March 1998
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Garrity Discusses Landmark Integration Case The federal judge who ordered the integration of Boston's public schools and spent 11 years supervising the case spoke to future teachers and other members of the UMass Boston community Jan. 29.
US District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr. discussed the impact of Morgan vs. Nucci and current discrimination cases. Over 70 people, including students in the Program to Encourage Minority Students to Enter the Teaching Profession (PEMS-ETP), attended the event.
Rep. Gloria Fox introduced Garrity as one of the "warriors for change and justice" who has fought for desegregation in education and housing.
"I think it's marvelous that you have this program to encourage minorities to become interested in the field of education," Garrity said of PEMS-ETP.
"Everyone thinks about the Boston schools case as just a busing case," he said, adding that transportation was one of at least a dozen intended remedies for segregation. "There was discrimination in every nook and cranny of the Boston School District."
Respect, dignity and opportunity were three main issues in the Morgan case, as they were in Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education, the 1954 Supreme Court case that banned segregation in public schools, Garrity said. In the Morgan case, his ruling simply followed "the script that was written by the Supreme Court."
Though Boston's schools have been integrated for 24 years, the Morgan case still impacts issues. "The court orders in that case have not all terminated," he said. Questions related to the case must be answered, including some dealing with faculty/staff desegregation, remedial necessity and the lingering effect of previous discrimination. "The problem is, 'how long are desegregation orders effective?'" he said. Despite ongoing controversy surrounding the 1974 decision, Garrity was surrounded by admirers during his UMass Boston visit.
"Judge Garrity, you've been a professional hero of mine for 25 years," said Dick Clark, dean of the Graduate College of Education (GCOE). "What this is about is central to what the Graduate College of Education is all about -- not peripheral, but central," Clark said.
"Garrity deserves a lot of credit," added Dr. Harold Horton, director of PEMS-ETP and associate director of the Trotter Institute. "He had courage and guts. He stood up for the right thing."
The judge's speech, part of the PEMS-ETP Winter '98 Orientation/Workshop, was sponsored by the Trotter Institute and GCOE.