C., was under the lead- the loosest oversight by the board of trustees, Fership of a strong-willed and fiscally austere Marvin’s office was insulated from many social president, Dr. Cloyd Heck Marvin. The insti- forces. tution’s longest-serving president, Marvin rap- During the years between the world wars, idly expanded the school even during the Great George Washington University officially sanc- Depression and World War II. In a third of a tioned its longstanding practice of segregation. century, Marvin doubled the size of the stu- It is unclear when the exclusionary policy was dent body, tripled the size of the faculty, and implemented. In the second half of the nine- increased the endowment ninefold. During his teenth century, some Howard University stu- tenure between 1927 and 1959, the campus dents were permitted to take selected courses, grew rapidly from a single city block to nearly but the races of these students do not seem to ten blocks at the time of his retirement.1 Yet, have been recorded.2 Marvin affirmed segre- his conservative educational philosophy and gation. “There are no colored students in The The staff ofThe Hatchet, George Washington University’s student-run newspaper, reviewing their work in personal dominance of the administration at- George Washington University,” he wrote in 1954. The newspaper served as the chief organ for an increasingly politicized student body. Despite editorial tracted strong criticism throughout his tenure. an unaddressed internal policy statement in pressure from the university’s president, Hatchet editorials advocated desegregation. (Courtesy, GWU Archives.) George Washington’s status as the last segre- 1938, noting that Howard and other facilities gated university in the District of Columbia sufficiently provided for the African American would prove especially controversial in light of community in the District. “Students of any Marvin’s strong personal control over univer- race or color perform their best educational sity life. Racial segregation had a much lon- disciplines when they are happily situated in a congenial and homogenous group, and the University, in its tradition and social environ- Andrew Novak is an attorney-advisor with the ment, has long preserved this policy.”3 Marvin U.S. Board of Veterans’ Appeals and a 2005 concluded that George Washington would not graduate of George Washington University. enroll African American students.

25 26 I Washington History 2012 The Desegregation of George Washington University i 27

Depression and the New Deal.” By the end of ceeded the scholar William Mather Lewis as the decade, students had taken a keener inter- George Washington University president in est in federal politics than they had just a few 1927. With his election came a lasting change years earlier, and they began embracing ide- not only of leadership but of philosophy. ologies and adopting causes.4 While the elite Lewis staunchly defended lib- When the desegregation controversy swept eral education and the humanities, Marvin pi- through the District after World War II, oneered education as a business. With a de- George Washington’s campus was not im- gree in business administration and economics mune. Although segregation had no legal from Stanford and a master’s degree in busi- standing in public places in the District of Co- ness from the University of Southern Califor- lumbia after the Civil Rights Acts of 1872 and nia, Marvin received his Ph.D. from Harvard, 1873, the laws were omitted when the District where he wrote a dissertation on education as Code was rewritten in the 1890s.5 Restaurant a means of improving human efficiency, par- and department store protests succeeded to ticularly with the expansion of business and some degree. The Howard University chapter commercial curricula.8 Throughout his ten- of the National Association for the Advance- ures as president of the University of Arizona ment of Colored People staged sit-ins at res- and George Washington, Marvin consolidated taurants on U Street and in Penn Quarter in authority in the Office of the President at the 1943 and 1944.6 The Coordinating Commit- expense of faculty committees, constitutions, tee for the Enforcement of the D.C. Anti- and deanships. He advocated business- and Discrimination Laws (CCEAD), led by Mary science-oriented curricula over traditional lib- Church Terrell, successfully integrated Kresge eral arts and humanities.9 and Hecht’s department stores after weeks of Although Marvin succeeded as dean of the protest in 1951; Murphy’s Dime Stores fol- Southern Branch of the University of Califor- lowed in 1952. After local courts upheld the nia, his vision encountered resistance when he 1872 and 1873 Civil Rights Acts as valid in became president of the University of Arizona the District, the Supreme Court affirmed these in Tucson in 1922, and the youngest college After World War II, George Washington University became a major center for federal government contracts holdings in 1953.7 The District was a lively site president in the country. His sweeping reorga- and research. In this photo, Captain Calvin Lee Frederick, Assistant Professor of Air Science, teaches basic of racial and political change in this period, nization of departmental units, especially the techniques. (Courtesy, GWU Archives.) and these social forces reached campus sooner colleges of mining and agriculture, and pre- rather than later. mature termination of faculty appointments In the late 1940s, the university transitioned administration and the New Deal. Given the By the late 1940s, especially with the in- led to an investigation by the American As- from a commuter school catering to the aspi- university’s proximity to the center of nation- flux of veterans to campus under the GI Bill sociation of University Professors (AAUP) and rant professional class, many of whom attended al government, many of the most contentious and the increasingly prominent contractual re- widespread opposition by faculty members.10 night school while working in the expanding debates deeply affected the campus, whether lationships between the university and federal Marvin became a victim of the partisan rivalry federal government, to a residential university it was fear of Communism, anti-war protest, government agencies, this exclusionary policy between Democratic governor George Hunt populated by full-time students with a strong or racial division. By the 1950s, Washington was increasingly difficult to maintain. The de- and his primary challenger E. E. Ellinwood, campus identity. In many ways, the changes was still “a very confused city,” torn between segregation of George Washington University, the chairman of the university’s board of re- that occurred on campus reflected changes in a Southern provincialism and a more cosmo- the last segregated university in the Washing- gents, and his continued administration be- the District of Columbia after the New Deal. politan mindset fitting of a national capital. ton area, was the product of both internal and came a highly contentious topic of debate. The city’s population had mushroomed from The larger George Washington became, espe- external pressure and a campaign of regional Although impeachment charges filed against just over 600,000 in 1930 to more than one cially as a residential school, the more campus and national importance that united students, Marvin were dismissed, his supporters lost a million in 1941. The number of government life confronted social forces in faculty, and community leaders. majority of the board of regents and he, the employees more than doubled during World and the wider city. University historian Elmer Democrat Ellinwood, and the Republican War II alone and increased many times over Louis Kayser wrote of a “new breed of college loyd Heck Marvin, a young, brash ad- appointees on the board resigned in a highly since the beginning of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s student in the 1930s, “a product of the Great Cministrator raised in rural Ohio, suc- public spectacle.11 28 I Washington History 2012 The Desegregation of George Washington University i 29

