Lawyers v. Educators: Changing Perceptions of Desegregation in Public Higher Education.

Efforts to desegregate public higher education have historically embodied two concerns: the need to overturn legally enforced segregation and the need to maximize educational opportunities for black students. While overlapping, the two are not identical. The first is primarily a question of law; the second, a question of educational policy. With the passage of the Morrill Act of 1890 [45], however, questions of legal right in higher education were inextricably bound to definitions of equal opportunity. Congressional sanction and financial support for separate Negro colleges created a recurring educational and legal dilemma. From the earliest days of segregation, lawyers and educators concerned about the condition of black people in this country have had to work together: first, to secure funds to support separate Negro colleges, then, to overturn legal segregation altogether, and, now, to bring life to the promised equality of the Brown v. Board of Education [68] decision. But even among lawyers and educators struggling to achieve equal educational opportunities for blacks, different professional outlooks have shaped varying perceptions of the problem, workable strategies, and desirable goals. Also, the perceptions of each group have been altered by experience and by changes in the judicial process and in higher education. We shall examine when and how the concerns of lawyers and educators have diverged, when they have coincided, and