CONFLICT ON THE CAMPUS

...Under the regulations, admission of a candidate is a prerogative of the faculty...

...Later that day, Lawson addressed a letter to the sixteen members of the divinity school faculty...

...Lawson said Vanderbilt acted "unfairly" and "without regard for its responsible goal as a great university...

...There is reason to believe that the university may continue to pay for years, and perhaps decades, for a series of impulsive and emotional actions...

...Lawson's nine o'clock deadline for withdrawal passed, and an hour later, at a convocation of the divine faculty and student body, Branscomb announced his expulsion...

...Vanderbilt, founded in 1875, plays an important role in the local community...

...The main concern of many of us at this moment is to restore that reputation and morale...

...Nelson released his colleagues on the faculty from any obligation they might feel toward him in the matter, and after some muttering about being made to "crawl," all but one of the divinity professors withdrew their resignations...

...Its medical school provides much of the city's hospital care...

...Lawson to finish his courses and receive the bachelor of divinity degree...

...There are reports that several major grants which had been scheduled for this academic year have been withdrawn...

...The chancellor gave three reasons for deciding against this course: % "We apply our own regulations to all the rest of the students as to actions both on and off the campus, forbidding certain types of conduct which we punish whether the police arrest,or not...

...On June 1, Lawson enrolled in the summer session of the Boston University theological school, where he would receive the bachelor of divinity degree upon completing three courses...

...He charged that Vanderbilt officials permitted "character assassination to become their guide as to whether a student remains a responsible member of the academic community, and they have equated a mature, disciplined, non-violent movement with a 'panty-raid.'" Eleven members of the divinity school faculty protested the expulsion, saying they saw "no adequate justification...

...No one can predict how long it will take for the damage to be repaired...

...After reviewing the arguments for Lawson's dismissal and citing the university's "unassailable record" in admitting Negro students, the chancellor declared: "A campus-wide controversy draws into itself many other issues, becomes charged with emotion, obscures the original issues, and becomes a general controversy which does great harm to a university whose good will in this area has been demonstrated...

...While enrolled in the university, Lawson worked with the Nashville Christian Leadership Council, an affiliate of the Reverend Martin Luther King's Southern Leadership Council...

...It was not based upon actions which had already been performed, but upon Mr...

...In an interview with the Nashville Tennessean, Branscomb stressed that the divinity student's actions, not his ideas, led to the expulsion order...

...Lawson but that he continues in good standing and it's up to the police to deal with him if he violates the law...

...One of the Negro students at Vanderbilt was James Lawson, a personable and energetic thirty-two-year-old ordained Methodist minister from Massilon, Ohio...

...The dispute over Lawson, which involves the Negro "sit-in" movement and its more recent church "kneel-in" manifestation, raises important questions of religious conscience, acaERWIN KNOLL covers education news for the Washington Post and is Washington correspondent for the Southern School News...

...But Brans-comb replied that the two cases were not comparable: a careful check of Davidson's activities had indicated that the professor always stopped short of advocating violation of the law...

...I am totally convinced that God has called me to this work...

...The chancellor issued this statement: "There is no issue involved of freedom of thought, or of conscience, or of speech, or of the right of protest against social custom...

...Lawson for further study to earn his degree...

...He said he had been "unable to assist in the settlement of the difficulties in the divinity school which have resulted from the university's dismissal of James M. Lawson, Jr...

...The three remaining Negro students in the divinity school withdrew, charging that Lawson was expelled "at least partially on the basis of race...

...f All members of the divinity faculty but Nelson would be given ten days to rescind their resignations...

...A review of the conflict may serve to illustrate the kind of crisis likely to form a recurrent pattern in Southern and border areas in the years ahead...

...In good faith, then, and clear conscience, I ask you as Christian brethren to keep our bonds of love and understanding even when there is a lack of information...

...Meanwhile, the controversy remained very much alive...

...Perhaps the only tangible gain from the dispute is that Vanderbilt now has, for the first time, a procedure for handling discipline cases...

...He added: "The destructive effect of your decision upon the confidence and morale of the divinity faculty and others in the university is clearly evident...

...Four days after he was offered the deanship of the divinity school, Harrelson met with the chancellor and other administrators to decline the post and resign from the faculty...

...The university, the chancellor said, "would have protected him in the expression of his ideas...

...When the Christian considers the concept of civil disobedience as an aspect of non-violence, it is only within the context of a law or a law enforcement agency which has in reality ceased to be the law, and then the Christian does so only in fear and trembling before God...

