Letter from F.W. Boatwright "An Open Letter to the Student Body"

Letter from F.W. Boatwright "An Open Letter to the Student Body"

This article is a letter from the president to the students who signed a petition after an African American speaker, Russell Jones, was not permitted to eat with the white students after his speech. Jones spoke at the YWCA on behalf of the Intercollegiate Council, and was brought to campus by the RIC. The president wrote that the students did not clarify who did not allow the speaker to sit with them, and that he did not hear of the incident until 2 weeks after. He also stated that there is no school policy that states the speaker should have been allowed to eat with the students. Boatwright states that the officers at the University of Richmond have been kind and helpful toward blacks, and have made efforts to improve their educational and economic opportunities. He claims that African Americans are much more in need of these opportunities rather than social equality. Boatwright wrote that he will not create a policy that "invites" black speakers to dine with the students as it is not the place to be implementing social equality. He claims when majority of students and parents are willing to invite black guests into their homes to dine with them, he will then consider changing the policy.

"An Open Letter to the Student Body." The Richmond Collegian XXX, no. 12, (April 14, 1944): 2. http://collegian.richmond.edu/cgi-bin/richmond?a=d&d=COL19440414.2.13&srpos=3&e=01-01-1939-31-12-1945--en-20--1--txt-txIN-negro+speaker-ARTICLE-----#

1944-04-14

English

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Richmond (Va.)