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MISSISSIPPI CLIPPING BUREAU

 3162 Oak Forest Dr.
JACKSON, MISS.

Clipped from:

Delta Demo. Times
Greenville
12-14
(Date)

Negro May Sure If Southern Bars Him

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (UPI)—

Negro Clyde Kennard, a former University of Chicago student who wants to attend all – white Mississippi Southern College, said Saturday he intends to file a court suit if it takes that to be admitted.

Kennard, 30, who lives on a farm near here with his mother, was asked if he would go into federal court if his second application for enrollment is rejected.

“I hope it won’t be necessary,” Kennard told United Press International. “The people at the college have been quite considerate. I believe it would be best for the college and the community if I would not have to resort to court action. But it may be necessary to do that.”

Dr. W. D. McCain, college president, announced this week that Kennard had told the college he would submit another application for enrollment as an undergraduate for the winter quarter beginning Jan. 6. His first application, submitted almost three years ago, was incomplete, McCain said.

McCain did not elaborate but Kennard said his application did not include the names of five persons who attended Southern who would vouch for his moral character. This is a requirement made by the State College Board for all institutions under its jurisdiction, it has never been tested in the courts.

Kennard, a native of Hattiesburg, said he told the college in a letter that under Mississippi’s segregated society “‘[sic]it would be impossible for graduates of Southern to know anything about my moral character.”

Kennard said he asked the college to waive that requirement or let him submit the names of persons of the University of Chicago and Fayetteville State Teachers College, a negro institution in North Carolina. Kennard said he attended the two colleges over a period of several years but never earned a bachelor’s degree.

He said the new application he intends to submit in a few days also will not contain the names of five former Southern students.

“Some of the students who have been admitted to Southern have not met that requirement,” Kennard said.

Kennard said he planned to confer with Dr. McCain again Monday and would decide after that when to submit the new application.