Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Feb. 9, 1978, edition 1 / Page 2
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<l commcm HEW Order To IJNC Is Poor By Hoyle H. Martin Sr. Post Staff Writer The University of North Carolina 16-campus system was ordered last week by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) to identify some specific programs of study duplicated at historically black and white campu ses and either eliminate the pro grams of the white institutions or transfer them to the black ones. These latest guidelines proposals by HEW exclude nine basic liberal-arts undergraduates subject areas. The se are math, the social, physical and biological sciences, foreign lan guages, literature, physical educa tion, psychology and fine and ap plied arts. Furthermore, HEW's latest order is insisting that the original federal guidelines calling for a 150 percent increase in the number of black students enrolling at predominately white campuses by 1982 be compiled with. In the final analysis, the federal guidelines for increasing the pace of integration in the UNC 16-campus system calls for making the five traditioally black campuses consi derably stronger. Thus, the real issue revolves around the role and place of the traditionally black schools in the UNC system. The HEW order in our opinion is poor, unrealistic and appears to consider the wishes of blacks, very people that, in the last anal) the integration of higher educationl supposed to help. We take issue, for example the views of UNC board of goOt member Katherine Crosby, a public school administrator, reportedly said, "Why should have a law school at N.C. Cent and at Chapel Hill? Why not one big, good one? (What we ha\ is just a continuation of the une treatment." If we assume for the moment Mrs.Crosby's view represents thinking of HEW our problem quite simple. All we need to do| shutdown N.C. Central's law ι or carrying this argument to logical conculsion, all we need to is shut down the five prédominât black schools, and half of the wfc schools too, and just have five or big but supposedly good branches] the university to meet the diva needs of our state for higher tion. This is far from what Noi Carolinians either blacks or whites want or need. If the integration program for higher education in t le state needs improvement this is not the way nor the method. We think HEW needs to go back to the drawing board for another look. Motion Confirms Allegations? At its weekly meeting on Monday night the Charlotte City Council voted 7-to-4 to approve a $100,000 contract with a local non-profit housing developing firm Motion, Inc. The contracted sum was $35,000 less than the amount recommended by a committee composed of council members and city employees. Reading from a prepared state ment, district councûperson Minette TrdscB asked tha£ the teotioa <MtP tract be reduced by combining some staff positions because "in my opin ion the jury is still out" on Motion's level of competency. Council person Trosch's statement alluded to the apparent wide range of criticism leveled against Motion to the effect that dual interest, high administrative cost and question able performance have seriously affected the creditability of the non-profit firm to produce housing for the poor. Councilman Harvey Gantt argued strongly against the $35,000 budget cut on the grounds that Motion had not been consulted about the effecl of the cut and the fact that the city needs such a firm to promote the construction of low-income housing Gantt said further that the council should fund Motion for the fui $135,000 or not fund them at all. ΓΓ While few councilpersons appear ed to take seriously Mr. Gantt's suggestion to not fund Motion as the only alternative to funding at the full $135,000, we wonder whether Mo tion's failure to respond to this suggestion in itself is an indication of the firm's management ability. That is, if Motion had agreed in planning sessions with a committee -■of > ouimîilpfèfiiHtii and city employ ees that it ' would perform "certain services for $135,000, we wonder how they - board chairman Kelly Alex* ander Sr. and director Ernie Alford - could sit silently and therefore imply that they could perform the same level of services even with a 26 percent cut in the budget. While Alexander stated that he had "mix ed emotions" about the proposed budget cut neither he nor Alford spoke on the questions of budget size and level of performance. There failure to do so appears to have confirmed councilperson Minette Trosch concern about Motion's abili ty to perform and shown sense of awarenç^s to councilman Gantt's concern that an arbitrary budget cut would affect the level of perfor mance. We hope Motion has the good sense to consider this matter before act ually signing its $100,000 contract with the city. THE