...This possibility has now been reopened by the university's invitation to Mr...

...He played on the divinity school's intramural football team, ate in the general dining hall for students, and attended concerts given by the Nashville symphony orchestra...

...Out of the meeting on March 2, came an ultimatum to Law-son: withdraw by nine the next morning or face expulsion...

...During the lecture series, three outstanding theologians had voiced similar views, and two had offered Lawson scholarships...

...Harrelson took the offer under advisement and announced that he would accept if Lawson were reinstated, Nelson retained as a full professor, and the others persuaded to remain on the faculty...

...Lawson himself has promised to reconsider his decision, but has made no move to apply for his degree from Vanderbilt...

...And there the matter rests...

...This is not just a question of Lawson alone, although he is vital to it...

...Reaction to the expulsion order was swift and vehement...

...Dean Nelson and ten professors resigned...

...We had no illusions when we initiated this program that it could be carried through without difficulties, but those difficulties have not led us to abolish it...

...At the first general meeting of the Vanderbilt faculty in thirty-seven years, the chancellor defended his action, denied that Lawson's race had been a factor in his dismissal, and recalled that more than thirty students who had joined the sit-in movement had not been disciplined in any way by the university...

...Defiant violation of the law is a contradiction of my entire understanding of and loyalty to Christian non-violence...

...The plan was quickly rejected by the executive committee...

...One professor told a reporter: "There is absolutely no question that most of us will leave if this situation is not settled to the satisfaction of the divinity school faculty...

...A university spokesman denied the charge...

...The professors added that the divinity school "must continue to serve the church and to work realistically toward a solution of the crisis now besetting the South...

...One plan was to have him apply for readmission to the summer session...

...demic freedom, and civil rights...

...Lawson was not dismissed because he is a Negro, but in spite of it," he said...

...They said their action "should not be interpreted as meaning that we accept Chancellor Brans-comb's views on the issues in the Lawson case...

...And I, on the other hand, will seek to remain faithful to these bonds in the same manner...

...In the next few days there were persistent reports that at least twenty-five other members of the faculty were planning to resign—including the dean and several department heads at the important school of medicine and a substantial majority of the faculty in physics, chemistry, and political science...

...Branscomb spelled out these terms: f Dean Nelson would be relieved of his duties at once...

...Mr...

...The lunch counters had, by then, been quietly desegregated...

...It also included a prison sentence—later widely publicized by Nashville segregationists— for refusing, as a conscientious objector, to report for military service in 1948...

...In an announced program of continuing civil disobedience in this inflammable area of race, I do not think the university would want to be responsible for consequences which might follow...

...Equally damaging is the effect upon numerous students...

...At month's end, swamped by telephone calls, letters, and telegrams, the university began distributing a statement signed by the chancellor...

...On March 22, some 150 divinity school alumni, in Nashville for the annual Cole Lecture Series and the dedication of a new million-dollar divinity school quadrangle, adopted a resolution requesting Lawson's reinstatement...

...His response was to accept the previously-deferred resignations of the ten divinity professors...

...Ironically, he himself never participated in a sit-in demonstration...

...He did not specify what difficulties, besides Lawson's role in the sit-ins, were involved...

...The Vanderbilt Board of Trust met May 21...

...Branscomb said the action against Lawson would not "in any way" affect Vanderbilt's policy toward admitting Negro students...

...A week later, acting for the first time entirely on his own initiative and without consulting the trustees, Branscomb settled the matter—at least to the extent that it is likely to be settled...

...Nine days later, Chancellor Branscomb overruled the divinity faculty and denied Lawson admission to the summer session...

...Furthermore, the action we took was not punitive...

...It is my earnest hope that conditions at Vanderbilt will soon be conducive to the renewal of the divinity school after this terrible setback...

...The spirit of the faculty depends on the restoration of confidence in the university as a place where complete freedom of responsible thought, expression, and action is secured...

...Lawson's commitment to continue his program of civil disobedience...

...Unlike other Negro students at Vanderbilt, Lawson made a point of participating fully in university life...

...For much of the time when the Lawson controversy raged, Norton was away from the campus on chaplain's duty with the Tennessee National Guard...

...The professors who resigned cited the failure of "three months of steady negotiations with the university administration," but deferred their resignations for a year "in accordance with accepted procedures and with due regard for the welfare of our students...

