- TheLouisville Cardinal
Vol. XLVI No. 16 Room 117,0tter Hall, Louisville, Ky. 40208 January 17, 1975
Task force ·recommends
Photograph by Rick Yetter
The Black Workers Coalition picketed U of L 's Brandeis Building last Monday to pro­test
the faring of a black custodian.
I •
broadening
by Kenny Vandevelde
A special Black Affairs Task Force,
chaired by Assistant to the President
John Hill, has sent President Miller a
report recommending that the Office of
Black Affairs be strengthened and
expanded to involve all camp~s minority
groups.
Specifically, the report recommended
the following:
• That the position of Director of the
Office of Black Affairs -be upgraded to
that of Assistant Vice President for
Academic Affairs (Minority Affairs),
• That the term Minority Affairs be
associated and attached to the pmposed
position,
• That the process for filling this
position follow the spirit and the letter of
Affirmative Action ,
• TI1at the Office of Black Affairs be
commended for the job it has already
done,
• That there be a Clarification of our
admissions policy to students recruited,
• That there be a specification of
roles and duties regarding staff members
in various offices involved in the
recruitment of students.
The formation of the task force was
prompted by the ·resignation earlier this
year of Charles Wood sen, the director of
the OBA. Woodsen left the university to
accept a position elsewhere.
The central administration felt that a
general review of black affairs was needed
to determine how that office might be
affected by the new counseling and
tutorial program in University College, by
the recently approved West Louisville
Ed ucation Program , and by the year-old,
Law students host Miller at forum
by Kenny Vandevelde
A crowd of over 150 law students
came to hear President James G. Miller
discuss the law school's problems with
fmances, the search for a new dean, and
low school morale. But few, if any, of
them went away as believers.
Miller answered questions at a law
school forum hosted by the Student Bar
Association in the Allen Court Room last
Tuesday afternoon.
Miller apparently was trying to appear
eager to answer all questions completely
and honestly. Many of the law students,
however, remained skeptical or. even
hostile, with one of them retorting "I
don't believe you" :~fter he answered her
question.
Clearly the issues most on tbe
students' minds \vere, when could the law
school expect a new dean and when could
it expect more funds?
Miller conceded that the university
was under-budgeted, but dlefended his
treatment of the law school's: fmances. "I
·am convinced it is fair to :say we have
given more new money to the law school
than to any other unit in the university,"
he said.
· Miller said that this was the case, even
discounting the extra tuition the law
school had received due to increased
enrollment
Miller also told the students that the
law school was the only unit :in which the
faculty received more than a 5.5% pay
increase this year.
Asked when the law school would
have a new dean, Miller, com,nented that
the search for a law dean was still a short
one compared to recent ~fearches for
(Continued on page 2) ·
Photograph by Rick Yetter
· Dr. Miler spoke to the law studenu
Tuesday afternoon.
ofOBA
Pan-African Studies unit in A&S.
The report notes '"an explicit need for
,t 'rallying point' ,, on this campus for
black students because these student
''have felt uncomfortable on
predominantly white campu_ses for . cveral
reasons. Some or the reason , whether
real or imagined, have been expressed as
feelings of alienation, culture gap , feelings
of inadequacy, :.1nd background
weaknesses in academic skills. Some have
felt overwhelmed because [this is their
first contact with a large nui{lber of white
students."
The consensus of the commit tee "lnd
' of the central administration, and espec­ially
of Vice-President for Academic Af­fairs
Jonn Dillon's office, has apparently
been that while the OBA should continue
to function as a rallying point for campus
minority groups, it should divest itself of
its other major function: academic
tutoring.
For the past several years, the OBA
has provided any student thctt requested
it with a tutor, usu~lly aoothcr, more
advanced ·student, in almost any subject
area. Though the program has been
housed in black affairs , 4<Y/b of the 300
students now being tutored arc white.
According to University Co11ege Dean
Wendell Rayburn, who sat on the ta k
force ~nd whose office will administer the
academic turoring and counseling
program for the university in the future,
"lt. is our feeling that the Office of Black
Affairs has actually filled a void that
should have been the responsibility of the
(entire) university."
Rayburn notes that hi() office can
provide better funding and more qualified
tutors than could the OBA. lie comments
that by moving the tutoring program
from OBA to UC, the university will
remove the label of "black" from
tutoring, a label that he said "tends to
stigmatize the program," and will allow
the OBA to concentrate on other areas.
Black affairs will continue to counsel
black students in helping them to adjust
to their college environment. Rayburn,
explaining why this function must remain
with black affairs, observes that "OBA
personnel would readily understand the
black psyche and be able to relate to the
black students better."
Rayburn says the reason for upgrading
the titie of the OBA head from director
to assistant vice-president was "to give
the office the necessary clout" to d.!al
with the problems of minority students,
cspeciaHy problems that cut aero~
departmentallines. '
Rayburn adds that the change in
designation from "black affairs" to the
broader ~·minority affairs" renectcd a
concern that the narrower titJe might
violate civil rights as well as federal
(Continued on page 4)