the Dean's signature stating that the Divinity faculty were in favor of integration. Based on that letter, Branscomb requested two commitments from the Board of Trust. The first was that if a qualified African American should apply to the Divinity School, the application should be considered. The Board's agreement led to the admission of Vanderbilt's first African American student, an applicant to the Divinity School in 1953. That student, Rev. Joseph A. Johnson, later served on Vanderbilt's Board of Trust. The second 1952 request was that Vanderbilt should admit African Americans to any programs where similar programs were not locally available to Blacks. The university lawyer objected that integrated classes were illegal under Tennessee law. To that, Branscomb recalled replying, "...that we would rely on him to defend us if we were hailed [sic: hauled] into court, but that as far as the public was concerned, I was confident it would not be convinced that what was legally required in Knoxville was against the law in Nashville," a reference to court ordered integration at the University of Tennessee. The Board agreed. This commitment resulted in the admission of Blacks to the Vanderbilt Law School in 1954, which led to public uproar and calls for Branscomb's resignation. In 1960, James Lawson, a Congress of Racial Equality leader who was a Vanderbilt Divinity student, organized sit-ins in defiance of longstanding local segregation norms. Meanwhile, the editor of the local newspaper, James Geddes Stahlman, was publishing inflammatory anti-integration articles in the Nashville paper, including the questionable assertion that Lawson was advising university students to break the law. Stahlman was an influential member of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust and on its executive committee, which voted to expel Lawson. Lawson was given the option of being expelled or withdrawing from the university. He refused to withdraw and under intense pressure from the Trustees, Chancellor Branscomb carried out the expulsion directive. A dozen faculty members resigned in protest. Branscomb later re-examined his decision, regretting he did not consider the option of referring the matter to a committee to delay action for three months until Lawson's graduation. The university later apologized to Rev. Lawson, who returned to teach at Vanderbilt from 2006 to 2009. In 1962, Branscomb quietly suggested to the student newspaper that student calls for full University integration could be persuasive. Buttressed by the resulting articles and a Faculty Senate resolution in favor that