Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

continue to enroll thousands of black students it would be physically
impossible considering the limited space and resources of southern black
schools, and financially unfeasible, to ship all of them, or even a majority
of them, to the South . Only a small percentage of the total number of
black students in the North would be able to take advantage of this
opportunity . This would create a most unfortunate situation for those
who are forced to remain .
Moreover, unless the receiving southern institutions are "black-oriented,"
we would be exposing the already "up-tight" northern black students
to the traditionally-oriented Negro colleges which, as I emphasized
above, have yet to acknowledge the legitimacy of black studies programs .
However, Professor Harding's suggestion of visiting professorships for
southern black teachers in northern institutions is a feasible temporary
solution to this problem . I emphasized the word "temporary" because
I am convinced that even with such visiting professorships the demand
for black professors far exceeds the available supply . And the gap will
rapidly widen . It cannot be denied, however, that this suggestion would
help to alleviate the pressure on white administrators and lessen their
frantic search for permanent black professors . As a stop-gap solution
then, the visiting professorship idea should be immediately implemented .
An arrangement could be made with white institutions to hold a moratorium
on the recruitment of permanent black faculty from the South
in favor of visiting black professorships (with the proviso that these
institutions be permitted to hire as permanent faculty those black professors
who personally initiate such an appointment) . I should think
that if white administrators were assured of the participation of black
faculty in this regard, they would be willing to cooperate.
In this connection, Professor Harding's recommendation that white
institutions "make long term substantial [financial] investments in the
black institutions" can be realistically entertained . More specifically,
our historic experiences in this society should certainly make us aware
that when men have to choose between protecting their own interests
or preserving the interests of others, they almost invariably decide in
favor of themselves . Altruism, regardless of how justified, rarely plays
a major role in important decisions . Black people, in their interactions
with whites, have painfully found this proposition to be universally true .
Accordingly, in order to assure long term commitment, white institutions
have to be made to recognize that they have a vested interest in financially
supporting various endeavors in black institutions . For example, in return
for an agreement to financially support research programs in certain
black institutions, white institutions might receive the cooperation of
black professors in accepting visiting professorships to staff their black
(Continued on page 57)
NEGRO DIGEST March 1970 I I