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Oral history interview with Daniel H. Pollitt, April 5, 1991 [electronic resource] : interview L-0064-7, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).

Summary:

This is the seventh interview in a nine-part series of interviews with civil liberties lawyer Daniel H. Pollitt. In this interview, Pollitt focuses on the Speaker Ban controversy as it unfolded on the campus of the University of North Carolina during the mid-1960s. According to Pollitt, conservative state legislators enacted the Speaker Ban because they opposed the wave of student activism at the University of North Carolina during the early 1960s. Pollitt explains that he saw it as a campaign of anti-intellectualism. After outlining how the Speaker Ban was passed by the General Assembly on the sly during the last day of the 1963 legislative session, Pollitt explains the reaction of UNC President William Friday and UNC Chancellor William Aycock. Opposition to the Speaker Ban was widespread on campus, and Pollitt, as a member of the American Association of University Professors, bided his time until the next legislative session of 1965 by monitoring the enforcement of the ban and speaking out against it. Pollitt explains that the threat by the Southern Association of Colleges and Universities to repeal accreditation of North Carolina schools provided the impetus for the General Assembly to withdraw the ban in 1965. He describes how the General Assembly nonetheless encouraged the Boards of Trustees at North Carolina colleges and universities to enact similar regulations on their own. The interview concludes with Pollitt's discussion of how he participated in putting together a lawsuit to challenge the new regulations and how Herbert Aptheker, an avowed communist, was brought to UNC to provide fodder for the lawsuit. Ultimately, the Ban was ruled "unconstitutionally vague." Pollitt's comments in this interview reveal how southern legislators and comparatively liberal universities (UNC in particular) often found themselves at odds during a tumultuous era of social change.

Electronic resources

Record details

  • Physical Description: 1 online resource
  • Edition: Electronic edition
  • Publisher: [Chapel Hill, N.C.] : University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill, 2008.

Content descriptions

General Note:
Duration: 00:52:32.
Interview participants: Daniel H. Pollitt, interviewee; Ann McColl, interviewer.
Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner. Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.
This electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South. It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.
Title from menu page (viewed Nov .12, 2008).
Type of Computer File or Data Note:
Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 80 kilobytes, 96.2 megabytes.
Original Version Note:
Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series L, University of North Carolina, interview L-0064-7, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Original transcript: 22 p.
Funding Information Note:
Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.
System Details Note:
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
System requirements: Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.
Subject:
Pollitt, Daniel H. > Interviews.
North Carolina. Speaker Ban Law.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. School of Law > Faculty > Political activity.
Academic freedom > North Carolina > Chapel Hill.
Civil rights workers > North Carolina > Chapel Hill > Interviews.
Freedom of speech > North Carolina > Chapel Hill.
Law teachers > North Carolina > Chapel Hill > Interviews.
Universities and colleges > Law and legislation > North Carolina.
Genre:
Oral histories.

Accessibility Features

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24510. ‡aOral history interview with Daniel H. Pollitt, April 5, 1991 ‡h[electronic resource] : ‡binterview L-0064-7, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
2461 . ‡iAlso cited as: ‡aInterview L-0064-7, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
24630. ‡aInterview with Daniel H. Pollitt, April 5, 1991
250 . ‡aElectronic edition
264 1. ‡a[Chapel Hill, N.C.] : ‡bUniversity Library, UNC-Chapel Hill, ‡c2008.
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500 . ‡aDuration: 00:52:32.
500 . ‡aInterview participants: Daniel H. Pollitt, interviewee; Ann McColl, interviewer.
500 . ‡aText encoded by Jennifer Joyner. Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.
500 . ‡aThis electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South. It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.
500 . ‡aTitle from menu page (viewed Nov .12, 2008).
516 . ‡aText (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 80 kilobytes, 96.2 megabytes.
520 . ‡aThis is the seventh interview in a nine-part series of interviews with civil liberties lawyer Daniel H. Pollitt. In this interview, Pollitt focuses on the Speaker Ban controversy as it unfolded on the campus of the University of North Carolina during the mid-1960s. According to Pollitt, conservative state legislators enacted the Speaker Ban because they opposed the wave of student activism at the University of North Carolina during the early 1960s. Pollitt explains that he saw it as a campaign of anti-intellectualism. After outlining how the Speaker Ban was passed by the General Assembly on the sly during the last day of the 1963 legislative session, Pollitt explains the reaction of UNC President William Friday and UNC Chancellor William Aycock. Opposition to the Speaker Ban was widespread on campus, and Pollitt, as a member of the American Association of University Professors, bided his time until the next legislative session of 1965 by monitoring the enforcement of the ban and speaking out against it. Pollitt explains that the threat by the Southern Association of Colleges and Universities to repeal accreditation of North Carolina schools provided the impetus for the General Assembly to withdraw the ban in 1965. He describes how the General Assembly nonetheless encouraged the Boards of Trustees at North Carolina colleges and universities to enact similar regulations on their own. The interview concludes with Pollitt's discussion of how he participated in putting together a lawsuit to challenge the new regulations and how Herbert Aptheker, an avowed communist, was brought to UNC to provide fodder for the lawsuit. Ultimately, the Ban was ruled "unconstitutionally vague." Pollitt's comments in this interview reveal how southern legislators and comparatively liberal universities (UNC in particular) often found themselves at odds during a tumultuous era of social change.
534 . ‡pOriginal version: ‡tSouthern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series L, University of North Carolina, interview L-0064-7, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ‡nOriginal transcript: 22 p.
536 . ‡aFunding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.
538 . ‡aMode of access: World Wide Web.
538 . ‡aSystem requirements: Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.
60010. ‡aPollitt, Daniel H. ‡vInterviews.
61010. ‡aNorth Carolina. ‡tSpeaker Ban Law.
61020. ‡aUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ‡bSchool of Law ‡xFaculty ‡xPolitical activity.
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650 0. ‡aCivil rights workers ‡zNorth Carolina ‡zChapel Hill ‡vInterviews.
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650 0. ‡aLaw teachers ‡zNorth Carolina ‡zChapel Hill ‡vInterviews.
650 0. ‡aUniversities and colleges ‡xLaw and legislation ‡zNorth Carolina.
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7001 . ‡aMcColl, Ann. ‡einterviewer ‡0(CARDINAL)216937
7102 . ‡aSouthern Oral History Program. ‡0(CARDINAL)315877
7102 . ‡aUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ‡bDocumenting the American South (Project) ‡0(CARDINAL)530366
7102 . ‡aUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ‡bLibrary. ‡0(CARDINAL)155444
7400 . ‡aOral histories of the American South.
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