Classes Resumed At High School

Classes at Ann Arbor High School resumed today following a day of stormy confrontations between Negro students and the faculty and administration. Sgt. Chester Carter, policeman-counselor at the school, said corridors were "quiet" this morning. No regular classes were held yesterday. Instead, Negro and white students met at facultywide meetings to declare their grievances and make suggestions for change. There was no violence during the s e s s i o n s yesterday, although the atmosphere was tense. A number of verbal tiffs broke out in the corridors, however. Sgt. Carter and Det. Lt. Eugene Staudehmaier were present throughout the day. Huron High Principal Paul Meyers told The News Staudenmaier was there on his own, however, and was not called to the school. An assembly which had been planned today to inform the student body of the results of yesterday's session was scrapped. Principal Nicholas Schreiber instead gave a report over the public address system. A committee of 17 teachers and school personnel, aided by a com ■'ittee of Negro students, met tL s morning to determine how a list of 21 demands presented by the Negro students yesterday can be implemented. A preliminary report on the implementation of these demands -which the Negro students said would help "correct racial inequities" at the high school- will be presented to the faculty tomorrow afternoon. Ronald Edmonds, a social studies teacher at the high school, is chairman of the 17■man committee. Yesterday's sessions were scheduled in the wake of a confrontation Friday between Negro students and the school's administration. Negro students boycotted classes that day in protest of a curriculum questionnaire directed only at Negro students. Following a day of discussion with representatives of the administration Friday, the Negro students requested a meeting with the entire faculty to air their grievances and discuss students' charges of racial disrriminat.ion at the high school. A turbulent three-hour session was held yesterday morning with Negro students and the faculty, administration and su-, perintendent of schools. The press was barred from the session, but it was evident the meeting was a stormy one. One teacher commented, "It got pretty rough in there." Another remarked, "We were lucky. We were sitting on dynamite with a short fuse." A sign which read "Black Power" was attached to the podium in the auditorium, where the session was held. Edward Welch Jr., president of the Youth Council of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, presided over the morning session. During the meeting, charges of racial discrimination and bigotry involving athletics, academies and extra-curricular activities were levelled at a number of teachers, counselors and administrators by the Negro students. Supt. W. Scott Westerman Jr. said the charges will be fully investigated. He had instructed the faculty not to respond yesterday to charges levelled at the meeting. Negro students applauded vigorously when the charges were aired. In the afternoon, both white and Negro 'students met again with the faculty. Originally, plans called for white students to gather separately, but the Negroes requested that they be allowed to particípate, too. Welch explained: "It (the afternoon session) was supposed to be for white students but we didn't like that. We initiated this and we feit we had a rightto be there." Further grievances were then aired. The white students met alone following the lVi-hour mixed session. According to Westerman, the white students present passed a resolution "unanimously supporting" the Negro students' 21 demands. Among these demands were that the school "evalúate all teachers and other school personnel, black and white, for racial prejudice and unjust actions against Negros. T h o s e found to discrimínate in any way should be dismissed." The students also demanded that pólice officers, in or out of uniform, be prohibited at the school, and that a civil rights assembly with compulsory attendance be held at least twice a year. Yesterday's sessions were attended by same parents. Also present were Dr. "A 1 b e r t H. Wheeler, president of the state conference of the NAACP, andj Mrs. Jesse Hill, adviser of the NAACP Youth Council. Dr. Wheeler termed the meeting a "positive start" in correcting racial inequities at AAHS. The statement g i v e n by Schreiber today gives the administration's appraisal of the recent events. Portions of the statement read as follows: "During the past s e v e r a 1 weeks there have been references made in the Student Council, in the underground newspaper as well as by some Negro students to the effect that many Negro students were forced on to the General Curriculum. This same charge was made earlier in the Human Relations Commission "Profile" and in the Vinter-Saari report last yegr. I thought it would be in order to obtain the facts in the case and if there was discrimination shown by counselors or anyone else we wanted to find out about it. Quite evidently our method of obtaining this information through a questionnaire was objected to and seriously questioned by many Negro students . . ." A f t e r detailing yesterday's sessions, the statement continued: "Following the joint session in the afternoon the faculty met until 5 p.m. to consider action to be taken. The faculty passed among others, two major resolutions: (1) that we issue a statement that the faculty received the 21 items from the black students and that we react with sympathy with these demands. (2) a committee made up of school-wide personnel be appointed to work with the black students in an attempt to formúlate recommendations for the faculty's congideration, some of which c o u 1 d be implemented next week while others would have to be referred to the Board of Education for further consideration. "The white students in their meetings in the afternoon also voted to support the list of 21 demands to correct racial inequities . . . "We hope we are facing the issue of student grievances intelligently and fairly. Inasmuch as the faculty acted in the spirit that it did, showing their willingness to meet with students to listen to their grievances, and to take such prompt action should be a clear indication of their sincerity. I hope, thërefore, that now we can continue with the main business of the school without further interruption for the remaining seven days of classes this ' semester. "In concluding this report may I assure those who registered complaints of any kind that we intend to follow up on each one and to resolve them fairly and justly. Some of , these can be followed up yet this semester while others may have to wait as the important task of closing the semester, final examinations and graduation cannot wait. "Although we all regret the interruption to the school routine and the loss of school time, if the activities of the last two school days serves the important role of dealing justly with all students and uniting the school, it will have been worth the expense and effort and emotional strain."