COVER STORY 6
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A Repeat i
Student activism and racial unrest on t
By Karen Greene
Ink Staff Writer
"When we look at UNC, we see
an institution which leeches off the
community. And as long as UNC is
UNC and continues to be a racist
institution, we will condemn it for
whal it is.”
These are not the words of The
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill’s Black Cultural Cen
ter activists like Michelle Thomas,
Black Suident Movementprcsident,
nor are they the words of Tim Smith,
Jimmy Hitchcock or John Bradley,
leaders of the outspoken Black
Awareness Council.
These words were spoken by
then-BSM president Jimmy McRae
on Nov. 19, 1971.
“We have a tradition of student
activism on this campus,” says
Rosalind Fuse-Hall, a 1980 gradu
ate and current Associate Dean of
Student Counseling. “I think pro
testing wakes the sleeping giant by
calling administrative attention to
the needs of the black community.”
But why, after 45 years of inte
gration, are UNC’s black suidents
voicing the same frustrations and
fighting the same battles as their
predecessors of the ‘60s, ‘70s and
‘80s?
The late sixties and early seven
ties were a heyday for student activ
ism, especially for the campus of
UNC, which saw workers’ strikes,
building takeovers and the
frebombing of the Institute of Phar
macy.
Today’s activism is a kinder,
gentler, brand, but the demands, the
complamts and the opaque walls of
the color line remain the same.
“When you look at old issues of
Black Ink (the official newspaper
of the BSM),” said Carol Brown, a
senior biology major, “you find
some of the problems and demands
they had in the sixties are—almost
verbatim—the same ones we have
now. As far as I’m concemed, we
haven’t come far at all.”
Both black and white students at
the University speak of a tense ra
cial climate on the campus.
“1 think it's a lot more intense
than people realize,” said
Bruce Roberts, senior. “Its not just
about the BCC, it’s on a day to day
basis. I don’t think it’s the adminis
tration or the professors that’s mak
ing it hard for the black students.
tors is not limited to UNC. North
Carolina State University, Duke
University, and several other insti
tutions nationwide have been
riddled with racial unrest.
Despite the 21 percent increase
A renewed spirit of protest exploded at
the Spike Lee rally In September.
though.”
Malcolm Turner, a senior busi
ness major, Morehead Scholar and
one of three UNC nominees for the
Rhodes Scholarship disagrees. “The
tension goes even further than the
students,” he said.
“I’ve had a number of profes
sors who I think expected a lower
level of performance in their class
from me because of my race. I’ve
always had to be nK>re aggressive in
showing them that I was capable
and that I set extremely high goals
for myself academically.”
Brown, a Pogue scholar and
member of Phi Beta Kappa has
sensed similar attitudes. “It’s as if
the professors automatically assume
that our work will be inferior be
cause they don’t think we have the
background to fully comprehend
the subject matier,” she said.
The ongoing c lash between black
students and university administra
in enrollment of historically black
colleges and universities, a vast
majority of the top 10 percent of
black students opt to go to predomi
nantly white institutions.
A 1991 study, conducted by
Chalmer E. Thompson and Bruce
R. Freu reported that black sui
dents, based on a case study of a
southern, state-supported, predomi
nantly white universities, were less
satisfied than whites with the qual
ity of their education, and felt greater
tension and hostility in their envi
ronment.
“I don’t see where there’s rac
ism on a day to day basis,” said
Katie Caldwell, a UNC sophomore.
“But I imagine that it’s harder for
the black students because they’re
on the receiving end.”
Brown agreed. “Being black in
America makes us more sensitive
to race than whites are, simply be
cause they’ve been raised in a soci
ety that tells them they are supe
rior.”
The study said the tension
stunted intellectual and social
growth on the part of black stu
dents, because they develop a high
tolerance for racism. It also said
black students at predominantly
black institutions experienced more
growth than ones at predominantly
white institutions.
Dean Fuse-Hall, however ex
pressed a different opinion. “I al
ways said I went to UNC but I
lived at A&T,” she said. “We only
had about 800 black students here,
but I don’t feel like I missed out on
the ‘black experience’ at all.
“Most of my involvement was
with black folk. We had a set time
when we all ate dinner, Black Ink
came out regularly. We had the
Ebony/Readers Onyx Theater, we
even had our own yearbook one
year. It was a great time to be here.”
That same division of “black
activities” and “white activities”
exists today. John Atkeson, a mem
ber of Chi Psi fraternity, said,
“There’s hardly any interaction with
the black and white greeks. The
effort has been made, but even with
our fraternity being integral e^*»— we
have a number of minor
ity members—it’s stili
considered a “white orga
nization.”
The lack of attention
toward black student
needs, has fueled the free
standing BCC debate.
While supporters of the
center cite the
university’s lack of sensi
tivity to the cultural dis
tinction of black students
opponents say a free
standing building would
promote separatism.
Some have even sug
gested that if black stu
dents want a separation of
black culture, they should
go to a black col lege. “We
can have it here, too,” said
Dean Fuse-Hall. “This is
a state-supported institu
tion, and as long as we
pay taxes, we have th>
right to be here. '
“Even if we weren’t here, the
University would have an obliga- ^
tion to have an African American
Studies Department or a Black Cul- i
tural Center.”
HaroldWoodard.aclassof 1978 i
graduate and UNC’s Assistant Dean |
of Student Counseling, agrees. “I I
don’t believe in the American cul
tural melting pot,” he said. “If this
country is to be likened to a stew,
then the ingredients are distinct
ethnic cultures. What they call
‘American culture’ is just the sauce.”
Johnnie Southerland, class of
1981 said, “Cultures are preserved
within the confines of being an
American for all ethnic groups. The
administrators need to realize that
African Americans aren’t going
anywhere.”
Instead, Brown said the admin
istration is guilty of treating black
students as if they were not there.
“We end up feeling like we don’t
have a place here,” she said.
Chalmer and Fretz’s study also
indicated that blacks identify less
with their university than their whife
counterparts. The black student
population at UNC, however has
had a tradition of making their pres-
1^.
Look familiar? Blacks qi
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