University of Virginia Library

Urgent Priorities

The recent revival of the University's
Council on Human Relations and the subsequent
burst of activity by the members
has had a salubrious effect on the entire
community. Whatever the results of their
campaign may eventually be, their strident
calls for action have had the beneficial effect
of causing many members of the student
body and the administration to look beyond
the complacency engendered by statements
and policies of non-discrimination.

The demonstrators have challenged the
University to move beyond its current position
as a passive receptor of current racial
standards and become an active agent of
change in the moral climate of the state.
They have asked that the University actively
recruit new students from culturally deprived
backgrounds, that the administration begin
to appoint Negroes to faculty and admissions
positions. We feel that these are worthwhile
goals and should be given urgent priority.
Not only will the black citizens of Virginia
benefit from having more of their number
educated in Charlottesville, but the entire
atmosphere of the University would change
for the better.

For the white students here are being
culturally deprived in almost as grave a
sense as the black students that the Council
on Human Relations seeks to bring here.
The number of black students and teachers
here is not sufficient to bring about a significant
dialogue on the racial problems currently
besetting our society. If, as we suspect,
a white student can enter and leave the University
without ever having been, formally
or informally, exposed to such an exchange
of views, then we feel that the University
has failed to discharge a significant portion
of its educational duties.

In answer to the Council's requests that
the University actively seek to bridge this
void, the administration has stated that all
scholarships given by the University are
awarded on a non-discriminatory basis, and
could not be given to black students solely
because they are black. But for years, the
University has subsidized a group of students
on a discriminatory basis, giving scholarships
to athletes solely because they are
athletes.

The football and basketball coaching staffs
actively recruit high school students whom
they feel will be able to contribute to the
success of the University athletics. These
students are cajoled and flattered until they
enter. They are given their tuition, room,
and board money. Though they must meet
the minimum admission standards, they
sometimes fall below the average of their
class. They are provided with tutors to assist
them in passing their courses. In almost
every way they are subsidized students,
brought to the University because they
possess special qualities which it is felt
will be beneficial to the University.

We are not arguing about the justification,
or lack of it, for athletic scholarships. We
feel that they do have their place in University
life. The point is that the University
should not do less for the far more important
goal of a racial balance in the
student body and in the faculty.

The population of Virginia is 24 per
cent Negro, a figure that is twice the national
percentage. The long-range goal of the Admissions
Department should be a student
body that reflects those percentages. But
until such time as the primary and secondary
educational opportunities for Negroes provide
the admissions department with a surfeit
of black candidates, we feel that there
is a need to set up a policy of active recruiting
and subsidisation, just as the athletic
department has found it necessary to do to
provide the University with competitive
sports representatives. The precedent for
an active policy has been set.

In recruiting black students, the University
may well face the same problem that has
plagued the athletic department in its efforts,
to integrate its teams. Very few
black students, least of all the highly qualified
ones, wish to enter a University whose
attitude towards their race has been
demonstrably deficient in the past. In addition
to a recruiting effort for students, the
University will need Negro faculty members,
in a number large enough to be more than
token, and Negro administrators, if black
students are to feel that there will be a
receptive atmosphere for them here.

We feel confident that Mr. Shannon and
Dean Ern will recognize these problems
and prove capable of dealing with them.
If they do, they and the rest of the University
community will owe a considerable
debt of gratitude to the Council on Human
Relations. These times demand that the
University actively seek to fulfill its role
as the vanguard of intellectual progress in
the state, with at least the same vigor that
it has sought to have the best football team.

R.B.C.