80

77

'Benefits of the University. - - The General Assembly shall provide
that the benefits of the University, as far as practicable, be extended
to the youth of the State free of expense for tuition; also, that all the
property which has heretofore accrued to the State, or shall hereafter
accrue, from escheats, unclaimed dividends, or distributive shares
of the estates of deceased persons, shall be appropriated to the use
of the University.'

"I find no statute or constitutional provision in force in this State which limits
the authority of the University with respect to adopting rules and regulations and
standards for the admission of students from racial groups to the University.
The above-quoted provisions of the State Constitution and the Statute, G.S. 116-
10, appear to be the only pertinent provisions of our Constitution and laws on
this subject unless G.S. 116-100 could be considered as pertinent.

"G. S. 116-100 is the so-called Murphy Act which provides that the Board
of Trustees of the North Carolina College at Durham is authorized and empower-
ed to establish from time to time such graduate courses in the liberal arts field
as the demand may warrant and funds may justify and they are likewise authorized
and empowered to establish ' departments of law, pharmacy and library science'
and 'may add to the professional courses from time to time as the need for same
is shown and the funds of the State will justify.'

"The Board of Trustees of the Agricultural and Technical College at Greens-
boro is likewise authorized to add professional courses in agriculture and tech-
nical lines as the need for same is shown and the funds of the State will justify.

"This Act also provides that in the event there are Negro residents in this
State properly qualified who can certify that they have been duly admitted to a
reputable graduate and professional college for courses not being offered at the
North Carolina College, the differential in cost in attending an out-of-state
institution is paid for from funds made available through this College. A like
provision is made as to technical courses at the Agricultural and Technical
College at Greensboro.

"While this Act provides for graduate and professional courses for Negroes
in these state-supported institutions and by out-of-state aid, the Act does not
attempt to limit the autnority of the Board of Trustees of the University of North
Carolina with respect to admissions to that institution.

"I am, therefore, of the opinion that the Board of Trustees of the University
of North Carolina has the power if it sees fit to do so, to adopt rules and regula-
tions and standards for admission of students at the University of North Carolina
such as the one recommended by the Executive Committee, a copy of which you
sent me, without further legislative authority. I have, of course, not commented
on the questions as to whether or not, as a matter of policy, such important
regulations should or should not be submitted to the General Assembly for
approval.

"At the same time, I should point out that under the decisions of the Supreme
Court of tne United States, the State has the right to maintain separate, if sub-
stantially equal, educational facilities for the education of members of different
races. The Fourteenth Amendment, as construed by the Supreme Court of the
United States, in cases stemming from Plessy v. Ferguson decided in 1895,
construes the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States as
not requiring identity of facilities offered to members of different races by state
supported educational institutions or schools provided the separate facilities are
substantially equal in providing educational opportunity. The recent decision
in our own Law School case recognizes ' separate but equal doctrine', but on
the facts of the case determined that the separate facilities were not substantially
equal at the Law School provided by the State at Durham, mainly on account of
the age and experience of the faculties of the State institutions.

"With highest regards, I am

Yours very truly,

/s/ Harry McMullan
Attorney General"

Mr. Gray said, "I should like, for tne benefit of the Board, to state my personal
feeling on segregation of races: Although the public schools are not at issue in this
case, I would say very frankly to you that I am opposed to the elimination of