SEPTEMBER II, I960
Black Ink
Trustee Board votedtoconsider Blacks
tdilor \jiole: The lollon ing vvi trom d lei-
ter Ohler, d 1‘)7^) Yd( kety k editor
•>enf-.thc- Hld( k Student Movement tolloning d
meeting last yedr dt which the HSM Centrdl Com
mittee discussed it'i displedsure with the yedr-
book Much of UNC'h HIdck ( ommunity did not
like the mdnner in which Hla(ks were protrayed
in the yearbook Due to limited space, the entire
letter ( ould not be reproduced
■l-wDulti like to extend my apprec iation to the
HSM for inviting out staff to attend your (Central
Committee meeting of April 27, 1'*K0 I teel that it
was a valuable and important opportunity to ad
dress the issues raised by the 1974 edition of the
Ydckety Yaik
Through my involvement in operational and
editorial matters of the Yacket\ Yack, I have
noticed a rapidly increasing sensitivity to
coverage of Bld(k students on campus over the
past few years This concern arose from th'
recognition that previous issues of the >acket)
Yack had virtually ignored many aspects of stu
dent life, including the Black community Also
neglected were many of the smaller student
organizations, most South Campus activities, and
academic issues in general
This imbalance can be partially explained,
although not excused, by the origin of the
Yackety Yack itself, which was published by the
fraternity system in the beginning, and later ex
panded to include sports, class picture,
honoraries and the like, as conventional year
books became more prevalent The long overdue
realization that this portrayal of the University
was a biased one has precipitated a conscious ef
fort on the part of our photographers and
editorial staff to be fair, honest, and as thorough
as physliral limttations deem possible in our
coverage of the campus
' Tfle racial climate at the Univesity of North
Carolina is a distressing one in light of the liberal
reputation of the campus. It was our observation
that a lack ol communication and understanding
among groups has compounded a separatist and
A'li /.
;irTofii&
. V •
Thornton
' lAWRlNCf TURNtR
' ■ Newffditor
■ After deciding on which options to use the
Thornton Committee's final edition of the new
proposed curriculum for all General College
freshmen and sophomores will appear this
semester, English Professor Weldon Thornton
said
,’ The Thornton Committee Report is a new cur
riculum which began in the spring of 1978
organized by Thornton.
The new curriculum will make the educational
aim of the University clearer than the present,
looser one. Thornton said The goals are to help
students be self-educating, to make reasonable
judgments ifi society and to function in a
defensive atmosphere, rather than a oo|)eiative
one In producing the yearbook','therefore, our
staff presented the situation as we saw it. and
chose not to ignore discrimination or subtle
Black%while biases where we observed them
We do not share the attitudes that find humor in
mock lynchings, nor do we support those
stereotypic opinions which are all too prevalent
in our community We are offended by (he fatt
that an Old South mixer, complete with whites in
Blackface and Klan robes, is an annual event on
this campus. W'e are disturbed by the fact that
Blacks are not welcome in most fraternities and
sororities at UNC-CH We recogni/e, however,
that these attitudes exist and must be confronted
if any progress is to be made
In light of the reactions to the book from the
Black community, we offer an apology that our
editorial opinion wa»> not made more clear, for
we were merely serving as messenger rater than
endorser In any event, the consciousness of the
campus has been raised to a sensitivity of the
racial barriers and misunderstandings which do
exist It is our sincere hope that all elements of
the University will work toward a genuine
unification of the student body rather than a
polite acknowlegeent of different factions. Ihe
extent to which progrss can be made in terms of
human relations on our campus depends on Ihe
conviction and creative energy of those people
who are dissatisfied with the status quo Progress
has been made on other campuses and can be
made here if we face the problems where they
exist and confront them constructively and bold
ly
As students, we have two alternatives; we can
close our eyes to the prefudice that exists and re
main comfortable in our own spheres of activity,
or we can acknowledge our faults and work hard
to break down the barriers of misunderstanding I
loin the staff of the Yackety Yack in pledging my
efforts toward Ihe latter, and in hoping that we all
have the courage to be honest with ourselves.
Chrisann Ohler,
Editor, 1979 Yackety Yack
technological world
The Dean s Coordinating Committee is handling
the summary of nine subcommittee reports
started from Thornton's suggestions
An option has never made sense to me — it's
iust a compromise. Thornton replied
Two concepts of Basic Skills and Perspectives
replaces Ihe old curriculum of General Iduca-
tion Basic Skills consists of English composition,
mathematics, and foreign languages Perspec
tives have four areas, scientific, weslern%non-
wfstprn culture. aes^hetK and hpmanjsiij ^ ,
supremacy, this is your opportunity to do
it."
Replied another trustee "It's difficult to
separate a question of this sentiment from
the emotion. But today the problem is not
one of emotion but of legal technicality."
After the Black students Beech, Lee,
McKissick and Lassiter enrolled, the
struggle was still not easy for them and
other early Black students. Discrimina
tion was more obvious and open on cam
pus than it is today even though polls
showed around two-thirds of the student
body favoring the integration of the
school. But actually, most of the 1451
student body were in favor of the Black
students' presence out of a sense of
justice rather than a desire to integrate.
The students were greeted with tolerance
but not with a warm welcome.
Lee and Beech applied for a dorm
room. They were placed in rooms on the
third floor of Steele Building, then a dor
mitory, Whites on the floor were moved
out to live with others who were already
overcrowded with three or four people
living in some rooms. At least these
pioneers in the struggle did not suffc'r
from the housing shortage as many of us
do today.