CHARLOTTE POST "THE PEOPLES NEWSPAPER" Established 1918 Published Every Thursday By The Charlotte Poet Publishing Co., Inc. 2β06-Β West Blvd. Charlotte, N.C. 28206 Telephones (704) 302-1306, 392-1307 Circulation, 7,185 I < 58 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS SERVICE k Bill Johnson Hoyle H. Martin Sr Bernard Reeves.... I Julius Watson Albert Campbell... • Editor-Publisher ■ Executive Editor General Manager Circulation Director Advertising Director t Second Class Postage No. 965500 Paid At ' Charlotte, N.C. under the Act of March 3,1878 Member National Newspaper Publishers Association J ' I North Carolina Black Publishers Association ; Deadline for all news copy and photos is 5 p.m. Monday. All photos and copy submitted becomes the property of the Poet, and will not be returned. National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. 45 W. 5th Suite 1403 2400 S. Michigan Ave. New York, N Y. 10036 Chicago, 111. 60616 (212) 489-1220 Calumet 5-0200 uraci By Bayard Rus tin Special To The Poet The Republican party is showing a new interest in black voters, until now the most solidly Democratic group in America politics. The most dramatic indication of this is that the Rev. Jesse Jackson was invited to ad dress a recent meeting of the Republican National Commit tee. In addition, party chair man Bill Brock has announced a well-financed program to recruit black candidates and convert black voters. It is my conviction that blacks should always be ready to re-examine our political behavior, to explore new alter natives, and to entertain novel ideas. We can only benefit tram a eenous cuscuuioo of every co»ce}y#1rle political strategy. If thie-Republican initiative helps to spark such a discussion, it could make an important contribution to the development of an effective black political strategy even if, as I suspect, the initiative is rejected as offering very little to blacks. There is as yet no rush of blacks to the Republican par ty. But that there is a willing ness to consider the idea says something important about the present political situation. Blacks are disappointed with the performance of the Carter Administration. Many feel that the Democratic Party is beginning to take blacks for granted. Consequently, there is interest in discovering some means to regain political leve rage. Although it is a break with their recent past, the Republi cans have reason to be inter ested in black votes. If they hope to compete on even terms, with the Democrats, they need to seek votes wher ever they can find them. With the passage of the Voting Rights Act and growing politi cal participation, black votes have become decisive in more and more elections, most dra matically in the last Presiden tial election. The possibility that Repu blicans might be able to win more black votes is not incon ceivable. There have always been some Republicans, such as New York Senator Jacob Javits, who have won-and deservingly so-large number of black votes. And like other voters, blacks are increasing ly willing to split their tickets. The road from deciding not to concede the black vote to the Democrats to actually winning significant numbers of Macks to the. Republican raaKs is likely to b*a loog and difficult one. It will take more than an attractive candidate here and there. It will require more than the tokenism and public relations gimmickry of inviting a civil rights leader to Rrtfvalr Ιλ βο*Μ»Κ1«Λοη ings. The decisive factor will be the program, policies, and direction of the Republican party. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that the Republicans will be able to attract blacks only by moving closer to Democratic posi tions. The prospects of this happening are not great. The Republicans have, if anything, become more, not less conser vative in recent years and there is no solid indication that this course is about to be reversed. Even Republican National Chairman Bill Brock, who is spearheading the drive for black support, rarely voted correctly on any civil rights issues as a Senator from Tennessee. There is no sign that the Republicans have recognised the funda mental incompatibility be tween their traditional pro grams and the interests of their constituency, on the one hand, and the needs of the black community on the other. It might even be speculated that the Republicans do not really hope to win a majority of black votes and that their goal is actually much more modest: to increase their sha re of the black vote from less than ten percent to perhaps twenty or twenty-five percent. With the declining importance of traditional civil rights is sues, those blacks whose class interests largely coincide with the Republican philosophy may well be attracted to that party. It would not be surpris ing, if for instance, black businessmen Join white busi nessmen