Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

7 . Have you given serious thought to your own sense of vocation? The
building of The Black University, whether it be realized in one or a
dozen locations, demands totally committed teachers, organizers
and administrators who have moved beyond jiving to real work .
What about you? (Perhaps you don't know that black students in
the South, on the "Negro" campuses, are also calling for more black
faculty . When will we find them?)
These are, as I said, questions for discussion . Though they may sound
rhetorical and loaded at points, they are not meant to stifle debate. If they
seem unfairly weighted they simply bear all the freight of my own fullest
concerns for our future in this strange land.
Even as I raise the questions, though, I am well aware of the fact that
many of you may have currently excellent reasons for staying on the
northern campuses where you are . So, as we develop those discussions
which must question and reexamine both the southern and nothern black
academic positions, I wish to add a few concrete suggestions for action,
action which may make it possible for us to serve-rather than destroyeach
other where we are now.
1 . On the recruiting of black faculty for northern schools : If this must
be done during these days when the supply of well-equipped, blackconscious
brothers and sisters is so limited, then why not work for
the establishment of special visiting professorships rather than outright
raiding of black schools? Under such an arrangement faculty
from the South could be invited for ene year, we could teach one
course in our specialty each quarter or semester and be available for
many kinds of counselling . There would also be freedom from the
many ordinary academic pressures of our southern campuses, and
time (as well as secretarial and research assistance) could be made
available for more research, writing and publication. At the same
time we would not be wrenched away from the southern schools on
an indefinite basis. In a sense, this would be no more than a token
presence, of course, but it represents a temporary measure which
might have some mutual benefit while we discuss the questions
above and while we seek to increase the supply of brothers and
sisters who can do the job.
2 . On the recruiting of black students : There are obviously hundreds
of thousands of black students outside of the colleges who ought
to be involved in some meaningful experience of higher education.
Since your institutions have obtained funds from many sources
for some of this task, why not make at least part of that money
available in more creative ways? For instance, a consortium of one
NEGRO DIGEST March 1969