I
When football season arrived, Ihe first
four were granted passbooks for seats in
the colored section
I hen when fourteen
student organiza
tions, the Dciily lir
Ht't'l, and then Stu
dent Body President
Henry Bowers pro
tested to (Chancellor
Robert House, the
Nina Ford Chancellor issued
them regular student seat passbooks with
an accompanying letter telling them to
use their judgement before taking the
seats. On November .5, 1951, Blacks sat
alongside whites at a UN(! football game
for the first time in history. It didn't c reate
a stir. Last year, iOO Black students sat
together in reserved block seating to
cheer the announcement of the fourth
straight Black Homecoming Queen, Nina
Ford.
Committee to present final edition
The report advocates spreading General
Education requirements into junior and senior
year for students in the (iollege of Arts and
Sciences Whether those requirements wll be
three or four and whether a capstone course is
developed is debated. Thornton said
The capstone is "a course that would top olf
the major experience. " he explained, the course
would examine the values, the limitations and
Ihe methodology of the student's major. Thorn
ton said.
However, capstones may study the major with
related subject matter to shcjw how it bfends in
with other things
Still, the course may be problematic handling a
iiii'Jwail
I
t
But. "we don't know if we have the resources
to do it or not. " Thornton said, or even make it
required faculty goes by departmental
guidelines and may not fc>el comfortable or be
able to do the c ourse. he said
Also in debate is whether a freshman or
sophomore can take a non-western perspectives
c ourse
Thornton is pleased with th^- report as a whole
I and especially likes a proposed Assoicate Dean
of 1 due ation position T he |K)sI allows c ounsel to
students on curriculum requiremc’nts outside
their major
The tall ol H2 is Ihe earliest possible date cjf
beginning the propsoc-cl curriculum. Thornton
I ditor \ note: flan^ are now underway to pla( e a
painting of UNC s first Hlack students in the
undergraduate library. Kurt Carrett /s the artist
Ihis is the second in a three-part series
The State of North Carolina led by At
torney General Harry McMillan and L.P.
McLendon was going to appeal to the
U.S. Supreme Court before allowing any
Negroes at the Chapel Hill school. But
what made the situation unusual in a
state of white supremacy was that the
UNC-CH Board of Trustees voted 61-14
on April 4, 1951 (17 years before the
jJeath of Martin Luther King, |r. and 28
V^arr before-the 1979 BSM march) to
consider Black applications to the
medical school since there was no Black
medical school in North Carolina. As a
result, tdward O. Diggs, 30, a pre-med
^tudent a A&T College, was the first
,Black admitted on April 23, 1951 and he
enrolled in the fall. This act occurred
."Without a court order.
The Trustees also encouraged the State
to appeal the Law School decision but
when the Supreme Court refused to
rehear the case, Law School Dean Henry
P. Brandis, jr. announced that the Black
law students would be admitted.
Since the law students enrolled in the
summer session, they became the first
Blacks enrolled at UNC-CH beating med
student Diggs who came in the fall. At
the April 4th meeting, the State College
YMCA building (Campus Y) rocked with
three hours of debate "with more echoes
and challenges than a sextet of collegiate
debating societies. "
One trustee said "This is absolutely
nothing but a wedge to get 'em in public
schools. Within five years there won't be
a Negro left at A&T College. They'll be
over at Chapel Hill and sitting here on
Chancellor Harrelson. A vote for this
resolution will be a vote for social equali
ty. If you want to maintain white
Yack editor responds
Motto chosen
STUDENT
N I
Old BSM Motto gets replaced
DONNA D WHITAKIR
Associate-Managing fditor
While upperclassmen are continually reluc tant
to participate in campus activities, freshmen
usually show enough enthusiasm for everyone
This year's freshman class is no exc eplicm
So tar. the enthusiasm has been Ircnicndous.
Mark ( anady. BSM c hair|)eison. said Wi-
had 60 people inleresleci in Ihe I reshrn.in Ac tion
( ommittee and three (lersons who took the in
itiative to come to a ( enlial (.ornniitlc’e
meeting
those three who live in Morrison Dorin gave
the BSM Its new motto
Clinton lones. Vicky S|)€irrow and Kosc
Williams |)ooled resourc es and c ame up wilh the
motto Believing in today, Striving lor tomorrow.
Moving toward Ihe future
'We wanted to get involved in Ihe HSM
bee ause it's a worthwhile c ause,' Williams said
Sparrow acldc-d, ' Not many Ireshnien seemed
involved We wanted to take the tirst step in be
mg a ()arl ol Ihe BSM
lones, an Oak ( it\ resident, said. Ihe only
thing I've seen them (the HSM) do is I’re-
Orientation and that was good
Williams did not understand Ihe letter she got
in the mail this summer, which ex|)lainecl the
fundamentals of the BSM.
However, she said. I think the BSM is a good
organization I think it will improve over Ihe
months if people bee ome ac live
Williams and Sparrow are from ( linlon They
met lones during Pre-Orientalion
All three have higher aspirations, which in
clude working lor Black Ink. Ihe freshman Ac
tion Committee, the Morrison Action C ommittee
and BSM c ullural groups
The trio had different views aE>out ( arolina,
but they all agree that Ihe BSM is what makes
.Carolina appealing
(!anady said he hopc-s the freshmen's en
thusiasm does not dissolve during the- course of
the year
If most of the freshmen ate like the authors of
the new HSM motto, the fire will not die out any
time soon