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Tuesday, September 179 1 968
More Changes Promised
In -H A i I Hr IN y
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-Black
Reprinted from the
Southern Education Report
It seemed that Black
Consciousness or Black
Awareness or the Black
Cultural Revolution-erupted
suddenly in the nation's
colleges and universities this
spring. But it has been
simmering for years.
The show of militancy has
been peaceful and violent,
massive and minuscule. It
reached the small all-Negro
colleges of the South as well as
the great Ivy League
universities of the East and the
huge state universities of the
West and Midwest. It left many
adminstrators, faculty member
and white students perplexed,
even angered.
Already, it appears that
Black Consciousness has left a
lasting imprint on American
higher education. It promises
to work even more dramatic
changes in the years to come.
ONLY TWO years ago,
when the Students'
Afro-American Society at
Columbia University, New
York, issued Volume 1,
Number 1, of The Black
Student, it was possible for the
editors to complain about "the
vacuum of Black-student
indifference." No one who has
been on campuses this year,
who has talked to black
students and witnessed the
impact of their protest, would
maintain that such a vacuum
still exists. Columbia's Society
now has its counterparts in
hundreds of Black Student
Unions, Afro-American
By WAYNE HURDER
DTH Editor
The National Student
Association set itself on a new
course at its Congress this
summer when it restructured
itself so it could act as a
lobbying agent for member
schools on a state, national and
local level.
The reformed NSA will be
headed by Bob Powell, a
former president of the student
body at UNC, now a student at
Princeton University. He was
president of the student body
in 1966-67.
Two other UNC students
were elected to posts in the
NSA: Charles Jeffress,
formerly NSA co-ordinator on
campus, elected to the
National Supervisory Board;
Buck Goldstein, elected
vice-chairman of the
Carolinas-Virginia region,
BELL TOWER-Returning
scene of the Bell Tower
NSA
Awareness Impac
Associations and other
organizations operating under a
score or more of similar names.
But the theme set out by The
Black Student in the spring of
1966 remians a valid
summation of the concern of
these groups.
"Black America's crisis is
our crisis as black students writ
large," they wrote. "Simply
stated, American universities
do not prepare us to cope with
our problems in as adequate a
manner as it seemingly
prepares its white students to
cope with theirs. It does not
satisfactorily ameliorate for
Black students a critical
problem of our own
generation; that is, that white
society has dictated the terms
of our acceptance into the
American mainstream. To us,
these terms are unacceptable.
Therefore we are now
questionning the adequacy of
present American standards as
a means of attaining
self-fulfillment."
A MORE recent manifesto,
issued by the Black Students'
Union at San Francisco State
College, asserts that "the
students have begun to
question the relevance of our
education in relation to our
needs and the needs of our
community. We have said that
if the only moral reason for a
college existing is to develop
energies, to refine the
experience of the community,
what does this reason have to
do with our presence on
campus?" The San Francisco
Poivell Elected
r
BOB POWELL
giving him a seat on the Central
Steering Committee of NSA.
The Congress, held at
students will recognize this familiar
and it will soon be familiar to all
statement, drafted as the
prospectus for a "Black Studies
Program," goes on to declare:
"We have begun to say that
perhaps colleges and
universities as they now exist
are, at least, irrelevant,
sometimes even destructive, to
Black Students in terms of the
recognition of new needs in the
Black community. W7e have
begun to define the concept
which is called 'Black of
Consciousness.' We have begun
to say that perhaps the
recognition' of oneself in terms
of one's historical presence is
the primary interest of Black
students today, or should be.
That is, Black people did not
come here from the West, they
came from Africa. We came
here not as immigrants, but as
slaves. We exist here not as
first-class citizens but as a
domestic colony. In schools,
when allowed to go to school,
we learn little or nothing about
African history or our own
history in this country, the
literature of black people, of
African languages, of black art
and music, of the development
of our culture.
"WE ARE saying that in
our own college experiences
that if a college's political
purpose is to make student
more productive members of
the society, then those colleges
must mean more for the entire
society, including the Black
community. This means that in
some way the concept of
education for students might
change so that the information
received by the students
Be
job
Kansas State University in
August, voted overwhelmingly
to establish a tax-exempt
National Student Institute
which would handle the
educational affairs and
administration of grants
formerly done in the NSA.
