“This is a good movement”: College Presidents, External Pressure, and Responses to the Sit-ins in 1960

• In Event: Excellence in Education Research: Early-Career Scholars and Their Work

Abstract

This presentation explores how college presidents’ speeches and statements positioned these leaders within the national dialogue about desegregation and civil rights in 1960. With students of all races joining Black student leaders’ protests against racial segregation, this poster session will discuss the differences and similarities in how the presidents and chancellors of predominately White and historically Black colleges responded to the same issue of handling the sudden crisis of student activism. Little has been studied about how academic leaders of the early 1960s responded to student demands for racial equality. This exploration will offer new insights on academic leadership during one of the most challenging eras in higher education history. The presenter will be able to discuss three aspects of this work: 1) how leaders of White institutions encouraged students to cease the student sit-ins in 1960; 2) the unique way leaders of Black institutions encouraged the student sit-ins in 1960; 3) What (if any) connections can be made between the civil rights movement and present-day presidents and chancellor’ responses to students protests against racial climate on college campuses.

Although the poster is focused on southern institutions, this poster is part of a larger, book-length manuscript about college leaders’ negotiation of complex social pressures during critical moments of race, crisis, and civil rights on campuses in the early 1960s. This book focuses on the responses of college presidents at 30 institutions during the student-led protests from 1960 to 1964. A turbulent time, legalized racial segregation was a normal part of life in parts of the U.S. and students faced potential violence every time they left campus to demonstrate against the segregation of public amenities. At the same time, these presidents were faced with campus constituents who were staunchly against desegregation and wanted the chief administrator on campuses to reprimand students for their behavior. Other constituencies pushed for presidents to support students’ efforts to desegregate. This book reveals how college presidents managed complexities of the region, time, society, and space in their speeches and statements.
This study utilizes historical and rhetorical research methods to analyze how college presidents used words and how these words turned to actions. Archival data from presidents’ collections and state archives reveal the pressures presidents faced privately and the ways they responded publicly through speech. The book offers analysis by region, institutional control (e.g., state-supported), and institutional type (e.g., Historically Black Colleges and Universities). It is the first exploration of how higher education leaders across the nation responded to students’ fight for civil rights.

Author

• Eddie R. Cole, College of William and Mary