Desegregation of Auburn University
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Auburn University desegregated on January 4, 1964, with the enrollment and registration of graduate student Harold A Franklin. Franklin was admitted as a graduate student in history and government. Auburn's desegregation was exemplary of both cooperation with the media and Ralph Brown Draughon's leadership.
In November 1962, Harold Franklin, a thirty-year-old graduate of Alabama State College, applied for admission to Auburn as a graduate student in history and government. The university rejected Franklin's application in January 1963, originally citing a lack of a graduate program in government as the reason. His application was again rejected in February, Auburn citing Alabama State College's lack of accreditation, an issue stemming from the school's lack of state funding. On August 23 of that year, Franklin, with attorney Fred Gray, filed a class action suit in the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. The court of Frank M Johnson ruled in Franklin's favor on November 5, 1963. The Board of Trustees voted on November 23 to follow Johnson's ruling, and Franklin's enrollment and registration was set for the spring semester of 1964, beginning January 4.
Media Relations
With the violent events of the Birmingham protests and the murder of Medgar Evers as a backdrop to the situation at Auburn, university president, Ralph Brown Draughon wanted to avoid a violent spectacle on his campus at all costs. Hoping to emulate the desegregation of Clemson University in January, 1963, Draughon invited Clemson's Director of Public Relations, Joe Sherman, to visit Auburn in June, 1963. Sherman advised Draughon to create a good rapport with the media, as well as to appeal to the community for moderation. Auburn Director of Public Relations, Ed Crawford, took care of the relationship with the media by setting up the “News Central.” Here, Auburn housed all authorized media personnel, supplying them with every imaginable amenity from typewriters to dark rooms for their film to food and drink.
Campus Security
Draughon was able to handle the securing of campus with a multifaceted approach. First, Draughon shut down Auburn's campus to everyone except authorized faculty, staff, students and police. Appointing Col. Lynwood Funchess, Director of Building and Grounds, as head of security, Draughon deputized members of the athletic department to patrol campus as well as line Franklin's paths to class for his first couple days.
Meetings with Student Leaders
The other face of Draughon's security plan included a series of meetings he had been holding since the failed desegregation of the University of Alabama in 1956. Draughon had routinely hosted student leaders to bring them in line with his plan for a quiet, uneventful desegregation of Auburn University. These meetings produced a list of rules that would go into effect when the time for desegregation came, and were to be disseminated by these student leaders. Some of the more notable rules were a ban on firearms on campus for the spring semester, and a ban on congregating in large groups on campus. These rules were announced December 3 and required students to sign a pledge agreeing to abide by them in order to return to campus after break.
