Gantt's Attorneys to Proceed Immediately for Injunction in Clemson Case

    PRESS RELEASE @ “- 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
TOCOLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEWYORK19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY 
President Director-Counsel Associate Counsel 

a) 

GANTT'S ATTORNEYS TO PROCEED IMMEDIATELY 
FOR INJUNCTION IN CLEMSON CASE January 16, 1963 

NEW YORK -- Attorneys for Harvey Gantt plan to proceed immediately 

to secure Gantt's admission to Clemson College on January 28, 1963, as 

ordered by the U, S, Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. A 

motion for judgment in accordance with the Fourth Circuit's opinion 

will probably be madé on January 17, 1963. 

Mrs. Constante Bakér Motléy; chief attorney for Gantt, said: 

"With today's historic ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Fourth 

Circuit every southern state has now either voluntarily or by court 

order admitted Negroes to a formerly all-white state school." She 

noted that in Alabama, where no Negroes are now attending integrated 

schools, though a desegregation decision was won in 1956, "Negroes 

have filed to enter the University of Alabama, and we will support 

their applications with legal action." 

The three-judge appeals court, in reversing a December 21st 

decision by South Carolina District Judge C. C. Wyche, said: 

(1) Gantt is fully qualified; (2) he should be treated as all other 

transfer applicants; (3) the District Court should issue an injunc- 

tion to secure his admission for the second semester; and (4) the 

injunction should include all other Negro students qualified to 

attend Clemson, 

Gantt had attempted to transfer to Clemson from Iowa State 

College since January 1961. Since then he has written many letters 

to the Registrar and other Clemson officials in an attempt to complete 

his application. At the trial in November 1962, Legal Defense Fund 

attorneys argued that this delay in considering Gantt's application 

was evidence that his papers were handled differently from those of 

white students, His attorneys also argued that Clemson, in not admit- 

ting Gantt, was simply following a long-standing "whites only" 

admission policy. 

NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys for Gantt are Matthew J. 
Perry and Lincoln C. Jenkins, Jr., of Columbia, S. C., Donald J, 
Sampson and Willie T. Smith of Greenville, S. C., and Mrs. Constance 
Baker Motley and Jack Greenberg ot a York City. 

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