...The morale of faculty and students, the prestige of Vanderbilt, and its financial well-being have been hurt...

...We support them in this time of crisis, through moral encouragement and financial assistance...

...These are not my words...

...But Lawson's case was another story...

...He had come to Nashville as a field representative of the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation, and had enrolled in the divinity school...

...Nelson has been appointed guest professor of ecumenics at Princeton Theological Seminary...

...In Boston, Lawson said that while he bore "no ill-will toward any member of the Vanderbilt community," he could not return to the university "under the terms of compromise reached at the expense of Dean Nelson...

...When the sit-in movement to desegregate downtown lunch counters began, Lawson, drawing on experience as a missionary in India, offered instruction in passive resistance to some of his fellow students...

...The Lawson case, it said, "involves simply the issue of how far and under what circumstances a student may announce publicly his intention to carry on an organized mass program of violation of the law, and ask the university to keep him in good standing and thus provide a base for his program...

...But the losses of the Lawson case will take long to recover...

...The executive committee of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust, meeting June 3, accepted Dean Nelson's resignation and offered his post to Dean Walter J. Harrelson of the University of Chicago divinity school, who had previously agreed to come to Vanderbilt this fall as professor of Old Testament...

...Under no circumstances have I ever made, or will I ever make, the categorical statement that students should violate the law...

...The controversy which raged last spring and summer and threatened to tear apart one of the nation's most respected private universities has been resolved by a compromise offering everyone involved the opportunity to save face, while making no one very happy...

...In spite of all the excellent things you have done to build up the school in recent years, the responsibility for this critical situation is your own...

...Vanderbilt's Chancellor Harvie Branscomb has said: "This matter is now closed and except for necessary details will not be further discussed...

...Nor should our decision be understood as in any way approving the summary dismissal of Dean Nelson . . . which dismissal we consider to be unjust and ungracious...

...Its intellectual and cultural activities have helped give Nashville the proud title, "the Athens of the South...

...Expressing "shock" at the committee's action, 161 Vanderbilt professors signed a petition asking the trustees to "resolve the crisis without delay...

...Lawson's expulsion left four Negro students at Vanderbilt—three divinity students and one graduate student in physics...

...The sit-ins had produced some violence against the demonstrators, and more was threatened...

...f Lawson would be permitted to receive his degree on the basis of transfer credits from Boston University or examinations at Vanderbilt...

...At dedication ceremonies on the previous day, the alumni had heard sharp criticism of the expulsion from Dean Liston Pope of the Yale University divinity school...

...Nashville's lunch counters now are cited as a model of desegregation...

...In the aftermath of the Lawson case, either road for Vanderbilt is likely to prove rocky...

...The policy of admitting qualified Negro students to certain schools in the university is being continued without change," he declared...

...It includes trial by faculty members and provisions for appeal and review...

...Law-son has been reached after dreadful loss to the reputation of the university and the morale of the faculty...

...But such community organizations as the United Church Women, the Nashville Community Relations Conference, and the Nashville Association of Churches urged settlement of the dispute on terms that would keep the professors at the university...

...As the debate continued, it developed that Lawson's support, while articulate, was not unanimous, or, at least among the students, even dominant...

...Reputation can be built on the willingness and ability of the university to meet intellectual and social change in a creative rather than defensive manner...

...Disavowing any part in the university's action, they noted that Lawson "has been a respected student, and we continue to hold him in respect...

...But it is also a question of whether we have a university here or simply an institution that acts like one part of the time...

...Ironically, too, the Nashville sit-ins had been amicably settled by the time the Vanderbilt controversy reached fever pitch...

...The only alternative to expulsion, Branscomb continued, "would have been to issue a statement saying the university does not agree with Mr...

...Had all gone well, he would have received his bachelor of divinity degree last June...

...Lawson's background included service as a missionary in India, where he studied the Gandhian techniques of passive resistance...

...As many of you know," he wrote, "my whole understanding of the Gospel involves me in seeking to be a minister of reconciliation, as effected in the gracious love of God in Christ...

...It must be ended...

...He says he hopes to return to Nashville as minister of a Methodist church...

...Without specific reference to Lawson, the trustees routinely approved all actions taken by their executive committee in the previous six months— including the expulsion...

...Nelson commented: "Chancellor Branscomb's personal decision on the dispute over Mr...

...Quite a few participated in the Nashville sit-ins, and the university took no action against them...

