1
VIEWS
ALREADY STRAPPED by
, tight budgets and tiff
I competition, the colleges don't
expect to have enough
financial aid to go around for
the remaining group of "good"
students, those who didn't
:quite make it into the elect .
-top 10 percent or 0 but still
· have a t de I to offer.
,Even wi h 17 percent minority
I students in the freshman class
I at my univer ity, DePauw, I
; till turn away some very good
: students because of financial
: aid limitations.
: When good Black and
I Hispanic students are unable
: to secure sufficient financial
: aid, they tend to assume that
: all colleges are out of their
'! reach and stop trying for
• higher education. That is,
: unless they receive counseling
: to the contrary from the
: college-not a very common
': practice.
I Colleges, accustomed to
: competing aggressively with
I each other, don't help steer
I students to other institutions
, that might welcome them and
; have financial aid available.
I College admissions offices
J must change this mindset; they
have a responsibility to help
l all students find opportunities
-for further education, whether
• t their institution or another.
There are more than 3,000
colleges and universities in the
nation, and it is to our
advantage to help qualified
··high school graduates find
acceptable alternatives when
ou own institutions are
i ccessible.
One particular young Black
, woman form Baltimore
illustrates my point. Although
she was accepted for
admission, she and her family
ere unable to obtain
• sufficient financial aid in their
: particular situation to enable
• her to attend my university.
• ather than accept that all
options for financial a sistance
ad been exhausted, I called
: several colleges to inquire
• about their interest in a really
good student, but not
necessarily reat one.
IT DIDN'T take long
before an institution responded
and invited the student for an
on-campu . interview. That
college wa able to meet the
tudent's needs, and he went
on to be an active tudent who
contributed to the I ife of that
college. .
Except for my contact with
other college and the
student's willingness to go
along with me, 'the story might
not have had uch a happy
ending.
CULTURALLY, T goal w
the achievement of a "color-blind
society," which in the words of Mar
tin Luther King, Jr., would mean that
n
p
Dr. Manning Marable is Pro/es",
sor 0/ Political Science and Histo
University 0/ Colorado, Boulder.
nomm
for Africana
tudi
to the oppressed nationalitie of the
Uni ted States is seemingly to put
them b ck in their respective places.
Such a degree of rank oppor
tunism on the pan of Thomas and his
ilk has been correctly checked by a
broad spectrum of persons within the
African-American community.
Ei ther Bush knew that omeone with
Thomas' bac ground would never
gain acceptance from the credible
poli tical representatives and or
ganizations in the community or be
naively believed th t African
Americans, oppre ed minoritie
and liberals would accept anyone as
long as their skin was Black.
Le one For African. Stucfl
With the current situation involv
ing Africans Studies at WSU having
reached crisis proportions, there is
much to be learned from the political
maneuvers of the Reagan-BUSh era.
The phenomena of hand-picked
leadership which is largely unknown
and absent within the African
American community has its parallel
wi thin the Department of Africana
Studies at W.S.U. Despite the un
precedented efforts of African
American students in creating the
department, along with the support
of the community, they have been the
only sector within the University
which has not benefited from the
creation of Africana Studies.
Over the last two years every pos
sible advantage has been afforded to
the administration and its selected
"experts" to create a viable academic
program with strong community
links.
Yet the department cannot even
get off the ground and is in a state of
perpetual foundering and incom
petentcy. Since the fall of 1989,
nearly one-million dollars ofUniver-
si ty funding has been given to this
department which remains largely
unknown, unseen and unfelt by the
students and the larger community.
WSU's Pan-African Students
Union (pASU) over the same peri
has had a budget equivalent to 0
percent' of that of the Afri
Studies "experts."
on
and governmental benign neglect .
Time i out for playing aoo
masquerading. These designataf
"experts" must balt tbeircharade
discontinue the blantant misuse f
tax-payer money.
In a time period when people I
over Michigan are being forced 10
eliminate viable programs and whtn
indigent persons are faced with
elimination of support from the sta
this type of "Tom-Foolery" (no p
intended) can no longer be tolerat
PASU DURING THIS time
period has sponsored over thirty
seminars, forums and conferences
related to pertinent issues affecting
African peoples on the continent and
the Diaspora. .
I t bas published four full i ues of
an inter-displinary journal on Pan
African affairs well as numerous
leaflets, pamphlets and articles in
various new papers related to raeist
violence, the political ituation is
southern Africa, the Persian Gulf,
etc.
In addition, and most importantly,
the PASU bas intensified its contacts
with gra sroot community or
ganization who repre ent the
lifeblood of Detroit in i efforts to
combat encouraging urban blight
What Must Be Done?
•
•
,
Our organization has et out
accomplish an immediate task aim
at rectifying the Africana Studi
situation. •
Initially we are establishing la
"Working Commis ion for Africa
Studie ," which will consi t of s1"O
dents. working youth, communi
persons and profes ional educato ,
whose job it will be to inve tigate e
current crisis facing this demic pr
gram at WSU. ,
•
'This Commission will exami
the circumstances urrounding t
department's rejection of intern -
tionally reknown Pan-Afrie
scholar, Dr. Horace CampeJl, for t II
posistion of senior professor in
Africana Studies program.
Also the commission will I
into the utilization of the a
proximatel y $470,000 annuaJ budget
of the department. In other wo
we want the public to know whe
the money is going, in light of e
program's lack of activity and in -
lectual direction. •
. .
FINALLY, THE commi si n
will put forward a program off acti n
which would ensure student a
community participation and s
port for the department.
Only with the support of the .
<lent sector and the African
Americ n community 'can thi
department succeed. Those who
seek to block he people's involve
ment in Africana Studie are in ac
tuality working again t the be t
intere of the department. We en
courage all segments of the African
world community to ist us in this
critical and timely etIo .
Tbe author is a �mbu of 1M
Pan-African Students Union aNl is
editor 0/ PAMBANA Journal:
By ABAYOMlAZIKIWE
There has been much dialogue
and debate surrounding Pre ident
George Bush's nomination of
_ 'Clarence Thomas for the vacated
position of Supreme Court Justice
brought about by the recent retire
ment of Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Thomas' conservative and less
than adequate performance as head
of the Equal Opportunity Employ
ment Commission (EEOC) as well
as his controversial deci ions handed
down an United State Appelatc
Court Judge, has illustrated the na
ture of the Black neo-conservau m
which was largely a political by-
product of the Reagan-BUSh era.
However, what has proven rno t
interesting in this entire cenario i
the level of growing poli tical
maturity exemplified by the African
American community.
Almost immediately after the an
nouncement of the conservative
judge's candidacy, many African
American political officials and or-
. ganiza tional repre entati ves
denounced this move by Bush as a
crude and cynical effort to further th
racialization of American law.
and was born in a poor community,
his acquirement of a law degree and
positions of professional prestige in
government has engendered within
him a contempt for the majority of
his own people, who with \be begin
ning of the Reagan administration in
1981, have been subjecltd to the
most sustained ault on their b ic
human rights ince the post
reconstruction period of the late
nineteenth century.
How can any upposed highly
educated and cultured African
American allow himself or beISeJf to
be used by extreme right-wing ele
ments who e onJy objectives related
,
,
DESPITE THE FACT tba t
Judge Thomas is of African ancestry
('I'
•
, ,