Black Ink
Campus News
Weather Dampens Fair
Page 3
Workshop Addresses Race Relations
The cold, rainy weather of Nov. 12
seemed to put a damper on the Minority
Graduate School Recruitment Fair, as on
ly 40 students took advantage of 36 UNC
Graduate school representatives eager to
recruit and make contact with interested
students.
The fair, in the Great Hall, was co
sponsored by the Alliance of Black
Graduate and Professional Students and
the Black Student Movement.
Albertina Smith, Service Committee
Chairperson of the alliance, said that she
was disappointed in the low turn-out, and
hopes that it will be better next year.
“We decided that the fair would be
a good idea,” she said, “so students could
make contacts with people in the areas
they are interested in.”
According to Smith, the university
has not been very interested in recruiting
blacks for graduate school.
There was a tremendous response
from the graduate schools who were ask
ed to attend, she said.
She said this reponse may reflect a
change in attitude concerning recruitment.
“I am concerned about the school’s
demand for black faculty members when
the school does not recruit blacks to teach
here,” she said.
Curtis Harper, a professor in the
School of Medicine in the department of
pharmacology said that he had hoped the
fair would spark some interest in blacks
thinking about attending graduate school.
According to Harper, there is only
one black student in toxicology and one
in biochemistry.
Other departments did not seem to
fare any better.
The School of Speech Communica
tions also had only one black graduate stu
dent, as did the department of occupa
tional therapy.
The Schools of Nursing, Law and
Medicine had higher populations of
blacks.
The School of Business has 13 black
graduate students. Blacks make up about
8 or 9 percent of the law school.
Neal Clark, Director of Student Ser
vice in the School of Nursing said there
was a high demand for blacks in nursing.
Minorities make up a high percentage of
the population in North Carolina, and
these people need to see minorities in the
health field, he said.
The School of Business received
much of its recruiting from the students
themselves, according to second year law
student Ian Barrett. Students from the
UNC School of Law have traveled to the
University of Georgia and to Boston
University in order to recruit students for
the UNC School of Law, which happens
to be ranked in the top 20 for law schools
in the country, Barrett said.
Financial aid is also available for
blacks interested in going to graduate
school, but students can’t get this aid if
they do not apply for it, Beverly Leake,
Assistant Director of Student Financial
Aid said. Leake said that it is important
for students to save copies of their tax
forms as well as copies of their parents’
tax forms.
Leake also stressed the importance of
students to have financial aid forms in
before March 1, and to reapply every
year.
Aid is also available to students
through the departments they wish to enter
into.
According to Barrett, 12 of the 13
students in the School of Business are on
fellowships.
The few students that did attend the
event thought it was well-organized and
that representatives were eager to share
information concerning their schools.
“I thought it was very informative,”
said Wilton Hyman, a sophomore political
science major. “The representatives were
very helpful,” he said.
Sheila Simmons, Co-Editor
Virginia High
School Students
Visit UNC
Visting the University campus on a
sunny day when a host of activities are
planned in your benefit is a great ex
perience, especially if you’re from
Virginia, undecided about college and
have never visted North Carolina before.
Nine high school students and three
adults had the chance to see UNC on
November 8.
Janet Croach, BSM on-campus Coor
dinator, organized the event, which in
cluded a campus tour, lunch and sneak
preview at the BSM’s theater group, the
Ebony Readers.
Elroy June, an 18-year-old senior
from Rustburg High School in Lyn
chburg, Va. said that the UNC campus
was “impressive” and called the visiting
program informative.
The program was offered through the
department of Student Affairs and was
designed to attract more minority students
to UNC.
After a tour of the UNC campus,
senior David Meggison, 17 also from
Rustburg High School said “the campus
was really exciting.”
The students were given information
about life on campus and what to expect
from life at UNC.
Shawn Franklin, 16, from Amherst
High School in Amherst, Va. said that she
was impressed with campus life but
“wanted to go to the classes.”
After viewing the lobby of one of the
South Campus dorms after a party, the
pizza boxes littering the lawn and the
overloaded trashcans, Jason Patterson, 15,
also from Amherst said “I learned a lot
about what college life is all about.”
After the seminar, Ken Glover, a
graduate from Eastern Kentucky Univer
sity and now a computer analyst pointed
out to the group, “The tour guide gave
you guys a good point about what college
is all about, he said. “Experience from
students who go there is very helpful.
They provided good and useful informa
tion,” he told the group.
C. F. Younger, another adult in the
group agreed. “The meeting was infor
mative and I’d rate the first impression (of
UNC) very highly, he said. “It has a nice
environment for college.”
Roach called the program a success.
Jeffery Rayner, Co-Editor
BSM President Camille Roddy and
Campus Y Co-Chairperson Mary Scholl
shared a cross-cultural relations course
this summer. Here, they decided that
some of the subjects brought up in the
course deserved to be addressed on a
campus-wide basis.
The result was a two-hour race rela
tions workshop November 10 at the Cam
pus Y which helped to “alleviate some
unrealistic expectations to easing racial
tensions on campus,” said Roddy.
About 30 members of the BSM and
the Campus Y attended the workshop
which was conducted by Angela Bryant,
co-founder of Visions, Inc., a non-profit
organization that specializes in race rela
tions counseling.
Roddy said she thought the workshop
was fruitful because the persons there
finally realized that all problems could not
be erased in just any one day.
Improved race relations has to be a
serious on-going effort from both sides,
she said.
In the workshop, students paired off,
introduced themselves and shared with the
entire group their earliest experience with
someone of a different race.
Bryant then lectured on modern
racism and internalized oppression, which
she explained as minorities’ way of
discriminating against themselves.
“Some minorities will either beat the
system or blame the system,” Bryant said.
Bryant explained that some of the
problems with race relations can be ac
credited to blacks who take advantage of
whites who have guilty feelings about race
relations.
“You have some angry young blacks
who will either manipulate guilt-ridden
whites or refuse to take responsibility for
their own actions by blaming the same
whites for the situation they (blacks) are
in,” she said.
Bryant accredited some of the
decreased show of racist behavior to to
day’s society, which, she said, has
learned proper behavior.
“Although we don’t have much
violence, there is still a very strong
presence of racism,” she said.
Dysfunctional rescuing, where whites
motivated by guilt may help a minority
who could really help themselves, is one
of the forms of modern racism, Bryant
said.
Modern racists also blame their vic
tims for their own hatred, simply avoid
contact with people of other races and
deny that there is a difference between
cultures. Bryant called this the “Ed Meese
Syndrome.”
She said that rriodern racists might
also enjoy cultural activities of other
races, such as music and food, but often
deny these other cultures an equal place
in society.
easing racial tensions within a group. A
group should have a multicultural mix on
all levels, she said.
Blaming people, taking prejudice per
sonally and/or denying one’s cultural
heritage help perpetuate racism.
“People should learn to recognize,
understand and appreciate cultures other
than one’s own,” she said. “And we
should realize that racism hurts both, but
hurts the targets at a higher cost.”
After the workshop, serveral
members gave their reactions to the
workshop.
“I found out how people could be
equal and still be comfortable with their
difference” Sally Smith a sophomore
from Washington, D.C., said.
Sherrod Banks, a law school student,
said that he hoped people would unders
tand that racism was not a taboo subject
and could be discussed.
Anjetta McQueen, Special to the Ink
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