In'Aadlhg thttltfapub- n lican party 'a more cottfanial home than the Democrats. ΛΓ v« wib wtw nirrmiiiig lliq jority of blacks however, there are serious limitations to the Republican option. It would seem both counterproductive and foolish to attempt to pu nish Jimmy Carter for being too conservative, too much like a Republican, by embrac ing real Republicans who are likely to be even more conser vative, even more unwilling to undertake the ambitious, ac tivist programs necessary to overcome the problems afflic ting black Amcricaps. While we should welcome the newly discovered Republican inter est in black voters and help them to understand our pro blems, our main hope for salvation is likely to lie in other directions. As of now, the Republican party (though not all Republi cans) is rightly considered the enemy of blacks in the work ing class and blacks who are economic outcasts. TO J BE ;qual 5 By Vernon E. Jordan Jr.J >ric And Action On Jobs ι Administration's response to high unem lent is a mixture of rhetoric and action, the words being stronger than the deeds, ite high-sounding talk about the need for full oyment, some recent Administration act are bound to worsen the job picture for 'a and other minorities. his State of the Unira Address, the Ident spoke clear and loud in favor of full loyment. "Job opportunity - the chance to ι a decent living-is also a basic human right η we cannot and will not ignore," he said. :'s good to have " that kind of ringing itioo. I've often said that jobs are a îental human right and while there's been at about that concept, it's good to have the Ident of the United States enunciate it in no ι terms. ^■Vhat then, are we to make of the various ^■ments in the tax message and the budget he ■t to Congress just days after the State of the ^Hon speech? Sadly, they contain some features are bound to hurt the unemployed. The Administration is proposing a freeze on pift>lic service employment slots. It wants to keèp them at the 750,000 level, although well over ten times that number are out of work today. Public service employment programs are the fastest and cheapest way to get people to work. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the net cost of a job in the public service program after two years is less than $3,500. The net cost of jobs generated by stimulative tax cuts is in the $20,000 range. In other words, it takes less money to create more jobs through the public service route. So what does the Administration propose? A whopping $25 billion tax cut and a freeze on public service jobs! The tax proposal contains a sleeper that could drive unemployment rates higher for already distressed regions. It wants to extend the investment tax credit to new construction. Industry already gets tax benefits from investments in new machinery, eve^iwhere.that results in less need for workers. Nofcfr it will get tax benefits for building new plants. On the surface that sounds all right. Encouraging iuuuBtry ui expana creates more jobs. But many industries with old plants in the East and Midwest are already moving to other regions, resulting in job losses in older cities. Now, with federal incentives to build sparkling, efficient new plants, there may be a rush to accelerate abandonment of their old plants and move to the sunbelt. How does this square with the effect to cut unemployment? It doesn't. If the Administra tion is really concerned with balanced economic growth, with revitalizing the cities, and with cutting high black unemployment, then it should limit the investment tax credit to new or rehabilitated plants in central cities or in high unemployment areas. The budget for fiscal year 1979 does include some helpful items - expanded youth job programs and joint efforts with the private sector to hire and train the jobless. But whatever good results from them is likely to be wiped out by downgrading public service jobs and offering incentives to industry to abandon the cities. α a ι y ce c HEW Versus UNC System By G«rald Johnson HEW versus the state o) North Carolina is a continuing saga that seem to have no end. HEW secretary Califano gave the UNC School System of Higher Education a 45-day ultimatum to either end its segregational duality or lose 80 million dollars in Federal Funds. * The UNC System constat· of predominately white schools such as University of North Carolina, North Carolina State, Appalachian State, UNCC, and many others. The stystein also includes North Carolina AftT, Winston-Salem State, North Carolina Central, Fayetteville State and many other predominately black schools. HEW with the proding from the NAACP is claiming that the State of North Carolina ia using double standarda in the adminiatration of the predo minately white and predomi nately black institution* Its recent mandates to the gov erning board of the N.C. sys