Upon becoming president of George Wash- ful at George Washington “simply because, in the editorial board condemned the use of Rule ington, Marvin faced a very different recep- such a different situation, with no responsibil- 6 against liberal student groups and the pro- tion, with an eager non-political board of ity to the public, he could manipulate success- hibition of student participation in the peace trustees at a private university that had only fully—even his trustees.” She concluded that protests. In a meeting behind closed doors, recently avoided financial disaster. He proved although he “left the institution a better Uni- Marvin dumped the entire board of editors he could be a prolific fundraiser after securing versity than he found it in 1927 . . . those who and chose six members of the senior staff as re- a $1 million grant from the Scottish Rite of suffered under his leadership until their own placements.21 With a politically conscious stu- Freemasonry to establish the School of Gov- retirement, even while recognizing his accom- dent body and an administration less tolerant ernment. The board also appreciated his ef- plishments, never respected him nor trusted of dissent, a clash was certain. forts to streamline the administration and cen- him.”16 Her criticism of Marvin’s personal mi- That clash, Dr. Herrick’s predicted “rebel- tralize hiring and tenure decisions in the Of- cromanagement and unwillingness to delegate lion,” erupted in the spring of 1940 when a fice of the President. The termination of sev- was an enduring criticism of his personal lead- young, charismatic professor of English named enty-one medical school faculty in 1931, the ership style. Martha Gibbon resigned in protest after being abolition of departments, demotion of execu- During the 1930s, as students attempted to passed over for promotion and tenure.22 “If my tive officers, and forced resignation of the hos- organize political clubs aligned with national case proves anything at all,” she wrote in an ap- pital superintendent, led to a renewed AAUP leftist organizations, they confronted the rare- peal to the AAUP, “it proves that all the deans investigation and set the tone for faculty-ad- ly used Rule 6 of the board of trustees, which and department heads here at George Wash- ministration relations throughout the 1930s.12 prohibited any student group from aligning ington are mere cogs, like the rest of us. Dem- With forced budget cuts on liberal arts and with national chapters, except for religious, ocratic procedure at our university is a panto- humanities departments, Marvin’s purges af- military, professional, and Greek organiza- mime and a farce; this is a one-man institu- 17 fected nearly every academic unit during the tions. Rule 6 was repeatedly invoked to stamp tion, and that one man is a ruthless tyrant.” Portrait of Dr. Cloyd Heck Marvin taken near the 18 Great Depression, and the students began to out liberal dissent on campus into the 1950s. The resignation triggered a city-wide media end of his tenure. Between 1927 and 1959, as society 13 take notice. In 1936 the non-renewal of the When the Student Union, a forum where stu- spectacle with wide coverage in the local news- underwent great change, he ruled with an authori- contract of English professor Marvin Herrick dents could debate the major political issues of papers, forcing the trustees into an emergency tarian style that suppressed dissent among students led a group of students to create the Commit- the day, sought membership in the left-lean- meeting. Students and alumni formed ad hoc and faculty. (Courtesy, GWU Archives.) tee for the Retention of Dr. Herrick and send a ing American Student Union, Marvin invoked investigative committees, wrote letters to the petition to the student newspaper, the Hatch- Rule 6. When a group of students formed a four major papers, lobbied AAUP staff mem- et, with over seven hundred signatures.14 Her- committee to participate in the nationwide bers in person, and circulated petitions signed dents recalled being told by Jessie Fant Evans, rick himself appealed his case to the AAUP for Strike Against War and Fascism on April 12, by hundreds of students. However, the Post a member of the board of trustees, that “Mar- an investigation and warned that the “day may 1935, Marvin refused to officially sanction the printed a staff editorial warning that the issue vin says that [Gibbon] is a communist. He says come when the rebellion, which surely ex- event, despite protest by labor leaders, peace of Professor Gibbon’s resignation was only a she has a Red Card.” Later, two George Wash- ists in the minds and feelings of many faculty activists, and several congressmen. He also de- “teapot tempest” and the real issue was “wider ington professors visited the secretary of the members and students, may break out into the nied admission to high school students who antagonisms aroused by Dr. Marvin’s vigorous AAUP and told him that “Professor Gibbon is open.”15 participated in left-wing protests, on the ba- and progressive leadership.” That brought a a Communist and was a member of the League Evelyn Jones Kirmse, the assistant dean of sis of their questionable moral character.19 Two sharp response from Professor Gibbon.23 for Peace and Democracy, which . . . was con- women at George Washington and later the years later, Marvin prohibited any student in- The Martha Gibbon affair was almost cer- demned by” the House Special Committee dean of women at the University of Arizona, volvement in peace protests, but about three tainly not simply a matter of faculty tenure. to Investigate Un-American Activities. Both provided a unique perspective on Marvin’s hundred students abandoned classes and de- One former student wrote to the Post that dur- Trustee Evans and the two professors believed tenures at both institutions. She recalled that fied his orders. The students grew bolder. In ing “the Spanish [Civil] War Miss Gibbon had that Gibbon’s personal political views played a her colleagues at George Washington protest- May 1937, they launched their own appeal to the audacity to put on her required reading list role in her departure. As Kayser recalls, the ep- ed Marvin’s “carelessness with the truth, his ar- the AAUP protesting violations of academic in her classes the radical magazines The Na- isode revealed the extent to which the student bitrary attitude and his disregard for academ- freedom.20 The editor-in-chief of the Hatch- tion and The New Republic. She also took the body had evolved, launching a protest against ic courtesy,” and when she arrived in Arizona et resigned after he led his staff to publish a liberty of stressing her sympathy for the Red war and fascism, demanding the right to align she found a faculty still divided over Marvin’s front-page editorial in January 1938 entitled government of Madrid. A number of us, find- itself with national leftist groups, injecting it- leadership. Although he governed with the “Can George Washington University Become ing her views too objectionable after a time, self into questions of faculty tenure and aca- same style, she recalls, he was more success- a Genuine Fortress of Democracy?” in which lodged a protest with Dr. Marvin.” Two stu- demic freedom, and “attack[ing] the president 30 I Washington History 2012 The Desegregation of George Washington University i 31

n 1946, opened on tion, signed by her fellow cast members, that Icampus following trustee Abram Lisner’s deplored the “undemocratic and un-American $750,000 bequest made upon his death in practice” of segregation.28 1943. Said to be the largest theater south of Bergman’s actions sparked intense cover- New York at the time, the 1,500-seat venue age in the Washington press. The Washington and fifty-nine-foot stage promised to be a sig- Post’s editorial board objected to Lisner Audi- nificant asset to cultural life in the District. torium’s whites-only policy: “One would sup- With modern light and sound systems, the pose it, as a seat of scholarship, to be above theater would host graduation exercises, large prejudice. One would suppose it, as a place of public lectures, a radio station, and an art gal- learning, religious in origin and consecrated to lery in addition to commercial performances. Christian ideals, to be above the meanness that However, even when opened to the public, the would deny men opportunities for entertain- auditorium reserved admission only for the ment on account of the color of their skins.” white community. As historian Paul Cooke Letters to the editor in all the city newspa- writes, “Adhering to the most rigid racial pol- pers showed deep divisions in the community: icy-practice of all District colleges, George “The revenue to be derived is poor compensa- Washington University even extended racial tion for the injury done to the conscience of exclusion to the institution’s Lisner Auditori- American citizens by this continuance of in- um.” On October 10, 1946, the Star reported justice in our National Capital,” read one let- that a group of attendees was denied admis- ter to the Post. Others called segregation tradi- sion to a ballet performance because the group tional and called on Bergman to book a ticket included two African Americans.27 back to her native Sweden.29 The segregated policy of the Lisner Audi- Letters also poured in to auditorium man- torium undoubtedly would have sparked con- agement representing both sides of the deseg- At the opening of the