Dissenter in the Administration

Even though the Nixon Administration has veered away from a strong school integration policy, U.S. Commissioner of Education James E. Allen Jr. has stuck to his own course. Long a staunch opponent of segregation --de facto or de jure--Allen last week issued a statement that seemed critical of the legal distinctions central to President Nixon's March 24 desegregation message. "There is no way," said Allen, "whereby the principle of equality of educational opportunity can be made to accommodate the continuing existence of segregated schools in a democratic society--no matter how difficult the problems involved in eliminating them may be."

Desegregation, wrote Nixon in his message, has "too often proved a tragically futile effort to achieve in the schools the kind of multiracial society which the adult community has failed to achieve for itself." Wrote the commissioner: "All our children must live in a multiracial world, and the school is a natural place in which to introduce them to that world."

Though Allen insisted that the President was "defining federal responsibility," while he was speaking as "an educator to educators," his own emphasis on commitment contrasts sharply with the Administration's focus on legalism. "Do you think it is the duty of the public school system to teach brotherly love?" Texas Congressman Robert Casey asked Allen at a recent hearing. "Yes, sir," the commissioner replied.

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