...Seven years ago, Vanderbilt became one of the first private universities in the South to admit Negro graduate students, though it stipulated that it would enroll only those who could not find comparable educational programs in Negro institutions in Nashville...

...At a public meeting late in February, Mayor Ben West called for an end to the demonstrations and said the law would be invoked against students who remained at lunch counters after being asked to leave...

...f "The same privilege of conducting a civil disobedience campaign would have to be given to all other students of the university, as well as faculty and staff members...

...Nelson, who submitted his resignation to the chancellor effective August 31, attributed it to "your flat refusal to grant the faculty of the divinity school the privilege of admitting Mr...

...On May 5, Vanderbilt students voted 775 to 362 to withdraw from the National Student Association, which had expressed support for the sit-ins and dismay at Lawson's dismissal...

...The divinity faculty, led by Dean Nelson, at once began quiet negotiations with the Vanderbilt administration which, the professors hoped, would lead to Lawson's reinstatement...

...Lawson, who was present, declared: "The law has been used as a gimmick to keep the Negro in his place...

...Its divinity school, where the Lawson controversy was centered, furnishes ministers for many parishes in the area...

...It would have brought the expelled divinity student back to Vanderbilt to take his examinations and receive his degree, and it would have wiped out the resignations of the divinity faculty, though Nelson would still be expected to leave...

...Yet Lawson's expulsion and its aftermath is the number one topic of discussion among the students and faculty who returned in the fall to the red brick buildings set pleasantly among oak and magnolia trees on Vanderbilt's rambling campus in Nashville, Tennessee...

...I do not believe the divinity school should be destroyed over one, single, complex issue," Branscomb said, and turned from his audience in tears...

...The new acting dean of the Vanderbilt divinity school is Herman A. Norton, professor of church history, one of four faculty members who did not follow Nelson's leadership in the protests and resignations...

...Dean J. Robert Nelson of the divinity school, the leader in the faculty protest, announced that the five non-signers also "respect Law-son as a person and support him morally...

...Lawson's fellow students in the divinity school issued a statement calling the expulsion "a grave error" and "a violation of Christian conscience," adding: "We support the right of the Negro community to focus attention on unjust denials of their rights as American citizens, although some of us have reservations about timing and specific methods used in this case...

...Furthermore, the issue completely overlooked is that throughout the demonstrations . . . the students remained wholly loving and non-violent even though the violence directed against them was beyond anyone's imagination...

...As messages of support and offers of employment poured in to the professors from divinity schools at Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Southern Methodist University, among others, a number of students announced plans to leave the university and several graduates mailed their degrees back to Vanderbilt...

...He called in the conservative businessmen who constitute the executive committee of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust—a move he later described privately as a mistake—and discussed the problem of the outspoken divinity student...

...When the controversy was at its height, Everett Tilson, a former member of the divinity school faculty, said he saw Vanderbilt at the crossroads: "She must decide whether her destiny will be that of a serious institute of higher learning or a finishing school in Southern culture...

...There are varying accounts of what else Lawson said, but some published reports quoted him calling for action in defiance of the law...

...The Nashville Banner, the more conservative of the two local newspapers, declared editorially that Vanderbilt would be better off without faculty members who would choose to resign over the Lawson incident...

...But early this year, the atmosphere was tense...

...In any event, Chancellor Branscomb, a distinguished educator who had been asked to remain after passing the retirement age of sixty-five last year, apparently felt that he faced an emergency, and one he could not handle alone...

...The issue is whether or not the university can be identified with a continuing campaign of mass disobedience of law as a means of protest...

...The trustees' executive committee promptly expressed full confidence in the chancellor and directed him to take whatever action he deemed necessary...

...And I deeply regret that I can no longer be a part of this school...

...Only you, sir, could have restored integrity to this school by making right what had been done wrong...

...The future of the divinity school is now gravely imperiled...

...Its liberal arts and professional school alumni constitute much of the business and professional leadership of the region...

...Some critics of the expulsion order contrasted it with Vanderbilt's official attitude toward English Professor Donald Davidson, who continued teaching while serving as president of the Tennessee Federation for Constitutional Government, a militant segregationist organization...

...On June 9, with the medical faculty serving as intermediaries, a compromise plan was agreed to by Branscomb, Board Chairman Harold Vanderbilt, the divinity faculty, and Lawson...

...The three Negro students who withdrew from the divinity school plan to return, feeling that they now can do so "with dignity and self-respect...