Val. I . ..Tss"Q.
KlO"THE DARKEST THING ABOUT AFRICA IS AMERICA'S IGNORANCE OF IT.'
CLOSE-U P...
(part one)
Rodney Philips -
Interviewer
JAMES A. STOCKS, Director of the Center of Afro-American Affairs dent might receive anywhere from one to three credits for taking it. We also have counseling services for Black students. We have found that Black students often , when they come to a predominatelywhite university, are reluctant to take advantage of these services; we try to offer them advice counseling; some kind of assistance, to help them succeed while they are at U.D. What we're trying to do basically is when they are admitted to the University of Dayton , help them to graduate. A. Mr. Stocks for all of our readers who are not familiar with you, could you briefly give us some of your personal background? A. .. . 1took this position in September of 1972 after coming from Ohio University, where I was a student counselor for two years. Before that time, I was the Dean of Men at Central State University for 2 years. Prior to that, I was an elementary school teacher for three years. I have a B.A. in Education, a Master's degree in Counseling and Education, and I'm presently pursuing a Ph.D. in the area of Education Administration . . .
a.
What is the basic purpose of the C.A.A.A.?
A. Basically the Center is concerned with two functions: one function , is to provide a curriculum or courses which deal with the Black experience. These courses are to augment or to be added to the general curriculum of the University ... These courses are in the areas of Education, Political Science, History, English, Social Work , and Sociology. What we are trying to do is to broaden the student's education at the University of Dayton, in the sense that it would give an additional perspective from the traditional perspective that they have been getting in colleges; we try to offer them ideas about the Black experience whereever it is found .. .wherever Black people have lived and experienced various kinds of conditions , we try to present that particular view to our students.
Also, in addition to our curriculum, we try to a number of lectures to the University about the Black experience. We have a Lecture Series and a Cultural Series; programs that present mini-courses to students. These courses might be offered to students for maybe a week, or four weeks at a time , in which a stub~ing
a.
Do you feel that the Center is fulfilling this purpose? A. I think for a number of reasons, the Center is faced with a number of obstacles to achieving these goals. Number one, our courses are not attended by the students as much as we would like becausi:! of a number of reasons. Students claim thai they are not aware of our courses, as when a student is majoring in one area , he/she might not hear of courses we're offering; however, they are listed in the catalog, so I can't understand why they are not aware of them. Sometimes students tell us their advisors don't recommend certain courses from the Center for Afro-American Affairs, and they kind of gear them away from the courses. This is due primarily to a lack of respect for the Black experience generally by a number of people. A lot of students today are concerned about courses that are going to help them get thei r deg ree, and anythi ng that is not necessarily directly related to them graduating or taking courses in their major they're not concerned with. I think that this has been a detriment to the struggle of Black people, because as you know a lot of young Black students, and white students have not been made aware of the achievements and the struggle of Black people in the sixties and early seventies; their achievements are not fully appreciated , and many times students seem to forget that they are only in these institutions striving to rise in this society's social strata only because other people have made sacrifices. I think it is a pretty sad commentary on todays youngsters if they aren't aware of what happened before.
a. Do you think then that prospective Black students at U.D. should be told that courses from the Center could be used as electives or contribute to an additional minor?
A. Many times when admissions counselers approach students from predom inately white schools, they aren't inclined to mention Black Studies, because they probably assum ing that they're primarily recruiting white people (students) and white students usually aren't concerned with Black Studies, so for that reason they probably wouldn 't tell them about it. However, they do present Black Studies as they present everything else in the University . If a student happens to come across AfroAmerican (Black) STudies , then good, but ordinarily he wouldn 't come across it. Also ,... we're going to make a proposal this year, that our curriculum is not left autonomously or isolated like it is right now; we're going to try to integrate our curriculum into the regular University curriculum and put the various courses into their respective disciplines. Hopefully, this will put Black faculty in these departments and perhaps this might give some credibility and a little more respect to the various courses that we are offering in these various departments, hopefully increasing enrollment. For that's the way, I think , that we're going to have a viable program of Black Studies at this University, to integrate our courses into the various departments .
a. Do you think it would be more helpful to Black students if more Black faculty were hired, as opposed to say just having one Black progessor replace another who ;say, is on a leave of absence? . .So that after a class, a Black student would have someone to relate to in his educational experience? A. I definitely believe that. I think that th e idea of the people who struggled in the '60's was to get Blacks into universities and become professionals, so that we wouldn 't have the situation where we are sending little kids to integrate. What we have done, is sent our children . .
UHURU STAFF EDITOR .. . ........ . .. . .. . . .. . .. ERI CA F. SMITH ASS'T EDITOR . .. . .......... .. ..... TERRY SNOW POLITICAL AFFA IRS .. .. .... DERRI C K W. COKER REPORTER ...... . . . .... . ... . . RO DNEY PHILLI PS SPECIAL EVENTS . ... , ... . . WAYNE TIPTO N MAC K WOOD ARD, JR . SPORTS . . . .. . ...... . . .. .. . ..... TER RY DORSEY RI C HARD STEPHENS ADVi SORS .......... .... .. .. ..... HENR Y GROSS JERALD L. STEED