Adams v. Califano Ruling Requires Resubmission of HEW Desegregation Plans
Press Release
March 1, 1977

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Press Releases, Volume 6. Adams v. Califano Ruling Requires Resubmission of HEW Desegregation Plans, 1977. d4f9da50-bb92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/370b1f1f-d80e-449e-835a-416fc2296f7e/adams-v-califano-ruling-requires-resubmission-of-hew-desegregation-plans. Accessed May 16, 2025.
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ety NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. egal efense hamd 10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 © (212) 586-8397 The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., issued the following statement commenting on today's decision (April 1) by U.S. District Judge John Pratt in the case of Adams v. Califano, which was originally filed as Adams v- Richardson in 1970. Judge Pratt's decision today, granting a Legal Defense Fund motion made nearly two years ago, orders the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to revoke statewide higher education dese- gregation plans which HEW had approved in 1974, and requires the submission of new plans by September. In this long-standing civil rights case LDF charged HEW with failure to enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and to eliminate discrimination in elementary and secondary schools, state administered special schools and institutions of higher education which receive Federal funds. LDF's basic charges have been sustained by the courts in numerous decisions. In 1973 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, ruling on the higher education aspects of the case, ordered HEW to secure plans to desegregate postsecondary educational systems in 10 states. LDF went back to court in August 1975 with the motion de- cided today, charging that HEW had approved inadequate plans. Judge Pratt's decision today agreed with that contention. HEW must develop new criteria for desegregating higher education systems by July 1. The affected states are Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Arkansas, virginia and North Carolina. Among the remaining four states, Contributions are deductible for U.S, income tax purposes OT 444 Mississippi and Louisiana are being sued by the Department of Justice; Maryland is involved in litigation in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals; matters involving Pennsylvania are being negoti- ated in a separate settlement. Jack Greenberg, LDF's Director-Counsel, and Jean Fairfax, Director of the Legal Defense Fund's Division of Legal Information and Community Service, stated that LDF's objective in the Adams case has been to expand the numbers of blacks as policy-makers, administrators, faculty, nonacademic staff and students in the formerly all-white institutions and to enhance the traditionally black colleges. "To allege that LDF seeks the closing of black institutions is a total misunderstanding of this suit," Miss Fairfax said. Judge Pratt's order today agrees with LDF's position that the burden of desegregation must not be placed on blacks. Miss Fairfax also called upon black citizens groups in the affected states to make their concerns known to Secretary Califano as HEW develops its new guidelines this spring. "LDF's staff and cooperating attorneys will continue to monitor HEW's performance to assure that HEW makes good the promises of the Civil Rights laws and does not return to the benign neglect philosophy which brought on this lawsuit in the first place," Mr. Greenberg said.