tem is an attempt to bring parity to the system. The focus of the HEW argu ment has been on the low minority enrollment in the predominately white school οι uie system ana in uie course offering dualities that exist in the system. The latter focus deals with two schools in the small vicinity offering the same courses. If both schools belong to the system it stands to reason that only one scnooi need offer Uie course and students from accessible areas that are enrolled at other institutions in the sys tem would attend the course at the designated school The problem seems cut and dry and it would appear on the surface that the board of governors are bigots and HEW is right and let's be on with what is right. Not doubt ing that the board of Govern ors for the system are bigots, however, there are underlying circumstances that must be considered. ι ne most prevalent question that must be asked is "how will the abrupt change affect the predominately black inati tutiona?" Since North Caro lina has the majority of black institutions in this country it stands to reason that changes to the UNC system will have an affect on black colleges, both, private and nonprofit But no one is addressing this aspect satisfactorily Gerald Johnaon After gathering ideal Trom others and coining up with a few myself, it turns out that the affect will have both nega tive and positive conaequen- ' ces. On the positive side it seems that by eliminating the duality that exists in the system now some resemblance of parity will be achieved. That ia if some of the programs remain at the black institutions. If this happens white students from the predominately white schools will be forced to take classes at the predominately black schools this will cause money to be poured Into tne program at the black schools because the board of Govern ors would not want their white students learning with obso lete equipment in obsolete fscilities. This approach is a tried and proven means of bringing about equality in ed ucation. The CMS system has proved this. Remember how West Charlotte used to be? Well, look at her now! The negative side is equally traumatic. By removing the duality means you caa do more with lees people. For each program that Is combin ed one leas instructor Is need ed. It will be Interesting to see how this dilemma Is going to be handtai Mmmw mm) major programs will remain at the predominately white school·. Why? It only makes good sense. II the facilities and equipment already exist at a predominately white school why rebuild those feci titles at a predominately black school just to (et a program at the black school. Hence, the white Institutions will absorb the black institutions. With no major programs to attract black students, then the black Institutions hsve lost their need to exist. Yet, in talking with students at predominate ly black Institution·, most In dicated a need to be a part of a predominately black environ ment after an integrated high school venture. Philosophically speaking I think the long term gains for black people outweigh the short term loses If HEW suc ceeds in forcing the UNC system to an equal status. The exposure that the students will receive from up-to-date equip ment, from recent publica tions, form the best instruc tors, will got him much fur ther in life than clinging on to an Identity. In closing I would like to relate λ story that Judge Clifton JnhfMnn told me. It was when Floyd McKissick took the state at North Caro lina to court to obtain entrance in UNC Chapel Hill Law School. Thurgood Marshall, a Lincoln man, wm hie attor ney. The defense lawyer for the state stood up, told the Jury how great North Carolina Central Law School waa and that Mr. McKiaaick should go there instead of UNC. After a 10° minute spéel about the greatness of North Carolina Central, Mr. Marshall stood up and said your honor I know we have the wrong case here. The judge asked Mr. Marshall what be meant by that and Mr. Marshall replied that since the defense had mad· NCC so appealing that the state should close UNC and send every body to NCC. Neadlaaa to say that the state Is quipping the same arguments today about the effectiveness of the black institutions in the system. If it Is so then there should be no problems implementing a HEW accepted program. Knodee G«<· Warner Brae. Position λιο*·γμ κποαβ· dm been lamed publicity manager, •pacial project·, at Warner Β roe. Record·. The appoint ment was announce* this by Bob Merlla, War ners' publicity director ΚΛΟΛ*, baaed at the War nar Bra. New York efflcm, will be involved in coordina tion pron and publicity activi Uaa for Warner Bra·, arttota on a national baata with an ««nphaaia on black and lass oriented artiat.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Feb. 9, 1978, edition 1
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