The National Student
Association would then
become the lobbying arm for
student governments. Members
of the NSA are automatically
members of the Institute.
In order for NSA to be able
to lobby, the structure had to
be changed so one branch of
the student organization could
continue to be tax exempt.
Grants and gifts to it for
conduct of educational affairs
would be tax exemptable.
The National Board of the
Institute would be the same as
the National Supervisory Board
of NSA.
The National Supervisory
incoming students.
becomes more relevant to a
larger number ..."
WThat brought about the
change? It is part, of course, of
the rising tide of militancy in
the civil rights movement in
America, part of the
nationwide and worldwide
revolt of youth that has
threatened institutions ranging
from college fraternities to the
government of France. It is
part of these things, but it is
different, too as the black
students are quick to point
out. Some insist, in fact, that
the relation of their movement
to the broader spectrum of
student protest is pure
coincidence.
Two turning points are
often cited by the Negro
students as they explore the
origins of Black Consciousness.
The first was the sit-in
By TODD COHEN
DTH Staff Writer
The Black Student
Movement here, founded one
year ago, is a group concerned
with actively moving UNC
Blacks into the "mainstream of
Meiv. President
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CHARLES JEFFRESS
Board, in recommending to the
Congress they make the
change, said NSA, if given the
DTH Staff Photo by Steve Adams
Is Felt
movement that began in
Greensboro, N.C. early in
1960-a drive for desegregation
that produced results The
second was a failure the
unsuccessful attempt of the
Mississippi Freedom
Democratic Party to obtain
seating at the 1964 Democratic
Party Convention. It produced,
or at least contributed to, the
massive disillusionment, the
profound mistrust of
whites especially white
liberals that is the dominant
theme among today's black
student activists.
IN A FAR greater number of
instances, however too great a
number to enumerate here the
target (of the black student
organization) has not been any
specific grievance but the
(Continued on Page 12)
.Black
Main
the new Black Consciousness,"
according to Preston Dobbins,
leader of the movement
Dobbins, in .an interview
this week, said BSM was
organized last fall when some
Black students felt that the
local chapter of the National
power to lobby, should
concentrate on regional, state
and local levels rather than the
national level.
The board, which made the
recommendation on a six to
three vote, said top priority
should be given five matters:
the 18-year old vote,
the draft and Vietnam
higher education (tuition,
appropriations and academic
freedom),
drugs,
poverty and racism.
The board also
recommended that the
Congress, if it felt it necessary,
should specify to the officers
and staff of NSA which of
those issues are of highest
priority and what others
should be added.
The National Supervisory
Board is given the power
during the year to add specific
local and state issues to the list
as it deems necessary.
NSA will be prohibited
from endorsing a candidate for
public office or expressing
opposition to somebody's
office or candidacy.
The National Student
Association, founded in 1947,
represents 326 college and
university student governments
with a population of over 1.7
million students.
Library
A library without book
shelves. That's the predicament
the new Robert B. House
Undergraduate Library finds
itself in with the beginning of
this semester.
According to Dr. Jerrold
Orne of the Library
Department, the new structure
is now ready to be occupied
except for the book shelves
which have not yet arrived
from the company.
"The book shelf contractor
has fouled up on his deadline,"
according to Dr. Orne.
"They're having the same
problem at Duke with the same
company."
Dr. Orne further stated that
he has not received a definite
Ag
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MoYenienl
ream
Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People was too restricted to
permit a relevant association
with the Black Consciousness.
The movement has also been
called the Black Awareness, or
the Black Cultural
em
At the annual Congresses
the delegates pass resolutions
establishing NSA's stand on
current issues such as the draft,
drugs, and racism. Before this
year, however, officers" and
staff members of NSA could
not really take any action on
these resolutions in legislatures
for fear of NSA losing its
tax-exempt status.
Apart from passing
legislation, NSA staff members
advise member universities on
securing educational reform on
(Continued on Page 12)
By WAYNE HURDER
Tar Heel Editor
The Chapel Hill campus of
the Consolidated University
has presented the Advisory
Budget" Commission of the
state legislature with a request
for almost $63 million dollars
for capital improvements.
