Faulkner at Virginia: Media

The Cavalier Daily 8 May 1957: 2

Council Investigates Spectator

An important decision was made in Monday night's meeting of the Student Council. Four Councilmen have been assigned to investigate the forthcoming issue of the Virginia Spectator due on the stands Friday. The magazine will be devoted to a study of racial segregation. The Council decision to look into this matter is one which has taken courage and which reflects deep concern over the potentialities of such a magazine.

Five articles will be presented. John Kasper, arch-segregationist of Clinton, Tennessee, and Charlottesville notoriety, has written an argument in favor of separation entitled "Segregation or Death." This is the first piece written for publication by this person.

A second pro-segregation article, "Segregation Means Degeneration," has been submitted by Floyd Fleming, Vice-President of the Seaboard White Citizens Council on which Kasper is Executive Secretary.

Two authors have written pro-integration articles. Sarah Patton Boyle of Charlottesville has contributed "Why I Believe in Integration" and Virginia NAACP president Edwin B. Henderson has submitted "Integration in Virginia."

William Faulkner, noted author and University Writer-in-Residence, has written a "middle-of-the-road" stand which previously appeared in Life Magazine, "A Letter to the North." There is little doubt that this issue of the Spectator will receive wide attention and comment.

We say that the Council decision to investigate was courageous because another course of action (or inaction) was available to them. They could just as easily have ignored this matter and waited to see what reaction it would cause after the Spectator had gone on sale. In taking the more positive approach and looking into this magazine before it reaches the public, the Council not only risks charges of interfering with the free press (which they are in no way doing) but more important, they fore themselves into the position where they must publicly go on record either in favor of or opposed to publication of the issue. This is not an envious position but, as several Councilmen stated, one to which they are obligated by virtue of the office to which they were elected.

It is one thing to investigate and another to act. If the Student Council finds this magazine unacceptable to the University, what measures can they take against the Spectator Corporation? Two regulations seem to apply–one a Council bylaw and the other a University regulation. Section 5 of Bylaw IV states,

"All student organizations excepting the Honor Committee, the Judiciary Committee, and self-governing groups hold their power from the Student Council and are subject to the regulations of the Council."

University regulations as set forth in the University of Virginia Record specify, after referring to a list of approved publications, that:

"...students who wish to publish, distribute or sell any other publication must first obtain approval of the Student Council..."

(The reference to "other" publications would at first imply that the Council authority extended only to activities not included in the above-mentioned list of approved publications. But, authority over one such organization certainly implies authority over them all in a case such as this.)

We hope that there will be no need to use either of these rules against the Spectator. Presentation of this issue, if handled intelligently and maturely, can make the magazine a genuine contribution to the study of racial segregation and integration and a credit to the University. Anything short of this however, can make it a disaster. In this fact is found justification for the Council's choice to investigate. The handling of this matter calls for thought and good judgement on the parts of all persons concerned. We believe it will receive just this.