University Black faculty roster increase•
By Kim Bower
Special to the Capitol Times from
the Collegian
Sixteen black faculty
members were recently hired at
the University, increasing the
total number to 51, the ex
ecutive assistant for administra
tion said.
William Asbury said the new
faculty come from academic
areas such as mathematics,
psychology, engineering,
medicine, journalism, human
development, comparative
literature and business
administration.
"Black faculty can add to
that diversity and act as role
models fOr (both) black and
white students," he said.
James Stewart, director of
the Black Studies Program,
said the increase in black facul
ty is desirable for all students
because it gives them more op
portunity to have faculty from
different cultural backgrounds
with different styles of
lecturing.
It may also break down
stereotypes students may have,
he said.
For minority students, the
new faculty can act as role
models to interest them in go-
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ing on to graduate school,
Stewart said. Personal relation
ships with the faculty may aid
students in adjusting to the
University environment and
help with the retention effort,
he added.
Stewart noted that it is
critical that expectations not be
put on minority faculty
members for retention of
minority students that they can
not meet.
Sometinies minority faculty
are overburdened with service
on committees and student
Stereotypes hurt involvement
(CPS) -- Racism still haunts
blacks and other minorities at
mostly-white campuses, but the
best thing colleges can do is face
the problem and start talking
about it, a new Association of
American Colleges (AAC)
study says.
At the same time, black
white student relations are tak
ing historical turns at a number
of predominantly-white,
southern schools, which in re
cent weeks have taken steps to
integrate their fraternities and
sororities.
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counseling which makes it dif
ficult to keep up with their pro
fessional work, he said.
"All faculty members should
be playing an active role in the
retention effort," he said.
Asbury said about-1.5 per
cent of University faculty
members are black with the new
appointments.
Other universities have not
veen so successful in increasing
black faculty representation.
According to an article in the
June 13 issue of the Chronicle
Colleges suffer from racial
stereotypes according to
Carolyn Spatta, author of a
just-released AAC report and
vice president for administra
tion and business of Cal State-
Hayward. "Whenever a black
student goes to a mostly-white
campus, everybody gets the
idea that this is a poor student
from an unstable, inner-city
family," she explains. "But in
fact the black student could just
as easily be from a well-to-do,
traditional family in the
suburbs."' -
Last issue's
Puzzle Answer
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leather 37 Squander
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pronoun 51 Negative
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of Higher Education, "virtually
no gains are being made in in
creasing minority representa-
tion in the faculties and ad
ministrations of predominant
ly white colleges, according to
many educators familiar with
academic recruiting."
Asbury said the ad
ministrators cannot pinpoint a
reason that Penn State has been
successful when other univer
sities have not.
"We did well this year -- we
may not do so well next year,"
he said.
Most harmful for minorities
at predominantly-white cam
puses, she notes, are the "feel
ings of isolation, lack of facul
ty and administrative role
models, and the exclusion of
black figures and black con
tributions in their subject
areas."
"Both black and white
students [often feel] the black
student is little more than a
token on a mostly-white cam
pus," she says.
But confronting these pro
blems, Spatta says, can help
students and faculty overcome
them.
"We're encouraging cam
puses to take a workshop ap
proach or hold other related ac
tivities that allow students and
faculty to realize the effects of
racism and how to deal with
it," she says.
Spatta thinks instructors
especially need to ask
themselves "How does racism
affect my teaching?" and
"How does it affect my
students' learning?"
Black students, she says, also
need to establish "support
groups" to share feelings of
isolation and frustation, "ac
cept the fact that getting their
degree is a four or five year goal
and not let racism deter them
from that goal," and "unders
tand the history and past ex
periences of racism on their
campus."
At the same time the AAC
released its report, several cam
puses reported historic progress
in integrating their students.
Black and white sororities
and fraternities at the Univer
sity of Georgia, for instance,
just voted to merge under one
governing council after years of
having separate councils.
itol Times Pale
He said some of the dif
ference may come from the
positions available. Black ap
plicants may be qualified for
positions other than those open
at a particular time.
The University has also
fostered a commitment to hir
ing more minorities and female
candidates, Asbury said.
In addition, the University
has become responsible for in
creasing the number of black
faculty as a part of the Title VI
agreement which also calls for
the University to increase black
student enrollment.
"We're very positive about
the merger," says Joe Fleming,
president of Georgia's newly
integrated Interfraternity
Council. "People are finally
starting to realize the benefits
we all can have from this. We
will be stronger for uniting."
At the University of Arkan
sas, three minority students
have pledged at three of the
campus' traditionally white
fraternities and sororities.
Last year, eight Arkansas
sororities lost privileges granted
to registered organizations for
refusing to sign a pledge not to
discriminate. They eventually
signed the pledge last January.
University of Texas-Austin
students, too, have been strug
gling to integrate their greek
systems.
All the houses at UT have
signed the university's non
discriminatory agreement "and
there are some integrated
fraternities with a few blacks,"
reports Eric Weber, UT's Inter
fraternity Council advisor.
But black and white houses
still function under separate
governing councils, Weber
says.
Like Georgia, Texas' next
step is to merge the councils,
but conflicts on both sides have
stopped it so far, Weber says.
Not much is likely to change
until they merge, however.
"You'd have to be the first
group to break the tradition [of
allowing blacks into a
traditionally-white group]"
notes Julie McNichols, presi
dent of Alpha Xi Delta.