Flambeau front page (Feb. 12, 1960)

Flambeau front page (Feb. 12, 1960)

Florida State University--History
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

This is the front page of the student newspaper the Florida Flambeau, published on February 12, 1960.

Florida Flambeau, Feb. 12, 1960

The Florida Flambeau [original version]; Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Fla. [digital version]

1960-02-12

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English

Newspaper Article

005

FSU Student Seeks Admission to A&M

By ROSA NELL WILSON
Flambeau News Editor

A Florida State University student revealed yesterday he has applied for admission to Florida A&M University.

Alan Breitler, Miami Beach Senior, said he submitted an application for summer session about a month ago and intends to enroll at the Negro institution if accepted.

This is believed to be the first attempt by a white Florida student to enter the Negro college.

Breitler, who plans to graduate from FSU in June. said conversations with students of another race would be intellectually stimulating.

Explaining his reasons, he declared:
“It is my belief that a student has the right to seek knowledge where he desires; that racial discrimination is in opposition to the entire body of spiritual and moral values which should govern a democracy; and that the parcelling out of knowledge on a discriminatory basis is an insult to the world of academics and its members."

A physics major, Breitler is active in student religious affairs. He is president of the Inter-Faith Council, former president of Hillel Foundation. and undersecretary of student welfare for religious affairs In the student body president's cabinet.

Florida A&M Registrar E.M. Thorpe confirmed the application had been received but said the division Breitler applied for, The School of Pharmacy, is not offered during the summer.

Consequently the application is considered as an inquiry has not yet been submitted to anyone for action, he explained.

If the application were properly made, Thorpe said he could see nothing that would hold it
up.

The registrar said other applications have been received from out-of-state white students but none have been admitted. Most applied without realizing it was a segregated school, he remarked. Breitler is scheduled to confer with Thorpe today. He said he would like to take other courses whether he was registered in the School of Pharmacy or not.

Apparently there are no legal barriers to the enrollment of a white student at the Negro University.

State Attorney General Richard R. Ervin said the federal ruling In the Virgil Hawkins case seemed to have taken care of any state laws or rules that would have prevented it.

The long-contended Hawkins case opened the way for integration on the graduate level at the University of Florida, although Hawkin’s application was refused on the grounds of poor academic background.

Two other Negroes have since been admitted to the U of F but one was dropped after a year and a half because of poor grades. No Negroes have applied for admission to FSU.

However Breitler's application is not on the graduate level but for undergraduate courses. Its acceptance would mean the first integration on the undergraduate level.