new George Washington University Hospital in 1948, President Marvin presented an troversy, but its opening play, Joan of Lorraine, regation controversy. One anonymous sup- honorary Doctor of Civil Laws degree to Maj. Gen. Phillip B. Fleming, administrator of the Federal Works starring twenty-nine-year-old actress Ingrid porter of segregation wrote that white and Agency. The new hospital benefited from grants and credits received from this agency. (Courtesy, GWU Bergman, intensified the conflict. The debut black communities preferred the privacy of Archives.) performance, in October, sold out by mail their own groups and the existing social tradi- even before the box office opened. Starring as tion should be preserved.30 Another wrote that personally and so bitterly that the Trustees had and resisted the temptation to allow the uni- Joan of Arc and famous for her liberal political she had “no respect whatsoever” for Bergman, to take cognizance of its charges and clear the versity to benefit from federal money, con- views, Bergman vividly remembered the open- because “any white person that preaches he president by a sweeping vote of confidence.”24 tracts, and land early in his tenure.25 The war ing of Lisner Auditorium. The role of Joan of wants colored [persons] surrounding him in World War II drastically changed life at changed this tendency, and Marvin played an Arc was one she cherished, but as soon as she his social life must be mentally unbalanced.” George Washington. The political conscious- important role in securing contracts with gov- learned Lisner was opening as a segregated Another called Bergman “white without and ness of the student body fell dormant dur- ernment agencies during and after the war; he theater, she told playwright Maxwell Ander- black within, a negro in a white man’s skin.” ing the war, although the Hatchet continued also served on numerous government boards son, “Shame on you, coming with this play On the other hand, the auditorium also re- to ruffle university administrators on issues of during those years. The George Washington to Washington, knowing this would happen. ceived letters from patrons threatening to boy- campus life. The university was on the verge University Hospital, completed in 1948, ben- If I’d known black people weren’t allowed in, cott until the racially restrictive policy was re- of a major expansion. As it grew, town-gown efited from a grant from the Federal Works I’d never have put my feet in this town.” At versed. Several came from World War II vet- confrontations between the university and the Agency.26 Construction on the hospital oc- the press reception on October 31, 1946, the erans who believed that racial segregation was federal government on the one hand, especial- curred simultaneously with the planning and day before the play’s opening, Bergman told a vestige of fascism, over which American de- ly with the move of the State Department to construction of Lisner Auditorium on the cor- the reporters that she would never return to mocracy had only recently triumphed.31 Foggy Bottom, and neighborhood residents ner of 21st and H Streets, NW, the opening Washington: “I will not come back here again Pro-segregation protesters outside the the- on the other, became more serious and more of which would spark another clash between until black people, just like white people, can ater on opening night spat at Bergman, and frequent. A stalwart follower of President Her- Marvin and liberal elements of the university come to the theater. We play for everybody. worse. An anti-segregation organization, the bert Hoover, Marvin opposed the New Deal and city communities. Everybody!” Bergman also composed a peti- Birmingham-based Southern Conference 32 I Washington History 2012 The Desegregation of George Washington University i 33

Performers in the first pro- veterans. On opening night, a student group To the city papers, Marvin defended his duction at the Lisner Audi- billed as the George Washington University threat to expel Rothenberg, claiming it de- torium, the cast of Joan of chapter of the American Veterans Commit- rived from the AVC’s violation of school regu- Lorraine protested the seg- tee (AVC) passed out leaflets with Bergman’s lations and not from “the Negro issue which regation of the theater. The picture and her quote to the press in support they are dragging in like a dead cat.” Student politically outspoken actress of her statements. The AVC, an unrecognized letters poured into the Post. One wrote, “I am Ingrid Bergman was among student group claiming about three hundred ashamed that the university with which I am the twenty-two signers of members and led by student Don Rothen- associated has taken such a stand.” An investi- this petition. (Courtesy, berg, transgressed the infamous Rule 6 with gating committee of five faculty members and GWU Archives.) improper use of campus facilities and the uni- student leaders eventually exonerated Roth- versity name. The officially recognized cam- enberg and the other students involved from pus veterans group, the University Veterans charges including “doing the university irrepa- Club (UVC), passed a resolution denouncing rable harm” and seeking to “destroy” the uni- the AVC’s unauthorized use of the university’s versity.38 After accusations appeared in the lo- name—then immediately followed with an- cal press that Marvin had threatened the aca- theaters or restaurants or other resolution condemning segregation in demic freedom of faculty members, the GWU schools generally.”33 In Lisner Auditorium.36 Chapter of the AAUP issued a statement in this, he was seconded by President Marvin threatened to expel Roth- November 1946 denying that Marvin had the director of Nation- enberg for violating Rule 6, which led to an- ever done so. Marvin was not the only person al Theater three blocks other round of attacks in the press. A Post who viewed the AVC’s support of desegrega- away, which was also editorial quipped that veterans should have tion as a front for more nefarious Communist segregated.34 A boycott no trouble adjusting to life back at the uni- sympathies. The House Un-American Activi- against segregation by versity: “For their former drill sergeants they ties Committee cited the protest at Lisner Au- the Dramatist’s Guild, have exchanged a university president who ditorium by the George Washington chapter composed of Washing- seems to think that an institution of learning of the AVC as evidence of leftist sympathies in ton’s playwrights, threat- is a school for conformity.” A university must its investigation of the national AVC organiza- ened National Theater’s have room for a clash of ideas. “Where intoler- tion for alleged Communist activities.39 fall 1946 schedule. The ance is encouraged, whether in respect of race During the Lisner Auditorium controversy, Post harangued both or of opinion, education can be nothing more the board of trustees vowed to maintain seg- theaters, believing they than a sterile recitation of dogma.” TheHatch - regation in higher education so long as it was on Human Welfare, also picketed in front of would suffer no loss in revenue or disruption et, vigorously defended the AVC, although it maintained in public schools. For a period of the entrance on 21st Street. The leader of the in audience, and may even benefit from deseg- printed letters to the editor in opposition from time following Joan of Lorraine, the auditori- group called for ending the university’s tax-ex- regating. As a newer, more liberal city news- students decrying the AVC’s alleged Commu- um temporarily closed its doors to commer- empt status. Bergman recalled how she feared paper, the Post had long advocated desegrega- nist Party ties. In answer to President Mar- cial plays of any kind, choosing to restrict the she had “put the kiss of death on the play,” but tion in Washington. As Katherine Graham re- vin’s threat to expel Rothenberg, the Hatchet theater to university functions involving the the theater filled and the play was a commer- called of her husband, then-Post editor Philip wrote an editorial entitled “Expulsion—Be all-white student body. However, on February cial success. “How could I go out there on the Graham, he was willing to use the paper to Damned!” and warning that expulsion would 4, 1947, a special committee of the board of stage every night crying Joan’s words . . . ‘But to achieve the political goal of desegregation. An- constitute an “unjustified” attempt to suffocate trustees drew up a statement of principles gov- surrender what you are, and to live without be- other city paper, the more conservative and es- the freedoms of speech and assembly. The pa- erning the auditorium’s use. First, university lief—that’s more terrible than dying—more ter- tablished Evening Star, disagreed with the Post. per once again suffered for its independence, classes and affairs would be the principal use of rible than dying young,’” she wrote later. “Joan Its editors did “not believe that local sentiment as the student government, backed by Presi- Lisner Auditorium. Second, when not so used, was eighteen years old and was burned to death. supports the elimination at this time of restric- dent Marvin and the governing committee and at the discretion of the management, the All I had to put up with was a bit of spit.”32 tive [racial] practices.”35 on publications, opened an investigation into auditorium may be opened for lease to outside The auditorium’s director, Vincent de Ange- The controversy over segregation in Lis- the paper’s supposed communist leanings with organizations. Finally, when opened for lease, lis, defended the racial policy as “no different ner sparked protests from students as well, hearings and testimony by newspaper staff in the university would impose no restrictions on from the dual systems at the other Washington particularly among a group of socially liberal the spring of 1947.37 attendance.40 34 I Washington History 2012 The Desegregation of George Washington University i 35

