Morgan Urges Academic "Open Communily’

by Jim Alt and Debbie McKnight

Dr. Randall Morgan who has

served on the International
Board of Directors of the
NAACP, is a prOminent block
businessman from Gary, In-
diana. Vice President of the
Gary Urban League, MLMort
gan is a member of the in-
diana Governor's Task Force
on Human Relations.

Last weekend Dr. Morgan
was on campus to advise the
Executive Council about their
hiring practices, and he was
interviewed by John Grey,
Washington Alston, Jim l\lt,
and Debbie McKnight.

Alston opened the questions

ing by asking “What role she
ould the black student play
in the college community to
bring about the liberation of
black people in a racist soce
iety?"

Morgan replied that the con
cept of roletplaying intensr
fies the difficulties, saying
that ”people become immobi‘
lized when they think of thC
race problem because they
see it as a difference of life
styles and roles. This des-
'troys the ability of people to
deal with it.

‘Reaping The Harvest‘

"John Dewey said it quite
Wel1"’[ha[ education is a pro'
cess of living and n0t a pre-
paration for the future. Most
of us at college think we are
just preparing for life and
that what we do has no cons
temporary meaning. But colt
lege should be geared to [IV’
ing out the principles of the
'Magna Carta, the Bill of
Rights, the Ten Commandmct
nts, or whatever. The campus
should be ,a laboratory for
living the teachings of the
great scholarsi

“What we are dOing is reaps
ing the harvest of a very in*
opt past. (he of our failings
is not dealing openly and frat
nkly with our fellow men;
Ilct‘citi lie our problems."

Blocks' Role

Morgan then addressed hinr
self to the role blackbrothers
are taking on black campuses.
He noted that he does not see
any uniformity in thCll‘ actit
villus, btlt ”such uniformity
isn’t really necessary.

"There is now hope and con.
cern where there was despair
and frustration. There is a
rise in the sensitivity of bus‘
iness, industry, and institu—
tions, largely because of stu*
dent activtty.

“Students may thinkthatthey
are powerless, butlwouldtlis
courage that view. Remember,
it was students who started
the Sli’i ~ and thus pricked
the conscience ofthisnntion."

Quota System?

jon Gray noted that in each
of the past three years exact-
ly I9 black freshmen have
been admitted to Grinncll,and
said that ”Iain convinced that
the Grillnell admissions of
flCQ has an unwrittcn quota on
blacks. How can we go about
breaking this quota?"

Morgan replied that it did
seem "odd” that the same
number of blacks are admits
ted each year, but added that
“if Grinnell is covertly pract
ticinga quota system, [would
be very disappointed because
I have worked in good faith
With the college. Quota sys‘
terns arc repulsive in their
very (‘Xistel'ict3," but ”I don't
know the details, so Icannot
speak dcfinitert“ He suggcs-
tctl that the question be discuse

 

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Randall Morgan talks about
black/white relations at an
interview held Sept. 1 in Dean
Wall's study.

sed with theadmissions office.

Morgan has beenadvisingthe
college on the hiring of black
faculty members. He metr
tioned that ”previously the
(college officials) were not
fulfilling their responsibilt
ity,” but that he has helpcdthe
college to hire two black fac~
ulty members so far.

Hiring Barriers

The college’s financial stress,
he pointed out, is certainly
one obstacle to hiring more
blacks, but “the college has
made a commitment to do
what it can when it mn.’l‘here
is a great deal of naievete
among whites. They say there
are no black profs available,
but look at Harvard and Chit
cago Universities. Apparent
ly if you seek you shall find.”

The college had not taken
action in this direction ears
her, he suggested, because
of "a lack of visable commit
ment" on the part of the
”division chairmen and heads
who look for people to fill the
positions. It depends on how

909 Broad

 

for all your
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hard they look, so it depends
even more on these people’s
commitments."

Further, “over the years,
barriers have been built up.
Whites say they don’t know
where to look for black fac—
ulty."

