But with the advent of Gov. John Dalton s

But with the advent of Gov. John Dalton s administration in 1978, public sentiment had shifted to the extent that it was politically possible for Mr. /Dalton to reach a detente of sorts with the federal government on the desegregation controversy.

He moved the state off dead-center in its dealings with the Office of Civil Rights,and the spirit of confrontation gave way to one of at least tentative accommodation.

To the dismay of Mr. Dalton’s conservative supporters, the goals were agreed to, and the struggle seemed to be over.

But the goals aside, both predominantly white and predominantly black schools had long before opened their doors to students of the other race. Not only were the doors opened, but active recruitment efforts to find opposite-race students were well under way.

These efforts to bring a greater degree of racial balance to the schools have been accelerated under the Robb administration, and there can be no doubt of his administration’s commitment to full equality of educational opportunity.

But an odd thing happened on the state’s road to higher education integration.

There have not been enough qualified black young people applying to predominantly white schools, or enough qualified young white people applying to predominantly black schools, to meet the goals.

This development has' frustrated and angered both the Office of Civil Rights and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The latter has gone to court and obtained an order requiring Virginia to conform to the goals by next year.

Gov. Robb and state Secretary of Education John Casteen are understandably outraged by the order. Students going to college cannot, after all, be told what college they must attend.

Further, Mr. Robb and Mr. Casteen have been in the forefront of the efforts to make certain that all Virginia institutions of higher learning are opened to any qualified student who seeks admission regardless of his or her race.

They say they are prepared to take their own case to court if necessary.

The point is that the “goals”, which were initially thought to be guidelines which would be useful in encouraging the state to achieve a more equitable balance in its colleges, have now become ends in themselves. Since this is so, they are no longer goals but are now quotas, purely and simply.

Not only are they quotas, but they are irrelevant quotas.

The object is, or ought to be, to provide the best possible educational advantage for all young Virginians. Any tax-supported institution of higher education in the Commonwealth must, needless to say, be open to any youngster who qualifies for admission and to any faculty or staff applicant who is qualified for the job.

The emphasis now should be on making certain that our colleges and universities provide excellence in the services they offer.

If they do that, the racial make-up of the student bodies and faculties should cease to be an issue.

Desegregation is essential in our institutions of higher learning, as indeed it is in all institutions in a free society.

But there is a vast difference between desegregation and integration-by-quota. The former is an objective of harmony and working together which should be the goal of all concerned and caring Virginians. The latter, however, can only perpetuate the divisiveness of the past.

After all, the key to genuine desegregation is not a numbers game but a broad consensus of social acceptance and recognition of worth.

Although it is painfully slow, Virginia is making demonstrable progress toward that goal. But in spite of this, people in a free society can’t be compelled to attend a college they don’t want to attend.

It would be helpful if the Office of Civil Rights and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund people recognized this fact.