With the passage of the G.I. Bill its membership is known to the community.”43 and return of veterans to campus, The editorial received regional and national the composition of the student body newspaper coverage.44 A former member of the at George Washington changed sig- Hatchet editorial board, Jack Skelly, recalls that nificantly. These new groups, par- the newspaper staff was suspended for the edi- ticularly the veterans, increased the torial. Marvin explained to the suspended stu- pressure for desegregation. Here, a dents that integration would threaten recent veteran registers for classes in 1946. gifts made to the university by several impor- (Courtesy, GWU Archives.) tant benefactors, including the gift by Abram Lisner’s estate. According to Skelly, lobbying dents enrolled in night and ex- by Washington Post editor J. Russell Wiggins, tension courses, and students whose children attended George Washington taking courses under contract and were friends with the Hatchet’s editors, with the federal government. was enough to lift the suspension.45 External pressure came from Letters, mostly supportive of the student accrediting organizations and paper’s position, flooded the Hatchet’s edito- the merger of the segregat- rial pages. “Now is the time for our University ed George Washington Law president to prove that his faith in democracy School with the integrated Na- is more than lip-service,” one student wrote. tional University Law School in Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota con- 1952. In June 1954, the month gratulated the paper’s editors for endorsing A 1909 photograph of Abram Lisner, benefactor of after the Supreme Court deci- “higher democratic values,” but at an open fo- the Lisner Auditorium and longtime university trust- sion in Brown v. Board of Edu- rum hosted by the paper some twenty anti-in- ee. Though one of the most prominent Jewish figures cation and its companion case tegration protestors threatened to transfer to in the university’s history, anecdotal evidence suggests applying to the District of Co- southern schools if the university desegregat- that restrictions on his bequest was one reason for the lumbia, Bolling v. Sharpe, the ed. The Hatchet followed with three more edi- whites-only policy at the Lisner’s opening. (Courtesy, trustees finally voted to deseg- torials directed at the board of trustees prior GWU Archives.) The Hatchet had the last word the following regate, beginning with the incoming class in to their meeting on December 8, 1949. The week: “It is our conviction that a change in the fall of 1954.42 editors wrote that “admitting students on the Marvin, speaking “wildly” of a “Jewish plot,” admissions policy, whereby Negroes would be In late 1949, the Hatchet printed the most basis of scholastic ability and potential alone, had threatened to fire Glatstein and force Hil- allowed to witness events at Lisner, would be a famous editorial in the student paper’s centu- disregarding race entirely, is the right, the mor- lel off campus. The exposé reported that Jew- commendable and progressive step.” Integrated ry-long history. “The time has come, we feel, al, the just course of action for the University ish students had faced discrimination at the commercial performances “would add immea- for the university to reconsider its present ad- to follow.” The trustees took no action at the university and cited Don Rothenberg’s sus- surably to our cultural life and to the prestige mission policy and remove the barrier it has December 8 meeting.46 pension as such an incident.47 On the floor of of the University,” the students wrote. On Feb- maintained against Negro students.” The edi- The editorial campaign in the student the U.S. House of Representatives, Congress- ruary 13, 1947, the Board of Trustees formally tors cited the desegregation of many of George newspaper sparked one of the more perplex- man Arthur Klein of New York denounced voted to desegregate Lisner Auditorium.41 Washington’s sister schools in the District, in- ing episodes in the drive to desegregate George Marvin’s “outburst of racial and religious big- cluding Catholic, American, and George- Washington. Irwin Glatstein, the director of otry” after reading the Jewish Telegraphic Agen- ollowing the debate over the desegregation town universities. “There will be many who, the Hillel Foundation of B’nai B’rith, the Jew- cy article, according to Klein’s press release and Fof Lisner Auditorium, President Marvin at first thought, will cry, ‘Let us wait a while.’ ish student ministry on campus, supported the an article in the Star. Marvin promptly denied and the board of trustees faced pressure inter- To them we say, THE TIME IS NOW.” The Hatchet editorials and desegregation of the uni- the charges, and he received support from sev- nally and externally to remove all racial bar- Evening Star noted President Marvin’s reply versity. The leader of the Hillel student council eral prominent Jewish leaders. ThePost report- riers to admission and enrollment at George to the editorial: “The Hatchet, as the student also wrote a letter to the Hatchet on behalf of ed that Congressman Klein’s allegations had Washington. The internal pressure came from newspaper of the university, is free to reflect Hillel calling for the removal of racial barriers. “backfired.”48 students and faculty, as well as by other uni- without interference the opinion of its editors. On January 13, 1950, an article in the Jew- Neither the author of the article in the Jew- versity divisions, including hospital staff, stu- The position of the university in the matter of ish Telegraphic Agency reported that President ish Telegraphic Agency nor Congressman Klein 36 I Washington History 2012 The Desegregation of George Washington University i 37 retracted their statements. The author insist- protest did appear in the Hatchet’s pages, the inorganic chemistry for his doctorate, applied These “special cases”—hospital nurses, ed that he had in his possession affidavits and paper insisted that its views represented only to take the course at George Washington, the Howard graduate students, black veterans, for- sworn depositions “to prove the integrity” of those of the editors and not of the entire stu- only school that offered it at night without in- eign students, and students attending under the article. He implied that administration of- dent body.51 The administration continued to terfering with his teaching schedule. After dis- government contracts—eventually forced a ficials were intimidating the Hillel director and delay on desegregation. Dr. Marvin encoun- cussing the matter with the board of trustees, limited change in admissions policy. Although defended Klein’s statement: “I think Represen- tered Hatchet editor Estelle Stern Katz partici- Marvin told the director of admissions, “The the longtime director of admissions, Harold tative Klein is to be commended for his fear- pating in a lunch counter sit-in protest, and only answer we can give at this particular time Griffith Sutton, personally supported segrega- less and accurate exposé.” Klein was surprised called her to his office. “I have a memory of is that we cannot be of service.”55 tion, he was aware of the social and adminis- that the Jewish community defended President him putting his hand on my head and making The university was generally more accom- trative costs of continuing strict segregationist Marvin. “I have no retraction to make, and in- veiled threats,” she remembered.52 modating toward minority students attending policies. In a memorandum, Sutton wrote that tend in the future