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6 BLACK INK October, 1973 Health careers assessed Ren wick accepts Emma Pullen Ediior-in Chief Editor's note: The following is the first in a series of carrer-oriented articles. The purpose of this series is to direct Black student into r.i.’-imingful careers which provide useful skills that are really ncyssary for our survival. We do loi need another generation o) H'ci'ks with degrees running r rvators, waiting on tables or ' I ’i ng brooms. A recent survey by the Black KtU'tions Committee of the YM - YViCA revealed that Black students at UNC, in their selection ot majors, are following the trend fo/ ‘lacks throughout the nation. A cording to the survey, “Most 111 tre Black students are majoring .! ti e social sciences and liberal and not in the natural and j ed sciences where there is a vt'i er need for personnel. In a s :.e, the University is ‘;ti; .:trating the unemployemnt/ ’'t remployment of Blacks with . >e degrees.” ‘.)rie area where there is a serious n.n age of manpower in general, aiiC* Hack manpower in particular, li. the health sciences. Mr. V iih im Small, minority director iiv' i le School of Public Health he increase of Blacks health •)crs')nnel as solving another pi ol em in the Black community. Ml the introduction to an article ill :d “Overview of a Program to . lop Black Public Health !' .lijssionals,” Small wrote, “It is ;nqujstionable without doubt that ih- level of health experienced by non white residents of the United Siaii's has been consistently lower thai that experienced by white -ns. While many factors w'-. ibute to this condition, we re; .e that the acute shortage of T' T white persons, especially •i.a-k (as they constitute over two of those classified as non- M h‘.!c) in the Health Sciences field to be a major factor." Small expounded further on this point during a recent interview. “We need more manpower and more health professionals in all disciplines.” he said, “not just doctors, dentists and nurses. We also need public health workers, pharmacist and administration.” Small explained that the area of administration and policy making is of utmost concern. Of an estimated 400.000 health personnel in this country, 1 per cent are Black. Small says that this factor contributes to the inadequate health care of the Black community. “We have seen well intended programs fail for want of credibility and the lack of cultural understanding. Health decisions and priorities specifically related to non-white communities are usually made without minority participation of consideration. We have witnessed good services delivered in the wrong way, provided at the wrong time, too late and most often simply too little." For this reason, he is actively trying to recruit more students with non-science majors into the field of public health, a field which is concerned with the total health of a community — physical, mental and social. The field of Public Health is wide and very diverse and deals more with the “preventative than the curative aspects of medicine." It includes researchers, social workers, psychologists, scientists, medical personnel, nutritionists, statisticians, and administrators. At present North Carolina has only one school of public health, which is located on this campus. The School is a graduate program and offers a degree in ten different departments; biostatistics, environmental sciences and engineering, epidemiology, health education, health administration. HEW rejects plan continued from page 1 tm. this would be “reverse discrimination.” Dr. Schnorrenbcrg reacted to this statemciit by saying that HEW df.KS not allow hiring by quotas bcc't ise of such charges. “The Affirmative Action Plan was :on- eived on the principles of good fai!‘: and affirmative action.” Both ;!). Brewer and Willie Mebane felt that the charge of reverse ui.iciimination was a euphemism for racism. It is clear from the nature and cjv t.’v'e of criticism levelled at its A!‘ii mative Action Plan that UNC h.i; addressed the conccrns of racism and sexism inadequately. The excessive rhetoric of the plan RESEARCH You Can not Understand the complexities of my existence except with my say so. For as All proud people from the mother land, solitude and confusion is an art mastered and taught me by fear, PAlN,and hunger .. . MY where abouts will not appear IN ANY PUBLICATIONS OF MAN, nor will my origin. maternal and child health, mental health, parasitology and laboratory nutrition and public health nursing. Small says that the beauty of the program is a student can stay within his own major. All that is required to enter the school isa“B” average in his major. If the student has less than this average, he must take the Graduate Record Examination. (GRE). While in undergraduate school a prospective applicant should take four science and ten social science courses, or vice versa, A degree in Public health from any of the ten departments will enable the student to work in many types of organizations — county, city, state or regional public health agencies, health planning councils, model cities and other community action programs. Since September of 1970, there have been fifteen Black graduates from the UNC School of Public- Health. Blacks now comprise 11 per cent of the total student population. “This office was set up and 1 was hired to recruit Black students,” Small said, “but 1 feel that the schools need to recruit Black faculty members, as well. He added, “A long.term.goal of the School is to have some of the curriculum related to the needs of the Black community.” position of Counselor W arren C arson, Jr. Staff Writer H. Bentley Renwick. former Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions has been appointed as the Assistant Dean for Student Counseling in the College of Arts and Sciences. Renwick's new position focuses