Finding the Answers...
Chancellor Hooker Speaks with the Black Student Movement
By Courtney McSwain
On November 11, Chancellor
Michael Hooker attended the
general body meeting of the
Black Student Movement to engage in
a question and answer forum. Hooker
stated that his goal in coming to the
BSM meeting was to “visibly symbol
ize the support of the chancellor and
his administration for the mission of
the BSM.” The members of BSM took
advantage of this opportunity to speak
to Hooker, seeking answers concerning
issues ranging from the administra
tion’s responsiveness to the BSM’s 22
Demands, to the chancellor’s views on
the recent homecoming king and queen
elections controversy.
In order to respond to ques
tions concerning the 22 Demands,
Hooker had on hand several faculty
members including Susan Kitchen,
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs,
Susan Ehringhaus from the University
Counsel, and Harold Wallace, Special
Assistant to Minority Affairs and BSM
faculty advisor. While several
demands have been met, such as the
proclamation of November as Black
Student Movement month, Eringhaus
explained that many of the demands
have to be further investigated due to
legal mandates. For example, the tenth
demand which states that “The Pogue
Scholarship remain separate from all
other merit-based scholarship applica
tions.” The demand poses legal con
flicts because of a precedent set by the
Court of Appeals. The University of
Maryland attempted to defend a schol
arship similar to the Pogue that was
restricted to minority students. The
Court of Appeals declared this uncon
stitutional and according to Ehringhaus
provided the “defining moment of
what UNC could and could not do in
respect to admissions and scholar
ships.” Chancellor Hooker and
Ehringhaus both stated similar legality
conflicts with respect to other demands
by the BSM. Hooker stated that the
challenge to his administration was to
find “where we can continue to
increase the ratio of Blacks in the stu
dent body and faculty, consistent with
the law.”
'‘I fret about that [racial
tensions] more than any
thing else because I don Y
know what to do. I don V
have magic cmswers. ”
■Chancellor Michael Hooker
Moving from questions
regarding the 22 Demands to concerns
about racial tensions on campus, sever
al BSM members addressed the recent
homecoming king and queen elections
controversy and its coverage by the
Daily Tar Heel. Admitting that he did
not read the DTH and was unaware of
the specific problems that occurred,
the chancellor offered little insight to
the recent problem. Hooker stated that
he felt the situation “was a student
issue” and had little to do with the
administration. Obviously disappoint
ed with this response, BSM members
challenged Chancellor Hooker to read
the DTH in order to realize the focus of
campus concerns. Offering more com
ments on the homecoming elections.
Kitchen, whom Hooker relies on as his
“primary liaison with the students,”
spoke on the need for a dialogue to
address the specific details of the con
troversy. She felt that the elections’
conflict was “indicative of some of the
tensions that are here” on campus.
Along with Kitchen, Chancellor
Hooker also stressed the need for open
dialogue when asked what the admin
istration was doing to alleviate racial
tensions. Hooker expressed the impor
tance of engaging in healthy communi
cation in order to “confront openly
issues that we find difficult to speak
about.” Despite his advocacy for dia
logue, the chancellor offered no specif
ic examples of what the administration
was doing to help ease racial tensions
on campus. “I fret about that [racial
tensions] more than anything else,”
Hooker stated, “because I don’t know
what to do. I don’t have magic
answers.” The need for answers left
some members at the BSM meeting
unsatisfied. Stacy Edwards, a fresh
man general body member of the
BSM, stated, “1 felt that Chancellor
Hooker went around the questions
rather than directly answering them.”
This reluctance to directly address
issues has been a barrier for the leaders
of the BSM in their dealings with
Hooker. Tamara Bailey, BSM presi
dent, stated that she was “glad the
members could see what we’re dealing
with.” Members of the BSM should
not get the impression that their leaders
are not working hard to make progress
on the issues that were addressed at the
meeting. They know that working
with the administration is something
that the leaders of the BSM must con
tinue to do in order to reach the goals
of the organization. ^
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