Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

of less than a billion dollars, and
the cost could be spread over a
number of years.
The lack of staff is a particularly
vexing problem because of the vigorous
competition among schools
seeking Black teachers . In many
instances the competition is not in
the best interest of the Black University
. Of course, there is one
school of thought which maintains
that increases in demand result in
increases in supply. So, if we want
more Black teachers, we should use
up the ones we've got. That is probably
a comfortable notion for anyone
who has complete faith in the
market-place . But Black people
have been in that place before, and
things didn't always turn out so
well . One problem is that Black
school personnel are rarely used as
efficiently as they might be. This
is particularly true at white schools
where administrations establish
Black studies programs and hire
Black staff without regard for anything
other than the institution's
need to reduce the pressure from
Black students . What else might
explain the recent headlir_es in the
New York Times which told of
Cornell University's search for the
best Black scholars . Even Cornell
must know that, from the perspective
of Black educational needs, it
is not the place for the Black community's
best scholars . Nor is Yale,
or Harvard, or any other of the
predominantly white institutions
which have recently been rushing
into print with announcements
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of ambitious Black programs .
Chances are that if Harvard, let us
say, manages to beg, borrow or
bribe a Black scholar in art history,
he'll be teaching more white students
than Black students . That is
hardly a committed response to the
educational needs of the Black
community .
On the other hand, the thousands
of Black students on predominantly
white campuses cannot
be expected to sacrifice satisfaction
of all their needs . Demands for
Black courses and far Black faculty
on these campuses will increase .
And the demands should be met,
but they should be met efficiently .
Institutional smugness should not
be allowed to block innovative
techniques for expanding the relevant
educational opportunities
available to Black students . Yale
University's new Afro-American
Studies program will probably not
be too good for Black students at
New Haven College or at Quinnipiac,
and it behooves Yale's Black
students to keep that fact in mind .
Cooperation among neighbaring
institutions in the development and
administration of Black studies
programs is essential . During the
recent occupation of Ford Hall by
Black students at Brandeis, someone
quipped that the action would
have been beautiful if Black students
at Harvard, Boston University,
Tufts, and MIT had simultaneously
staged their own demonstrations
and demanded that a joint
program in Afro-American studies
March 1969 NEGRO DIGEST