Debbie McKnight asked whet
ther black profs avoid Grin-
nell because of its smallttown
charaCter and isolation. More
gan replied that this could be
true in the cases of both black
and white profs,andaddedthat
“this could be overcomeifthe
college made sure that it had,
in fact, created an open com-
munity where the faculty
member would know that he
could expect academic free—
dom.

"Ithlnk that sometimes we
use explanations as rationale
izations for something that is
not being done, but ought to
be." In some respects “the
parade has passed Grinnell
by," he noted, and added that
he hopes to see the college
community in the vanguard of
problem.

Hurculenn Ellort

Morgan did n0t feel at lib‘
erty to disclose any of the
specific suggestions or pro
posals he made to the Execut
tive Council at their meeting,
but did say that "the proper
sals have been well thought
out and are the product of
Dr.Billingsley(Academic Vice
President of Howard Univ.),

Deans Kimbo and Wall, Presr
ident Leggett, and myself."

"The commitment (to black
hiring and recruiting) comes
through clcarcrto me now than
at any time in thepast,"Mort
gan observed. The black face
ulty next year will expand
”not by ten, perhaps, but we
will see, if at all possible,
more black students and fac-
ulty here next ycarttunless
a truly Hurculean effort
fails."

CBS For All

“I hope that the white stu-
dents at Grtnnell don’t take
any comfort in talking about
the absence of black faculty,
because you have fifty-some
black students here whose li~
ves you are not doing much to
better," he said. ”One of our
concerns in this respect is
how white students regard
CES. They shouldn‘t see it as
a closed group that wants to
be separated from the com-
munity. It isn’t just a bunch
of black students meeting off
in a corner. CBS is a group
of people united in concern
over an important issue."

"White students should be
aware of this We can press
upon the faculty, but we must
press with equal vigor upon
the white students. I hope
that every white student is
doing all that is possible to
see that every human being,
regardless of race, partici~
pates fully in an open society."

Sunday Will Be Peace Day

It conjunction with the Black
Cultural Weekend and the Inn
ternational Year for Action to
Combat Racism and Racial
Discrimination, the Baha'i
Club has also arranged for
a discussion on aparthied to
be held Sunday evening at
7:30 in South Lounge. The
aparthied discussion will be
led by Jay Cutler ‘63, a high
school physics teacher who
recently returned from three
years in Rhodesia. Cutlertaur
ght in a mission high school
in the Rhodesian Southeastern
Highlands.

Other campus groups have
been invited to take an active
part in World Peace Day.
The Baha'i Group in Griﬂ’
nell also plans to donate sev-
eral books to the town and
campus libraries in commem-
oration of the Day

GAS
Oll

BUS

CALL or SEE

(EBOSS

236-7205

”Human Rights-"Prerequi-
site to Peace" will be the
theme of World Peace Day
at Grinnell this Sunday. of-
ficially prOclaimed on the
campus by President Leggett
and SGA President Shelley
Floyd, the Day has been dedi‘
cated to the international Year
for Action to Combat Racism
and Racial Discrimination.

World Peace Day events will
include activities on both the
campus and in the town of
Grinnell where an official pro-
clamation was issued by Ma-
yor Floyd Beaver.

The Baha’i Club, which init
tiated the idea, has planned a
worship service in the chapel
which will incorporate read-
ings from several of the wor-
ld's predominant religions int
eluding Christianity, Bhuddie
stn, Islam, Judiaism and the
Baha‘i Faith. The readings
will be oriented toward a
theme of world peace. anum~
ber of Siudentsefromrabroad
at Grinnell have accepted in-
vitations to share their views
on world peace and under-
standing with various church
congregations throughout the
town.

DR. DUANE L. TOWN
OPTOMETRIST

PHONE 236-4002
Office Hours: 9 to 12, l to 5
Closed Thursday and
Saturday afternoons
CONTACT L ENSES
719 Fifth Avenue

 

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September 17, I971

 

 

