University of Virginia Library

Demand And Do, Too

As students and faculty join to prod a
hesitant administration into taking significant
and progressive strides toward opening the
University community by eliminating official
and unofficial racism within it, thereby
making it more accessible and attractive to
Negroes, they do so in the full realization that
the fruits of their efforts cannot be expected
to appear overnight. Everyone is keenly aware
that even when various specific proposals
toward the end are gratified, if they ever are,
it will still be some time after that before the
end itself is attained. If Mr. Shannon were to
announce, for example, that all ten of the
student coalition's demands were accepted
and put into effect today, it would still be at
least a few years before a truly integrated,
open society could be established at the
University, for simple practical reasons if no
other. It is highly unlikely that Mr. Shannon
will make such an announcement today,
however, so the goal of that truly integrated,
open society is that much more distant.

Happily, though, persons who would see
such a society established at the University
immediately do not have to sit and wait idly
for the University and the state to implement
those demands. There are a number of other
means to the ultimate end which can, and
should, be employed either in conjunction
with the implementation of the demands or
not. Two of the best of these means have been
proposed this week.

Mr. Hirsch, professor of English, has
described to the University (Cavalier Daily,
March 4) a system which has been very
successful for recruiting black applicants at
Rice University. Members of the faculty there
have assumed the tremendous burden of
trying to reach quantities of black students
which the admissions office alone could never
hope to reach. They travel to high schools
over a widespread area to recruit black
applicants. Rice assumes their travel expenses,
or in many cases, they are able to coordinate
such efforts with their regular professional
trips at no cost to the university. Thus the
university can achieve what has been found to
be so vital to successful recruitment of black
students - personal contact - without
increasing its staff and at minimal expense. In
Mr. Hirsch's words, "Faculty members alone,
on a total budget of $2,000, have increased by
sevenfold the number of applications by black
students at Rice." George W. Smith, graduate
student, has shown (Cavalier Daily, March 5)
how such a plan can be extended to black
graduate students through black colleges.

The other means toward successful enrollment
of more Negro students is similar to Mr.
Hirsch's, on a student level. Kevin Mannix,
Student Councilman, is setting up a program
"whereby University students will return to
their hometown high school seeking out
possible applicants ... especially black and
culturally deprived students, who show
promise." His plan calls for visitation by
volunteers with students now at their old high
schools during the spring break to encourage
application to the University. The student
volunteers will "follow up" their discussions
by arranging visits to the University and
communication with its Admissions Office for
those high school students who appear
interested.

Successful implementation of either -
hopefully both - of these plans could achieve
more toward ultimately enrolling more black
students at the University quickly than any
other method currently available. We
encourage faculty members to contact Mr.
Ern and volunteer for missions of the sort Mr.
Hirsch describes, and we hope the University
will see fit to underwrite their trips as much as
possible. We also urge students to register at
the Student Council office by next Friday to
take part in Mr. Mannix's plan.

Satisfaction of far-reaching proposals and
demands is obviously essential to the ultimate
success of a movement to integrate any
segregated society, especially one as set in its
ways as this one is; while we wait for that
all-important satisfaction, though, we must
continue to use every available means to
achieve what we can without it. If the
programs offered by Messrs. Hirsch and
Mannix can be put into operation
successfully, we have no doubt that a first
major step toward the ultimate goal will have
been taken.