Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Q: This happened between what years in college?
A: That was between my junior and senior year.
Q: I suppose it was during the senior year that the scholarship decision arose?
A: Perfectly right.
Q: How did you decide on Northwestern?
A: Well, I had made an application to both the University of Chicago and
Northwestern and had been accepted at each on the basis of my college grades.
Northwestern opened about three weeks later than the University of Chicago and
I had come to Chicago that summer, I had this job, and I decided thilt, if I
could work an additional three weeks before I went to school, I would have a
little more of a "stash," you know. So I chose Northwestern on that basis.
Q: And you had a scholarship that you could use at both these schools?
A: Well, yes. The scholarship would be paid by the University of Arkansas
and it would cover tuition at both schools.
Q: Would be paid by the University of Arkansas?
A: By the State of Arkansas.
Q: State of Arkansas. They would pay for . . .
A: They would pay the tuition directly to the school. They would send a
check to me and I would just endorse it to the school.
Q: It would seem they would do that for their own schools in Arkansas, but
they chose Illinois? Or allowed you to choose Illinois?
A: No, what they did was--the scholarship came as a result of their obviating
my attendance at the University of Arkansas.
Q: Oh.
A: You see, at the time, the University of Arkansas was an all-white school.
And they experienced no anxiety to have any black students.
9: I see.
A: And, to avoid it, they just said, "I'll tell you what you do. Don't
hassle it, you just go right ahead somewhere else and we'll pay your tuition,
wherever you get in." So that is what happened. Now, if they had admitted me
to the University of Arkansas, I could not have gone because I didn't have
any money.
Q: Yes, 1 see.