to continue my exposure Another source of pressure on the admin- special courses under contract with the feder- the university should consider admitting sev- of the brutal policies of racism embraced and istration arose from the desegregation of the al government. Black trainees in the U.S. Air eral qualified groups of black students: gradu- practiced” by the university, he said. “I admit university hospital. An old administrative Force contract programs were permitted to ate students seeking to enroll in courses not of- error on only one point,” he continued. “I se- rule allowed all hospital staff to take one free attend courses in Monroe Hall without inci- fered by Howard University, black veterans of riously underestimated the depth and strength course, and the rule had never changed after dent.56 However, the university does not ap- the Korean War, hospital nurses, and foreign of the bigotry of Dr. Marvin’s policies.”49 Al- the desegregation of the hospital staff in the pear to have had a uniform policy toward for- students with government departments such though the allegations in the story are impossi- 1940s. Emma Parker, an African American eign nationals or children of African or Afro- as the departments of state and commerce who ble to verify, the episode was another example nurse, tried to enroll in a secretarial studies Caribbean diplomats, who were subjected to come to the for special study. In of the difficult relationship Marvin had with course, according to a memorandum by the discrimination elsewhere in the District, which the fall of 1952, the admissions office allowed the city press. director of admissions to Dr. Marvin.53 Parker generated friction with American allies by the these categories of “special cases” to enroll. Ac- Other student groups joined Hillel and the was denied admission, as were four dieticians early 1950s. As historian Paul Cooke notes, cording to the directive, black students were student newspaper in calling for the universi- who worked at the hospital. The dieticians, the minister of Haiti was unable to enroll his to be held to the same academic standard as ty’s desegregation. The Baptist Student Union, told that the university had a racial bar when son at the university, although the university white students and must be bona fide enroll- the Catholic Newman Club, and the Religious they attempted to register for the course, pro- had admitted international students from Lat- ees. They must not be Communists, the state- Council condemned the racial admissions pol- tested in a letter to Marvin that “we are being in America, the Middle East, and Asia since at ment indicated in a racial generalization of Af- icy, holding meetings for their members on the deprived of an extremely important privilege least the 1930s.57 The admissions office did con- rican American liberal politics. The university topic of segregation and writing letters to the offered all professional employees of the Uni- sider the application of Paul Joseph Chretien, and the students were forbidden from publi- Hatchet editors. Brotherhood Week, an event versity.” “We were subjected to a cruel form of a Haitian national categorized as “negroid” on cizing their enrollment, as the admission was hosted by the university’s religious organiza- embarrassment.” They asked for Marvin’s help his application, for enrollment in Economics only experimental.60 Even with these excep- tions on campus and around the District of in closing the loophole, and Marvin responded 223, Monetary Policy and Central Banking, tions, the pressure on President Marvin and Columbia in February 1950, provided an oc- courteously, acknowledging the loophole and under a State Department contract.58 On May the trustees continued to mount. casion for all the student body presidents at promising to change the rule. “I can say to you 20, 1952, the admissions office received an ap- the District’s universities to call for desegrega- that your letter has helped bring the solution plication from Joseph F. Taylor, who was sta- he most immediate pressures on the board tion in a jointly signed open letter. The fol- of the problem closer, and . . . I am fully cog- tioned at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, for an associ- Tof trustees to desegregate George Wash- lowing month, a student council resolution nizant of the request that is being made, and ate of arts degree in the off-campus division of ington came from the law school communi- backed by council president Charles Chrich- . . . I am sympathetic with it,” he wrote to the the College of General Studies. “As this is the ty. At a December 1950 meeting, the Associa- ton unanimously confirmed the report of the women.54 In the meantime, the women were first application from a Negro student for any tion of American Law Schools (AALS) passed student committee to investigate the univer- forced to wait. degree under the College of General Studies it a resolution opposing racial segregation at any sity’s racial policy calling for desegregation.50 A similar problem arose over the enrollment is important that all implications be carefully of its accredited schools and called for inte- The report was sent to President Marvin and of black graduate students from Howard Uni- examined,” the director of admissions wrote gration at “the earliest practicable time.” The the board of trustees. The Hatchet’s editorial versity who sought to take courses at George to President Marvin. In response to the Taylor AALS also amended its articles of association board affirmed the student committee’s report, Washington when similar courses were not of- application, the director of veterans’ education to include as one of its objectives encouraging hoping the trustees would “take to heart the fered at Howard. Records show some Howard at the university, Don C. Faith, wrote to Mar- member schools to “maintain equality of op- recommendations of [the] students and speed graduate students had been barred from at- vin advocating that black veterans of the Kore- portunity in legal education without discrimi- up the process of making more democratic the tending courses at George Washington. A full- an War applying for admission under the G.I. nation or segregation on the ground of race or university’s admissions policy.” When letters of time professor at Howard, who needed to take Bill be admitted to the university.59 color.”61 The AALS accredited a total of 110 38 I Washington History 2012 The Desegregation of George Washington University i 39 law schools, of which seven public and eleven the still-segregated University of Richmond private schools, all located in southern states and Washington and Lee. The committee con- or the District of Columbia, were still segre- sidered and discarded forms of partial segrega- gated. George Washington, one of the eleven tion, including separate facilities or allowing segregated private law schools, was the north- students to change their seats, since this prob- ernmost among them.62 ably would not comply with the AALS man- A year earlier, Marvin had attacked the date. A proposal to allow black students into AALS and the Association of American Medi- the bachelor of laws program only rather than cal Colleges in a speech before a meeting of the masters or doctoral programs was also discard- Association of American Colleges, an umbrella ed. Even the desegregation of athletic facili- accrediting body. Marvin shocked his audience ties and dormitories had met with less friction by claiming that the AALS was “dominated than administrators expected. “The admission by” special interests. He claimed accrediting of Negroes to the Law School will call for care- organizations interfered with university gover- ful handling, but it can be handled,” the report nance and dictated institutional policy, a view noted. Desegregation could be “dealt with suc- consistent with his preference for a strong and cessfully by the use of tact, intelligence, and efficient centralized administration. PostA edi- good will.”65 torial later claimed his accusation was unjus- Added to the pressure of the AALS and the tified, and Marvin underwent another round law school faculty was the looming merger of of criticism in the city press.63 Following the the National University and George Wash- AALS declaration, and especially the threat to ington law schools. National University Law withdraw accreditation of any law school that School, founded in 1869, had desegregated did not desegregate within two years, the fac- in 1952 and enrolled nine black students out ulty of George Washington law school over- of a total enrollment of about 175. It is pos- whelmingly voted in favor of desegregation sible that the issue of desegregation held up in late 195164 and set up a committee to issue the merger; the GWU board of