Dallas Club Withdraws Objection To Harvard-Bishop College Debate

The Harvard Club of Dallas Taxas yesterday withdrew its objections to a debate between the Harvard Debate Council and Bishop College, a small Negro school in Dallas.

With this information in hand, the Debate Council voted unanimously last night to accept the invitation from Bishop, and Robert H. Donaldson '64, president of the Council, said he was at work arranging the debate.

When the Debate Council checked with the Dallas club three weeks ago about the invitation from Bishop, it received word through Howard F. Gillette '35, general secretary of alumni, that "all things considered" it would be better if the Debate Council stuck to its scheduled debates with Southern Methodist University and the University of Dallas, and did not debate Bishop.

Members of the Dallas club reportedly felt that a debate between Harvard and a Negro college would serve no constructive purpose, and would only increase hostility to Harvard in the Southwest.

At the request of Dean Watson, Donaldson contacted Alfred Lurie '43, president of the Harvard Club of Dallas, yesterday morning, to ask him if the Dallas club would reconsider its original objections to the debate.

"Mr. Lurie stated that the Dallas club would no longer object if Harvard debates Bishop in Dallas, pointing out, however, that this debate, unlike that to be held with S.M.U., in Dallas, was not officially 'under the auspices' of the Dallas club," Donaldson said in a statement last night.

"Go Right Ahead"

Reached by telephone, Lurie confirmed that he had spoken to Donaldson, and said he told him "to go right ahead with arrangements for the debate" with Bishop. Lurie said the Dallas club had no objections to the debate, and expressed his feeling that the Debate Council had the right to debate with anyone it wanted.

Lurie said he did not think the debate would be embarrassing to the Harvard club. "We'll know in a couple of weeks whether this has helped or hurt Harvard in the Southwest, but I don't expect any repercussions at all," Lurie stated.

In his statement last night. Donaldson made clear that the Debate Council "has wanted to debate Bishop College from the start."

The statement said that Dean Watson had informed the Debate Council Sunday night "that it did indeed have the option to go against the wishes of the Harvard Club of Dallas and accept a challenge to debate Bishop College."

According to Donaldson, Watson had advised the Debate Council to cancel the Dallas trip if the Dallas club refused to withdraw its objections to the debate.

"The Harvard Debate Council has frequently accepted challenges from Southern Negro colleges in the past (for example, Harvard has debated Arkansas A.M. & N. for the past six year), and will continue to accept gladly such invitations in the future," Donaldson's statement concluded.

No Discrimination

Dean Watson said yesterday that the issue at stake was a matter of "basic University policy--Harvard can never allow any of its recognized undergraduate organizations to discriminate."

Watson explained that members of the Debate Council had originally come to him with the invitation from Bishop, and that he had referred them to Gillette solely for the purpose of making sure that there was no state law against racially mixed debates in Texas.

Members of the Council almost got arrested several years ago when they debated a Negro college in Alabama in violation of such a law.