Without
word from the contractor, the
Estey Company of New York,
on when to expect the shelves.
After the book shelves are
finally received, Dr. Orne
estimates that it will be a
matter of about a week before
the books can be moved and
the new facility is opened for
use. ,
"I'm afraid that it could be
as late as November before
we'll be able to open the
Facility," Dr. Orne says. 'We'll
know more definitely as soon
as we get word from the
company."
When the new House
Library is completed, it will
virtually double the present
University Library space. "It
Mi
A Meeting Of The Black Student
Formed At The University Last
A
warene
Revolution the recognition by
Blacks of themselves in terms
of their historical presence.
Dobbins explained that the
campus NAACP was closely
tied to the state and national
branches of the organizations
and thus unable to enter into
any partisan activites.
In addition, the local
NAACP numbered only ten
members as opposed to
approximately 75 Blacks
enrolled here as undergradu
ates, Dobbins said. Such a
situation, it was felt, was not
relevant to the overall Black
student community here, he
explained.
Consequently, BSM, with a
membership of some sixty
Negro students and one white,
was organized espousing three
goals directed to the greater
aim of immersing itself deeply
and actively in the mainstream
of Black Consciousness.
The three goals, according
to Dobbins, are:
promote closer bonds
between UNC Blacks and the
Black community jn Chapel
Hill.
better communication
among all Black student groups
in North Carolina
increase an awareness of
the part of each individual
Black pertaining to his Black
cultural background.
M10H JDULCH
The commission, which
reviews budget requests of all
state agencies, came to Chapel
Hill July 30, to hear Chancellor
J. Carlyle Sitterson's case for
the appropriation.
The request is for the
biennium 1969-71. and does
not cover operating expenses
or expenditures for new or
Shelves?
will change the entire use of
Wilson Library," according to
Dr. Orne.
The second floor of the
present Wilson building will be
devoted entirely .to reading
area and the stacks will be
opened up.
Other changes anticipated
include expansion of the photo
lab and the inter-library center.
According to Dr. Orne, the
addition of the House Library
will emphasize the early college
years with several book
collections for that time. 4iThe
facility will have far better
lighting, air conditioning and
so on."
If the book cases ever arrive,
it will be a welcome addition.
DTH Staff Photo by Steve Adams
Movement
Spring
Following its birth, BSM
involved itself in numerous
local and state-wide activities.
A tutorial program, to be
expanded this year, was begun
in the Chapel Hill Black
community.
Meetings were set up which
included representatives of
Black schools throughout the
state. At one such meeting,
Warren Cofield, now a senior
here, was elected chairman of
the statewide Black student
association.
Following the assassination
of the Reverend Martin Luther
King last April, BSM sponsored
a one-day strike in which 95
per cent of the Black workers
on campus stayed home.
Dobbins called the strike
one means of improving
communications between his
group and the Black
Community.
In protest of the slaying last
spring in Orangeburg, S.C., of
three Negro students
participating in a civil rights
march to protest the banning
of Negroes from a bowling
alley, BSM staged
demonstrations for two nights
in the streets of Chapel Hill,
mustering about 135 marchers,
30 of whom were white,
according to unofficial count
(Continued on Page 12)
expanded programs.
The request is probably
nothing near the amount the
Chapel Hill campus will be
appropriated by legislature
when it meets in January.
In 1966 the University
requested $80 million and was
appropriated around $12
million. Several of the requests
on the list this year have been
made three or four times
before. Each time the General
Assembly has turned the
request down.
The Consolidated University
has filed requests with the
Commission for about $115
' million for the next two years.
However, according to State
Property Officer Frank B.
Turner, this is probably near
the total that the state will be
able to appropriate for all its
colleges and Universities, so the
University can expect some
cuts in its budget request.
The University's request
were presented in numerical
priority fashion, with a
breakdown between requests
for the Academic Affairs
division and the Health Affairs
division.
The legislature, after hearing
recommendations of the
budget commission, will
(Continued on Page 8)
Will
get