trustees did recommendations on the issue to the board of not ratify the merger until the June 30, 1954 trustees. meeting after the vote to desegregate.66 All stu- The confidential report of the Faculty Com- dents were able to transfer to the new insti- The George Washington University Board of Trustees in 1955. Responsible for oversight, this group voted to mittee on the Admission of Negroes was sub- tution without interruption; George Wash- desegregate the University in June 1954. In doing so, they spurned Marvin’s recommendation to study the mitted on December 1, 1953, following exten- ington also assumed all debts and liabilities, impact of this policy reversal. (Courtesy, GWU Archives.) sive conversations with AALS administrators as well as a handful of professors and the law and officials of other universities, as well as the library beginning in the fall of 1954. Accord- the trustees that, in the face of law school pres- hower in the early 1950s, and the university’s George Washington University community. ing to the Post, six black students from Na- sure and the threatened loss of government racial ban eventually came into conflict with The report predicted that only a small number tional University enrolled on the same basis as contracts, desegregation would allow the uni- federal contracting agencies.69 However, Mar- of African Americans would enroll the first few George Washington students and were eligible versity to maintain its status in the commu- vin again chose delay and recommended that years following desegregation. Catholic Uni- for either a National or a George Washington nity. He later wrote: “In light of the principles the board take no action until a committee versity, which desegregated in 1943, only had law degree.67 The institutional merger created enumerated by the Supreme Court, in light of could further study the academic implications five African American students out of a total of the newly named National Law Center at the our holding a Federal Charter, and in light of of desegregation.70 seventy-one, Georgetown had thirty African George Washington University. our relationship to government departments Chairman Robert Fleming told the trust- Americans out of 809 law students, and Amer- through contracts, it was felt we could not lag ees that every person admitted would still have ican University had twenty out of 229. None n June 30, 1954, the board of trustees behind the new social front that is establishing to meet the institution’s scholastic standards. of these schools saw a decline in white enroll- Oraised the issue of race in admissions pol- itself.”68 Racial discrimination by government Trustee Charles Tompkins questioned wheth- ment or significant protest at the inclusion of icy for the final time. Earlier that day, by a vote contractors had come under increasing scru- er standards could be maintained. In response, black students, and the same was true at all of 83–4, the tenured faculty opted to change tiny following a series of executive orders by Fleming told the board that he had every con- Maryland and Virginia law schools except for the admissions policy. President Marvin told Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisen- fidence in Marvin and the administration, but 40 I Washington History 2012 The Desegregation of George Washington University i 41 the danger of incensing public opinion and tests from other graduates, permit me to as- Again the most political of debates touched gated restaurants and department stores, it was in losing government contracts, crucial to the sure you that I, for one, heartily support you the campus community as the university no coincidence at all that the desegregation university’s endowment after World War II, in this move.” Marvin responded that the de- wrestled with an identity in the changing Dis- controversy would first strike the university was high. In the end, the trustees voted unani- cision came after years of deliberation. “Now trict of Columbia. at its most public venue, Lisner Auditorium, mously in favor of a change. The final state- we have wiped out the last vestige of preju- George Washington was the last university which hosted commercial theater productions ment read: dice,” he told Caldwell, a sentiment seemingly in the District of Columbia to desegregate. In and was perhaps the single element of the uni- at odds with his private statements.76 The early the end, the administration chose to remove versity most outside Marvin’s control. Because In accordance with The George Wash- 1950s had changed Washington, with lunch its racial barriers because it was under pressure of the centralization and personalization of ington University’s long established poli- counter sit-ins and pickets outside segregated from external and internal forces. The pressure George Washington University’s administra- cy of seeking to meet the changing needs department stores; finally, the city-wide battles developed much later at George Washington tion in the Office of the President and the lim- of the American community, it accepts had changed the campus as well.77 A Hatch- than at schools like American, Catholic, or ited avenues of dissent open to students, staff, as students, without regard to race, all et editorial lauded the trustees’ decision when Georgetown universities, where segregation and faculty, the university failed to be a trend- who are able to profit by the educational the university finally opened as an integrated had come later and was never as complete as setter and instead changed only when its ur- service it extends, as made manifest by institution in the fall of 1954. “TheHatchet , as at George Washington, and where protests oc- ban context changed. The racial bar did not their meeting its admission requirements an organ of student opinion, has been a strong curred as early as the 1930s, particularly among disappear overnight, but it did fall, when the and maintaining its standards of scholar- advocate of racial integration, and it is with religious elements on and off campus.80 Given campus and city communities, accrediting or- ship.71 gratification that we welcome this long-await- the sweeping changes in the District in the late ganizations, and a Hollywood actress pushed ed stance.”78 Although a number of internal 1940s, with sit-ins and protests that desegre- the administration to end it. The change in racial policy made front-page and external considerations limited the trust- headlines in the city’s newspapers. According ees’ options, the student body claimed some to the Star, “The action by GWU means that role in the decision. all major colleges and universities in the Wash- Marvin’s presidency at George Washing- ington area have dropped race bans.”72 Accord- ton ended in 1959. His later years were not j NOTESj ing to school spokesmen, African Americans without controversy, as his type of central- would be able to register for courses as of ized, socially conservative governance became the fall 1954 term. Marvin had his personal increasingly outworn in a new era of univer- The author would like to thank staff members missions Policy, about 1938, RG0002, Series 4: doubts about the change, noting in an open sity governance that rescinded codes of dress in the archives at GWU, the University of Arizona, Box 30, Folder 5, GWU Archives. letter to university staff that one could expect and behavior, permitted co-educational dor- UCLA, and the AAUP for their assistance in com- 4. David Brinkley, Washington Goes to War (New little change in the composition of the student mitories, and relaxed policies on alcohol use. piling the research of this article. York: Ballantine Books, 1988), 105; Cooke, “De- body for the near future. “I think our stan- Marvin’s alleged firing of an atheist professor 1. For an overview of President Marvin’s ad- segregated Higher Education,” 342; Kayser, Bricks dards of admission and the high expectancy in 1956 again led to front-page news after he ministration, see Andrew Novak, “A President’s Without Straw, 271–72. of our classroom work would deter many,” he publicly announced that the university did Mixed Past: Marvin Center Namesake Expanded 5. Beverly W. Jones, “Before Montgomery and wrote.73 Certainly, the tuition might have de- not have professors who did not profess be- GW, Supported Segregation,” The Hatchet, April 7, Greensboro: The Desegregation Movement in the terred minority students, and two endowed tu- lief in God.79 But Marvin could not stop the 2003. See also Novak, The Man in the Gray Flannel District of Columbia,” Phylon, 43, no. 2 (1982). ition scholarships continued to have racial re- future. Thomas H. Carroll and Lloyd H. El- Suit: A Critical Portrait of Dr. Cloyd Heck Marvin 6. Flora Bryant Brown, “NAACP Sponsored strictions at least until 1958 when the