BLACK INK
The essence of freedom is understanding
F'liday, October 6, 1978
RI
AC K STLDF.NT MOVKMF.NT OF FK IAI, NEWSPAPER Universit> of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
VoL 11 No. 9
^^Greal Jones Street
premieres tomorrow
By DAVID R.SQUIRF^
Edltor-tn-Chlef
The producers of last year's campus hit
“Down Home," will present an original
dramatic musical play tomorrow.
"Great Jones Street” will premiere in
Memorial Hall on Saturday, November 18,
according to Dr. l>ee Greene, director of
Productions 84.
Productions 84 grew from Green’s Black
literature class. English 84. The cast for
the play are members of Greene’s class
and other campus students who volun
teered their talents.
"Great Jones Street” is set in New York
in 1925. It focuses on the lives of a group of
people who live on a street which the city
threatens to tear down in order to make
way for commercial buildings. The har
monious lives of the people are
dramatized—who include Southern Black
migrants, European immigrants, and
West Indian immigrants.
The primarv’ purpose of the play is to
dramatize some backgrounds to the Black
arts of the 1920’s, particularly Black
literature of the period. The play,
therefore, will concentrate on the artistic,
historical, and in general the cultural
forces that affect the lives of the middle-
class residents of Jones Street.
The play will focus on representative
characters, which include a writer, a
singer, a dancer, a conjure woman (root
worker), Marcus Garvey, a West Indian, a
family of European immigrants, an
athlete, an artLst. a comedian, and various
other characters who represent the day-to-
day lives of the people on this street.
I
V
Martina Voone Kendflck is the Black
students’ candidate for Miss Homecoming.
Kendrick, a junior business ad
ministration major, is also a member of
the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and the
Sweet Carolines. She seeks to make this
the third consecutive year for a Black
Homecoming queen at UNO.
Staff photo by James Parker
Dean Renwick-‘Give minority students a chance’
By JOYCE BASS
SUM Writer
"Prestige and power don’t mean much
to me when I think of all the Black students
who should be here and aren’t I believe in
what I’m doing and I’ll stand by it,” said
Dean Hayden B. Renwick, associate dean
of the College oi Arts and Sciences during
an informal Ulk with graduate residents of
Craige Hall recently.
Renwick has publically charged
University admissions officials with
denying admission to some qualified Black
students. A former minority admissions
officer, he is now working out of his office
to improve the retention rate of minority
students through such services as tutorial
sessions and peer counseling.
Renwick recalled the steps and issues
which led to his public statement regar
ding minority admissions to the Craige
residents, the majority of whom were
Black.
"This issue began over a year ago when
I started lookmg at academic folders and
found that special admissions were being
made in cases involving athletes and some
children of alumni, while qualified Black
students were being denied admission to
the university,” said Renwick.
He said over a five-year period, the
number of Blacks applying to the
university increased while the number of
Blacks accepted decreased. In the five-
year span, there has been an increase of
only 27 minorities, according to Renwick.
He further stated that he could not
evaluate the 1978 records on admissions
because he was denied access to the in
formation three times.
“My charges address three big issues;
the rejection of qualified minority students
in 1976 and 1977 and nonutilization of
currently enrolled Black students in
recruitment efforts.” said Renwick.
Encircled by the audience, Renwick said
he was not criticizing the special ad
missions cases.
“I can’t say cut athletic entries. I went to
school on an athletic scholarship myself.
I’m just saying, give minority students a
chance, too.’
Members of the audience addressed
their questions to the role of the present
minority recruiter in the admissions issue.
“I can’t see any Black defending 187
years of racism. I said you have to be
careful. When I saw that this person was
defending the Office of Admissions, I
stepped aside. I’ll step on anybody who
tries to hold back my Black kids,” Ren
wick said.
Asked if he was concerned over his
future at the* university he said. “I have
nothing to gain from this. I have or had a
very influential position. I love the
university and my job. That’s the reason I
went public with what I knew. I can’t
speak for every minority, but I have never
seenafirst claM Black citizen. I can’t be
satisfied until I’m a first class citizen not
yesterday, or tomorrow. All I tried to show
were the injustices heaped on minority
students.”
Renwick said support from other
minority faculty members his been
disappointing, while student support and
interest continues to build.
"No one has come to me and asked me to
document what I said. Three white
females, individuals within my office and
some student organizations, not the ones I
thought would endorse my efforts, made
endorsements. I think the lack of support
can be spelled in one word, fear.
Somewhere, we have got to stop the ‘I’m
only one person’ idea. I have a clear
conscience and I can sleep at night,”
Renwick said, smiling.
Renwick said the only visible difference
between how he is received on campus now
is feen in his relationship to students.
“When I walk across campus, students
speak to me differently. There’s i feeling
of admiration there that wasn’t there six
months ago,” he said.
He said now that the issues are out, he is
waiting for someone to set up the com
mittee that will take a close look at his
documentation.
“Students can’t do it, but they can ask
questions as to why it hasn’t been done
yet,” Renwick said.
“There are so many intangibles you
have to look at Two hundred years of
segregation can’t be solved in 20 years.”