Education: Decision at Sewanee

As the regents of the Episcopal-controlled University of the South,* popularly known as Sewanee, filed into their annual meeting one day last June, they knew it was to be no ordinary occasion. Usually their problems had been routine, for in all its 95 years, nothing much had ever ruffled the peaceful campus on the Cumberland plateau of Tennessee. But this time, the regents had a ticklish vote to take: Should they abide by the recommendation of the Fourth Province Synod and admit Negroes to the School of Theology? After hours of debate, the regents voted no.

The campus promptly erupted with protests, and nine out of ten members of the theological faculty threatened to resign unless the regents reversed their decision. The regents replied that Tennessee requires segregation, that it would be flouting the state law to admit Negroes. But the nine, led by Dean Francis Brown, refused to be mollified, and one of them did pull out. “The position taken,” said the rebels, “seems to us untenable in the light of Christian ethics.”

At first, the remaining teachers were willing to wait until the next annual meeting of the regents before carrying out their threat. But as the summer wore on, the controversy spread beyond Sewanee. The Episcopal General Convention slapped the regents by passing a resolution deploring racial “injustices.”

Last week the bitter battle came to a climax. Feeling that their continued presence on the faculty was only making matters worse, Dean Brown and his seven followers formally resigned, even though the regents had agreed to re-study their decision. But whatever the regents may decide next June, the Sewanee seminary faces a bleak future. As of the moment—with or without Negroes—it has only one professor left for its 85 students.

*There are five Episcopal colleges in the U.S.: Sewanee, Kenyon, Hobart, St. Augustine’s and Trinity. Kenyon and Sewanee have seminaries attached to the colleges.