Newspapers / Black Ink (Black Student … / March 1, 1974, edition 1 / Page 5
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March, 1974 THE BLACKJ.NK 5 Grad students face the same problems minority students completing their senior year of undergraduate study in Nortii Carolina, organize this list according to fields of career interests, and distribute these to the pertinent school or department. In addition to this stated policy, the chief academic officer of eleven predominantly Black schools would be invited to spend a day evaluating UNC's graduate programs. It is hoped that these officers would encourage students to attend this university and act as resource persons to supply information and to answer any questions that students might have about UNC. This would also extend to twenty “reputable” Black institutions outside North Carolina. The majority of students surveyed felt that, although this elaborate program had been organized, only about one-third of surveys class the' size of next year’s Black freshman class. He has received approximately 575 applications and hopes that at least 400 will be accepted. “An average of 50 per cent of those that are accepted usually come,” Epps said. “Right now it is lookirfg good.” He added: “If all goes well on the fmancial end, we will have a good size class.” Epps Emma Pullen Editor-in-chieJ Recruiting season is’.over . . . applications are in. . . high school students are waitiiig to be accepted. Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions, Richard Epps, who spends all of his waking hours reading these applications and contacting students, is very optimistic about all graduate and professional schools and departments were actively recruiting BTack students. Cummings stated that this was highly inconsistent with the intentions of UNC’s Affirmative Action Plan. This lack of effort places North Carolina’s universities “an even further distance form potential Black faculty to meet Affirmative Action needs for 11 white campuses in this state,” said Cummings. Problems do not end If a Black student is accepted to one of UNC’s graduate or professional programs, his or her problems do not end here, however. At this point, financial assistance becomes a pressing concern. According to Cummings, “our survey shows that nearly half of the students find assistance inadequate to the extent that study Janice Mills Managing Editor Black graduate and professional students have recently revealed the fact that their status at this university does not constitute an automatic immunity to the problems and concerns of Black undergraduates. Worries about financial aid, curriculum relevance, the absence of Black faculty and administrators, and alienation within this pale environment are also important elements of their daily experiences on this campus. The revelation of this issue resulted from a survey of Black graduate and professional students for a report that-will be completed in the near future. The “State of the University Message: A Black Prospectus” is a joint effort of the Black Faculty and Staff Caucus, Black Campus Ministry, and the Black Student Movement to evaluate the relationships between the university and its Black constituents. The major focus of this report will be all the schools and departments, administrative units and agencies of the university. Humphrey Cummings, a Black graduate student in the schools of City and Regional Planning and Law, constructed a survey designed to evaluate the Black graduate and professional students’ assessment of the university’s entire graduate program, excluding Health Sciences. These programs are to be evaluated by Black Students in these departments. The report that Cummings prepared for the sponsors of this report revealed the following concerns of Black graduate and professional students. No organized recruitment Until this year, there was no organized minority recruitment program at the graduate level. Presently, this program should operate as a resource pool for the separate graduate and professional schools and department. The' Graduate School would use the Minority Graduate Student Locator Service of the Educational Testing Service to prepare a list of Congressman Ronald V. Dellums, most outspoken member of the Congressional Black Caucus and developer of the “politics of niggers” will be featured speaker of the Black Arts Festival in April. The thirty-eight year old representative of California’s Seventh Congressional District is a member of the District of Columbia and Foreign Affairs Committees in the House of Representatives. Branded a“radicalextremist”by former Vice-President Agnew during his initial campaign for the California seat in 1970, Dellums has yet to lose the label as he nears the end of his second term in Washington. Rising above the parochial constituency of Berkeley and Oakland, Congressman Dellums represents a national constituency, composed of blacks and America’s “new niggers” — women, students, Chicanos, Indians, and poor whTtes. The “politics of niggers” or coalition politics, as white liberals prefer to call it, is E>ellums’ dream of a powerful organization of American minorities and other oppressed groups uniting in the common goal of social, economic, political, and legal equality for all. Not oblivious to the obstacles in the path of such an ideal goal, Dellums is committed and unafraid to stand up for controversial issues on the floor of Congress, in the news media, and any other available forum. One such issue involves the dubious fitness of Richard Nixon to continue as President of the United States. In 1972, Dellums, along with Congresswoman Bella Abzug, and a few other anti- Vietnam War legislators proposed a bill of impeachment of President Nixon due to “high crimes and misdemeanors” committed as a result of the mining of the ports at Haiphong and the bombing of Vietnam. These acts were reputed to be violations of Federal, Constitutional, and national Law. Perhaps, with more support, this foresight of a few could have saved the United States the embarrassment of a “Watergate.” Congressman Dellums’ present conception of Nixon can be illustrated by a story related in a recent speech: “Someone asked me ot our present President — soon to be changed, 1 hope—‘Are you going to the inauguration?’ And I said, ‘no.’ Thev said, ‘WhyT “I said,‘Because if it was the inauguration of a President in a democratic society, I would be pleased to be present.’ (Pause) ‘But I will not give witness to the coronation of a King in what is ostensibly a democratic society.’ “And then they said, ‘but you are a responsible political leader.’ “And I said ‘That is precisely why I am not going!’ Dellums will speak in Memorial Hall, Wednesday evening, April 10, at 8:00 p.m. His appearance is jointly sponsored by the Union Forum Committee and the YMCA-YWCA. time is consumed by financial worries.” A large part of the financial aid available to Black students is in the form of repayable loans. Cummings states that of the 182 rewards over which the Graduate School had administrative responsibility in 1972-73, only 9 went to Black students. Although the school states that it is currently seeking funds for “economically disadvantaged students, the preliminary data suggests that for minority groups on campus. Black students’ level of funding is lowest of any constituent group of minorities.” Mostly outside assistance Much of the assistance that Black graduate students recieve is from sources outside the university. Acco rd ing to Cummings, “until this year, the of 7 8 Epps expressed- extreme dissatisfaction over the results of the Morehead Awards Program this year. First of all,- only four Blacks made it to the Tinals and were brought to Carolina for a weekend. Of these four only two were accepted, two out of the 60, scholars that were accepted^? One Black was put on the alternate list. Epps explained that the screening process of the Morehead program ensures that only a token number of Blacks will be accepted. The candidate must first be nominated by hi^ high school based on his acadeiiuc record and how active he is in student life, in other woius, "the all American boy” (Moreheads are ilot given to women). Next, he enters competition on the county level and is screened by a committee, then on the district level and, finally, he is.selected by the Morehead Trustees in Chapel Chapel Hill. A look at the make-up of these committees will explain why so few Blacks make the finals. The trustees are usually UNC alumni, who were appointed about 20 years ago, when the program began. A person is appointed for life. The rate of turnover is slow, but when it does occur, either by death or resignation, the chairman of that area recommends someone else from his community. All the committee members from the local scene to Chapel Hill are white. Blacks were not accepted as Moreheads until 1969, Richard Matthews being the first. Now there are approximately 12 to 15. Ford Foundation was thejitnsfc^ source of fun^{ir|y students in the Department of City and Regional Planning. Cummings states further that “the Consortium for ' Gr^us^ Study in Managementaccounts fSr the vast majority of assistance fo# the graduate Business school.' Public Health students,:; -unti^ recent federal spending cutbacks,' were funded in large measure through federal funds.” Adequate financial assistance is an intricate concern to a student’s acadertiic achievement at this university. • Eighty per cent of the students surveyed felt that the presence of Black faculty would also be a crucial element of their academic success. The survey not only asked whether or not it would be nice to have Black graduate faculty on this campus, it also asked why or why not would this be desirable. One-hundred per cent of the grad students surveyed felt that it would be “right, just, and fair to have Black faculty members.” The absence of Black faculty members extracts from “the complete, sophisticated, and rewarding” experience of graduate study, was the feeling of ninety-two per cent of the respondents. Cummings pointed out that a very significant and revealing' response' was a^eed upon by eighty per cent of those surveyed. “1 feel that my progress and/or success as a graduate student has been or is being impeded by the lack of Black faculty in my school or department who might serve as advisors, persons to emulate, confidantes, entrees to the profession, ‘big brother, sister,’ friends, etc.” “Hence, it is more than obvious that Black faculty isn’t just a nicety for the benefit of doing the right thing,” Cummings commented. The final issue that the survey addressed was curriculum at the graduate level. The major request of the respondents was for relevance. A majority expressed the need for a more relevant curriculum that would prepare them to work with the Black community by outlining certain problems and concerns within their fields that are endemic to Black Americans. Black Americans have constantly had their endurance tested in this country. Attending a pre-dominantly white university is simply another challenge of this nature. For the Black constituents of this university community, whether they are undergraduates, graduates, faculty, administrators. “the Southern Part of Heaven?' Cong. Ron Dellums Richard Epps, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Admission “Radical extremist” will speak Pamela Williamson Stqfj Writer
Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
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March 1, 1974, edition 1
5
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