The Savannah Tribune

No Teaching Posts For Negroes at Univ. Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan, May 1 (ANP)-Both student body and instructors at the University of Michigan became aroused Monday when it was known that William Clayton, one of the most brilliant men in his specialty ever to come to Michigan, missed out on a university faculty job solely because of his race, said Prof. Harry C. Carver of the mathematics department here.

Although there have been competent Negro graduate students at the university, notably in the fields of mathematics and sociology, no Negro has ever received a final recommendation to a teaching position. A secret poll taken last week reveals that 95 per cent of those questioned would not object to Negro instructors.

Reasons for failure of these highly qualified Negroes to obtain positions on the faculty of the university have been many and varied.

According to an investigation conducted by the Michigan Daily, student newspaper here, it was indicated that this failure is due to race alone. The reason given by faculty members for this situation varied from fear of student reaction to a conviction that the appointment of a Negro would never be approved by the authorities.

Said Prof. Carver in regard to the Clayton case. "I'm not interested in stirring up trouble but no one has a right to say that a Negro should not teach at a state university. Clayton is now a lieutenant in the coast artillery; in view of the shortage in the mathematics department, I wish he were here to help us out."

An article appearing in the Michigan Daily, by Jim Conant,

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NEGRO FAIL TO GET TEACHING POSITION
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stated, "Approximately three years ago Clayton, a Ph. D from Pennsylvania, was the most promising man for a vacancy in the mathematics department.

At that time, Prof Carver said he failed to receive an appointment because no one would take the responsibility of saying 'yes' or 'no' to the appointment of a Negro"

"Clayton had the stuff, Prof. Carver pointed out. "He was a perfect gentleman, a good mathematician by any standard Negro or white, and had the personality of a teacher."

Although his candidacy for an instructorship was endorsed by several faculty members, Prof. Carver indicated that the recommendation for the appointment never reached the desk of the president or the board of regents.

Prof. Carver firmly believes that "if Clayton's appointment had gone through, it would have met with no opposition from the administration. I am confident that neither the president nor the board of regents would turn the application down for racial reasons"

Also speaking highly of Clayton's ability was Prof. Raymond L. Wilder, an associate worker Clayton is one of the outstanding Negro mathematicians in the country.

As a scholar and a teacher, he was good."

The following universities employ Negro instructors: The University of Chicago, Harvard university, New York university, Northwestern university, Loyola university and the City College of New York

Michigan university has employed Negroes as technical assistants and readers.

Prof. Dewitt H. Parker, chairman of the philosophy department, gives the reasons for faculty hesitancy in recommending them for teaching positions.

This particular problem has never confronted our department.

ment. If it had, however, there might have been some feeling that students would be embarrassed by a Negro instructor and that the appointment would not go through the authorities. With regard to graduate students, of course, Negroes have always been on an equal footing with every other student."

However a poll conducted by the Michigan Daily indicated: that Prof. Parker was thoroughly wrong in his belief that the employ of a Negro instructor would become embarrassing to students.

The poll, taken on Thursday pointed out that only five per cent. of literary school students would raise any objection to a Negro instructor

Too, President Alexander G. Ruthven stated squarely and firmly that the university has never made racial distinctions in considering applicants for teaching jobs