on counseling students who are having academic difficulues, but he hopes that the students, and Black students especially, will come to him with a problem of any nature. “Of course 1 can’t solve all of these problems,” he said, “but through talking them out, hopefully the student can arrive at his own solution.” Though Renwick’s job is for the most part undefined and left to his discretion, moves have been made to gather student input in determining what his duties should encompass. He hopes to speak with as many Black students as possible on this matter. Reflecting upon the conditions of the campus for Blacks, Renwick is bothered by the fact that no series of actions have been taken voluntarily by the Administration to benefit Blacks. “I’d like to see the Administration do something beneficial for Blacks because they feel that the University should do it, and not as a reaction to any pressure by HEW.” he said. In the area of Black Studies, Renwick said that the Administration must address itself to this matter immediately. “We need to stop fooling ourselves,” he said. “What is called Black Studies here is not a viable curriculum,” He feels that the program must be expanded, because after students take the courses, they get tired of it and the Administration perceives this as being disinterest in an overall program, Renwick is also dissappointed by the low number of Black faculty. Considering the period since last years Black Student Movement demands, only about four new Black faculty members have been hired. “This number should definitely be higher,” he commented. Renwick^ stressed his desire for students to come and talk with him about their problems. His office is in 301 South Building, Brooks iliwpp must be replaced with factual information. Logical and achievable goals and timetables must rcplace the arbitrary and general ones. Blacks must organize to channel more direct input into the affirmative action advisory committee. Schools and departments must be forced to realize the value of their cooperation with the Affirmative Action Officer and his advisory committee. Douglas Hunt, the Affirmative Action Officer, has set the middle of January as the date for the submission of UNC"s revised Affirmative Action Plan. As they should be, these things are as mysterious as their hbrary DESIGNED AND FUNCTIONS AS MAN Standing on 2 feet, / But only one entrance ... and no Exit! No signs of danger is Posted Risks of Acquiring knowledge Is left up to the RESEARCHER! HONCHO Just taking life easy—like we ought to do! discuss politics, literature, everything.” She] sat upright in the sofa, furrowed her brow, and continued, ■‘They didn’t tell me that I should let my hair go natural, or rather, that I should stop making it unnatural. 1 came to that on my own.” Among other of Miss Brooks’ teaching experiences at Northeastern Illinois State College, Columbia College in Chicago, and Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, 111., was a workshop in poetry writing for the Rangers, a Chicago street gang. Although she looked very much the schoolmarm in a dark blue doubleknit suit, she has enjoyed giving readings in area taverns. She wants every Black man on the streets to see in her books something that he can identify with, something relevant to his existence. Drought strikes Nigeria Plans made for recovery Linda Williams Layout Editor For the past several months, considerable attention has been focused on the devastating drought in West Africa. The Sahelian Zone, 2,000 miles of semi-desert, has a long history of climatic disasters. But the recent six-year drought is the worse in 60 years. And it has brought starvation and disease to approximately 50 million people. Relief agencies have appealed for massive aid to Chad, Niger, Mali, Upper Volta, Mauritania and Senegal—an area classified by the United Nations as the least developed of the undeveloped world. However, little has been said about Nigeria, much of which is also within the Sahelian Zone. “Nigeria has been seriously affected by the drought,”- says Duro Adegboye, UNC graduate student trom Nigeria. “Much of Nigeria’s economy depends on its agriculture — cash crops grown in states north of the Benue and Niger rivers, which were hit by drought.” Despite its effects, the Nigerian government did not report the drought to the outside world, he said. “Since the recent civil war there has been a tendency for officials to keep Nigeria’s problems within the nation.” Nigeria was torn apart by a bloody civil war from 1967 to 1970. The government’s handling of rebels in Biafra received widespread critism in the West. Adegboye has lived most of his life in Zaria in the North Central State. “There are two important seasons,” he said, “From March to October is the rainy season and from November to March is the dry season. When the rains are late we suffer,” 1 his time the rains were six years late. The river beds dried up, irrigation was nearly impossible, and the grass died. North West, North Central, Kano and North East depend on their peanuts, cotton, rice, sugar cane and wheat. All of the country’s cattle, sheep and goats are raised in these northern states. “Without the rains, there were no crops," Adegboye explained. “There are 900,000 farming families in Kano State alone affected." “The Fulani are nomads who graze cattle in the north during the wet season and take them to markets in the south during the dry season. The people of the south depend on the Fulani for their meat. The Fulani have had little cattle to drive to market lately.” The North East State depends on Lake Chad for fish. Now, the part of Lake Chad within Nigeria is continued on page 8
Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
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Oct. 1, 1973, edition 1
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