trustees liott followed as university presidents during (Washington, DC: Privately Published, 2004). Sit-Ins by Howard University Students in Wash- offered a $200 tuition scholarship open to stu- the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s, an era of 2. Kayser suggests otherwise: African Ameri- ington, D.C., 1943–1944,” Journal of Negro His- dents of any race.74 Similarly, the dormitories Vietnam protests that caused the campus to cans attended GW Law after the Civil War. Elmer tory 85 (2000): 278–79. remained whites-only until the early 1960s.75 close. The transition in presidents mirrored a Louis Kayser, Bricks Without Straw: The Evolution 7. Jones, “Before Montgomery and Greens- In a congratulatory letter to Marvin, George more general transition in higher education, of George Washington University (New York: Apple- boro,” 148–54. See also, District of Columbia v. Washington alumnus and native Arkansan Ar- as the in loco parentis doctrine declined in ton Century Crofts 1970), 292. A letter by Presi- John R. Thompson Co., 346 U.S. 100 (1953). thur Caldwell, then-chief of the Civil Rights importance and university control grew less dent Marvin to Paul Cooke concurring is quoted 8. “Ex-Grocer’s Clerk, now Business Man, to Division of the Department of Justice, wrote centralized. The student protests of the 1930s in, Paul Cooke, “Desegregated Higher Education University of Arizona at Age 33,” Pittsburgh Dis- that in his position he had “become acutely and 1940s, including the debate over segrega- in the District of Columbia,” Journal of Negro Edu- patch, January 7, 1923. See also Cloyd Heck Mar- aware” of the difficulties caused by segrega- tion in the early 1950s, were the precursors to cation 27 (1958): 344, footnote 9. vin, Commercial Education in Secondary Schools tion. Though Marvin “may have a few pro- a much more radical and active student body. 3. Cloyd Heck Marvin, Memorandum on Ad- (New York: H. Holt & Co., 1922), 216. 42 I Washington History 2012 The Desegregation of George Washington University i 43

9. Andrew Novak, “The Marvin Doctrine and written by Davis Harding, March 1937, AAUP Students Fight Ouster at GWU,” Washington Daily grid Bergman, November 15, 1946, RG0055 Se- its Discontents: Dr. Cloyd Heck Marvin and the Committee “A” Files, Box 51, GWUSC; “Herrick News, March 14, 1940. ries 4: Office Records, 1946–1952, Box 1, bolder Shaping of the George Washington University, Sympathizers Claim 700 Have Signed Petition,” 23. Martha Gibbon, Appeal to the AAUP, 9, GWU Archives; letter, signed Irving and Leah 1927–1959,” paper presented to the Washing- The Hatchet, April 27, 1937. March 10, 1940, AAUP Committee “A” Files, Box L. Feingold, February 5, 1947, RG0055 Series 4: ton, D.C. Historical Studies Conference, Novem- 15. Marvin Herrick, Appeal to the AAUP, April 51, GWUSC); Editorial, “Smoke Without Fire,” 4: Office Records, 1946–1952, Box 1, Folder 16, ber 5, 2005. In the paper, I used the term “Mar- 30, 1937, AAUP Committee “A” Files, Box 51, Washington Post, March 24, 1940; Martha Gibbon, GWU Archives. The letter is representative of oth- vin Doctrine” to describe President Marvin’s dual GWUSC. Letter to the Editor, “Miss Gibbon’s Viewpoint,” ers in the Lisner Auditorium Desegregation fold- educational philosophy that favored streamlined 16. Oral Interview with Evelyn Jones Kirmse, Washington Post, March 26, 1940. er; letter from Arnold Abbott, October 28, 1946, authority in the Office of the President and a cur- “Notes for the Marvin File,” February 24, 1984, 24. Lee C. Patton, Letter to the Editor, Wash- RG0055 Series 4: Office Records, 1946–1952, Box ricular bias favoring business courses and hard sci- MS 460, Box 11 Folder 7, Evelyn Kirmse Uni- ington Post, March 27, 1940; Helen Dillon to 1, Folder 14; letter, signed Ethel Jean Davis, Feb- ences at the expense of the liberal arts and hu- versity of Arizona Centennial Collection, 1885– Ralph Himstead, March 19, 1940, AAUP Com- ruary 6, 1947, RG0055 Series 4: Office Records, manities. 1986 (bulk 1930–1986), University of Arizona Ar- mittee “A” Files, Box 51, GWUSC; Internal Mem- 1946–1952, Box 1, Folder 20, GWU Archives. 10. For an overview of Marvin’s administration chives. orandum by Ralph Himstead, April 1940, AAUP 32. Clark Foreman, Letter to the Editor, Wash- at the University of Arizona, see Mary Hunting- 17. Andrew Novak, “1930s: When The Hatchet Committee “A” Files, Box 51, GWUSC; Kayser, ington Post, October 31, 1946; Bergman, Ingrid ton Abbott, “The Marvin Affair,”Journal of Arizona Found Its Voice,” in The GW Hatchet: A Century Bricks Without Straw , 277–78. Bergman, 163. History 23 (1982): 59–80. in Focus, 1904–2004, Francesca Di Meglio, ed. 25. Novak, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, 33. Chris Kormis, Sandy Holland, et al., From 11. For the political aspects of Marvin’s admin- (Washington, D.C.: Hatchet Publications, 2004), 198–99, 236–44, 251–62. Strength to Strength: A Pictorial History of George istration at the University of Arizona, see Andrew 22. 26. Kayser, Bricks Without Straw , 283–84. Washington University, 1821–1996 (Washington, Novak, “The Cloyd Heck Marvin Years Revisited: 18. Rule 6 held that “no student clubs or soci- 27. Ibid., 284–85; Cooke, “Desegregated High- D.C.: George Washington University, 1996), 62. Another Look at the University of Arizona’s Con- eties (except social fraternities, sororities, scholas- er Education,” 344; “G.W. Auditorium Barring 34. For more on the desegregation of National troversial President,” Journal of Arizona History 47 tic honor societies, religious or professional clubs of Negroes Protested,” Evening Star, October 10, Theater, see Roger Meersman and Robert Boyer, (2006): 103­–30. or societies) organized as a branch or affiliate of a 1946, B1. “The National Theatre in Washington: Buildings 12. George Washington University nearly failed non-George Washington University organization 28. “Bergman Play is Sold Out,” Washington Post, and Audiences, 1835–1972,” Records of the Colum- as an institution in 1910, until it was revived over will be recognized by the Student Life Committee.” October 10, 1946, 7B; Jay Carmody, “Miss Berg- bia Historical Society 71/72 (1971–72): 190–242. the next decade and a half by Presidents Charles Novak, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, 126. man is Easy, Poised and Articulate in Interviews,” At the National Theatre, African Americans were Stockton and William Miller Collier. For more 19. “Bone, Other Senators Support Strike,” The Evening Star, October 28, 1946, A12; Ingrid Berg- permitted on stage but not in the audience, while on the Freemason grant, see “Million is Given to Hatchet, April 2, 1935, 1; “600 Curiosity Seekers man and Alan Burgess, Ingrid Bergman: My Story at Constitutional Hall, another famously segre- G.W. University by Masonic Body,” Washington Walk Out Friday in Two Demonstrations Against (New York: Delacorte Press, 1980), 162–63. Erin gated Washington institution, African Americans Evening Star, December 27, 1927, p. 1. For more War,” ibid., April 16, 1935, 4; “Carliner, Tech Lib- Lamb, “Actress Protests Lisner Auditorium Open- were permitted in the audience but not on stage. on the purges in the Medical School, see Petition eral, Not Denied Admission for Views, Marvin ing,” The GW Hatchet Centennial Supplement, 2004, “Ingrid Bergman, Swedish Actress, Hits Race Ban,” to AAUP, October 10, 1932 (AAUP Committee Says,” ibid., February 5, 1935, 1. available at: http://gwhatchet.dreamhost.com/cen- Washington Post, October 28, 1946, 10B. “A” on Academic Freedom and Tenure Case Files, 20. Charles Kiefer, et al., Appeal to the AAUP, tennial/stories/120803-5.html. 35. “Race Issue Threatens to Close National Box 51); Enclosures with Petition, Oscar B. Hunt- May 3, 1937, AAUP Committee “A” Files, Box 51, 29. “Lisner Auditorium,” editorial, Washington Theater Before Jan. 1,”Evening Star, November 14, er to AAUP, October 10, 1932, AAUP Committee GWUSC. Post, October 31, 1946; Robert E. Sherwood, “Jim 1946; “Jim Crow Theaters,” Editorial, Washington “A” Files, Box 51, GWU Special Collections [here- 21. Editorial, “Can George Washington Uni- Crow Theaters,” Letter to the Editor, Washington Post, November 17, 1946; Katherine Graham, Per- inafter GWUSC]. The AAUP archives, which are versity Become a ‘Genuine Fortress of Democ- Post, October 29, 1946; Letter to the Editor, Wash- sonal History (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), housed in the at GWU, are only racy’?” The Hatchet, January 4, 1938, p. 1; Elissa ington Post, October 31, 1946. 185; “Race Discrimination Issue,” Editorial, Eve- partially processed and do not have a comprehen- Liebowitz, “A History of the GW Hatchet, 1902– 30. Typed letter from “A Segregationalist,” Lis- ning Star, November 19, 1946. sive folder numbering system; they are organized 1995,” senior thesis, George Washington Univer- ner Auditorium Desegregation 1946, undated, Lis- 36. Dorothy Henry, “Veterans Club Files Com- by university and by date. sity, 1995. ner Auditorium Records, 1946–2005, RG0055 Se- plaint Regarding AVC,” The Hatchet, November 7, 13. For more on the numerous professors in the 22. Kayser, Bricks Without Straw, 275–78; No- ries 4: Office Records, 1946–1952, Box 1, Folder 1946. liberal arts and humanities, see Novak, The Man in vak, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, chap. 4. For 4, GWU Archives. 37. “Student Life,” Editorial, Washington Post, the Gray Flannel Suit, chap. 3. This history is based press coverage, see “Students Indignant at Miss 31. Letter, signed Irene Palus, October 31, November 19, 1946; Robert C. Bone, Letter to the on dozens of appeals in the AAUP archives (see Gibbon’s Departure,” Washington Post, March 12, 1946, Lisner Auditorium Desegregation, 1946, Editor, The Hatchet, November 14, 1946; “Expul- AAUP Committee “A” Files, Box 51, GWUSC). 1940; “Resigned Professor Assails GW Head,” RG0055 Series 4: Office Records, 1946–1952, Box sion—Be Damned!,” Editorial, ibid., November 14. See, Undated student petition, probably Washington Daily News, March 13, 1940; “500 1, Folder 5, GWU Archives; Jean Williams to In- 21, 1946; “Council Probes Hatchet,” ibid., March 44 I Washington History 2012 The Desegregation of George Washington University i 45

18, 1947; Editorial, “Upon Being Investigated,” 46. Letter to the Editor, The Hatchet, November 56. Leroy Merrifield, et al., Faculty Committee 70. Memo on the Board of Trustees Minutes, ibid., March 18, 1947. 22, 1949; Kormis, et al., From Strength to Strength, on the Admission of Negroes, Report, December June 30, 1954, RG0002, Series 4, Box 30, Folder 38. “Proposed Expulsion Hearing Set for AVC 64; “What Will They Do?,” Editorial, The Hatchet, 1, 1953, GWU Archives. 5, GWU Archives. Leaders at GWU,” Washington Post, November 17, December 6, 1949; Personal interview with Jack 57. Calvin B. Holder, “Racism Toward Black 71. Ibid. 1946; Helen Bissel, “Witch Hunting at George Skelly, April 28, 2003.“Still a Live Issue,” Editorial, African Diplomats During the Kennedy Adminis- 72. “GW Rules Out Race Bans for Next Term,” Washington,” Letter to the Editor, Washington Post, ibid., December 13, 1949. tration,” Journal of Black Studies 14 (1983): 31–48; Evening Star, July 8, 1954. November 19, 1946; “GW Probers Decide Against 47. Letter to the Editor, ibid., December 20, Cooke, “Desegregated Higher Education,” 344. 73. C.H. Marvin to University Staff, Open Let- Expelling AVC Leaders from School,” Evening Star, 1949; “Bigotry Charge Against Marvin Refuted by 58. Application of Paul Joseph Chretien, Inter- ter, July 8, 1954, RG0002, Series 4, Box 30, Folder November 20, 1946. Group,” Washington Post, February 23, 1950. nal Memorandum, signed by H. G. Sutton, undat- 5, GWU Archives. 39. GWU Chapter of the AAUP, Resolution, 48. “Dr. Marvin Accused by Klein of Bigotry ed, RG0002, Series 4, Box 30, Folder 5, RG0002, 74. It is unclear from the notation in the finding November 26, 1946, GWU Archives; “GW De- in Dispute at GWU,” Evening Star, February 22, Series 4, Box 30, Folder 5, GWU Archives. aid when the whites-only restrictions terminated. cides Not to Expel AVC Leaders,” Washington Post, 1950; “Bigotry Charge Against Marvin Refuted by 59. Memorandum, H. G. Sutton to C. H. Mar- Board of Trustees Committee on Legal Affairs, No- November 21, 1946. Group,” Washington Post, February 23, 1950. vin, May 20, 1952, RG0002, Series 3, Box 18, vember 24, 1958, RG0001, Series 5: Committees 40. Myrna Sedgwick to Newell Windom El- 49. “Rep. Klein Renews Charges Despite Dr. Folder 42, GWU Archives; Memorandum, D. C. (1911–1960), Box 8, Folder 12, GWU Archives. lison, Notes Concerning the Special Commit- Marvin’s Denials,” The Hatchet, February 28, Faith to C. H. Marvin, August 5, 1952, RG0002, 75. See generally correspondence with the Of- tee on the Lisner Auditorium, December 8, 1946, 1950. Series 3, Box 18, Folder 42, GWU Archives. fice of the President in GWU Archives, RG0002, RG0001/005-0005-0006 #000018, 1946–1947, 50. Letter to the Editor, ibid., December 20, 60. H. G. Sutton, “Admission of Negro Stu- Series 3, Box 18, Folder 42. The folder contains GWU Archives; Kormis, et al., From Strength to 1949; “All Men Have Same Dignity As Children of dents,” Directive, October 7, 1952, RG0002, Se- a number of letters referring to the first African Strength, 62; Cloyd Heck Marvin to Carroll Glover, God,” ibid., February 21, 1950. See also, “Brother- ries 4, Box 30, Folder 5, GWU Archives. American students to move into the dormitories in Attachment, February 4, 1947, RG0001/005-0005- hood Week,” Editorial, ibid., February 21, 1950; 61. Quoted in, Gwen Y. Wood, A Unique and the early 1960s. 0006 #000018, 1946–1947, GWU Archives. “Council Approves Racial Report,” ibid., March Fortuitous Combination: An Administrative History 76. Arthur Caldwell to C. H. Marvin, Letter, 41. “Magnificent Tomb,” Editorial,The Hatchet, 21, 1950. of the University of Georgia School of Law (Athens: July 22, 1954, RG0002, Series 4, Box 30, Folder 5, February 11, 1947; C. H. Marvin, Internal mem- 51. “Democratic Progress,” Editorial, ibid., University of Georgia Press, 1998), 102. GWU Archives; C. H. Marvin to Arthur Caldwell, orandum, February 13, 1947, RG0002, Series 4, March 21, 1950; Ted Carroll, Letter to the Editor, 62. Merrifield, et al., Report. July 30, 1954, RG0002, Series 4, Box 30, Folder 5, Box 12, Folder 8, GWU Archives. ibid., March 28, 1950. 63. “Accrediting Units Hit by Marvin,” The GWU Archives. 42. For more on Brown and Bolling, see Mark V. 52. Quoted in, Donna Brutkoski, “1950s: Hatchet, January 10, 1950; “Academic Accredita- 77. Jones, “Before Montgomery and Greens- Tushnet, Making Civil Rights Law: Thurgood Mar- In the Face of Adversity,” in The GW Hatchet: A tion,” Editorial, Washington Post, January 15, 1950. boro,” 144–154. shall and the Supreme Court, 1936–1961 (New York: Century in Focus, 1904–2004, Francesca Di Meg- 64. Merrifield, et al., Report. 78. “Integration,” Editorial, The Hatchet, Sep- Oxford University Press, 1994), chapters 10–15. See lio, ed. (Washington, D.C.: Hatchet Publications, 65. Ibid. tember 30, 1954. also, Lisa Crooms, “Race, Education and the Dis- 2004), 38. 66. Memo on the Board of Trustees Minutes, 79. “GW Won’t Hire Persons Who Don’t Be- trict of Columbia: The Meaning and Legacy of Bol- 53. Application of Emma Parker, Internal June 30, 1954, RG0002, Series 4, Box 30, Folder lieve in God,” Evening Star, November 20, 1956. ling v. Sharpe,” Washington History 16 (2005): 14. Memorandum, Undated. Signed by H. G. Sut- 5, GWU Archives. See also, RG0002, Series 3, Box See also, “GW Will Not Employ Atheists,” Wash- 43. “The Time is Now,” Editorial, The Hatchet, ton. RG0002, Series 4, Box 30, Folder 5, GWU 18, Folder 42 (contains copies of the document ington Post, November 20, 1956. November 15, 1949; “Student Paper at G.W. Calls Archives. and additional notes). 80. Compare with C. Joseph Nuesse, “Segrega- for Lifting of Bar on Negroes’ Entrance,” Evening 54. Evelyn Harris, Lorraine Paul, Georgia Mor- 67. “National Law School, Founded in 1869, tion and Desegregation at the Catholic University Star, November 15, 1949. gan, and Charity Jackson to C. H. Marvin, Feb- to Merge with GWU,” Evening Star, July 1, 1954; of America,” Washington History 9 (1997): 54 (for 44. These newspapers included the Louisville ruary 2, 1953. RG0002, series 4, Box 30, Folder “GW Law School to Admit Negroes from National Catholic University) and Cooke, “Desegregated News and Courier-Journal, the Buffalo News, the 5, GWU Archives; C. H. Marvin to Harris, et al., U,” Washington Post, July 7, 1954. Higher Education,” 343–45 (for Georgetown and New York World Telegram, the Baltimore Afro- February 19, 1953, RG0002, Series 4, Box 30, 68. Memo on the Board of Trustees Minutes, American universities). American, the Norfolk Journal and Guide, and the Folder 5, GWU Archives. June 30, 1954, RG0002, Series 4, Box 30, Folder Lewiston, Maine, Sun. For a complete file of clip- 55. C. R. Naeser to C. H. Marvin, Internal 5, GWU Archives. pings on the Hatchet editorial calling for desegre- Memorandum, March 11, 1952, RG0002, Series 69. Robert S. Pasley, “The Nondiscrimination gation, see the 1950–51 scrapbook at GWU Ar- 4, Box 30, Folder 5, GWU Archives; C. H. Mar- Clause in Government Contracts,” Virginia Law chives, RG 0002, Series 39, Box 11. vin to Trustee Wetmore, Internal Memorandum, Review 43 (1957): 837 et seq. (detailing the in- 45. Personal interview with Jack Skelly, April April 3, 1952, RG0002, Series 4, Box 30, Folder creasing enforcement of contract compliance after 28, 2003. 5, GWU Archives. 1951).