University of Virginia Library

Letters: Saunier Writes To Correct
Martin Luther King Council Member

Permit me to provide some facts
to correct two of the many misunderstandings
or misrepresentations
that continue to obfuscate the
University's progress on the issue
of non-discrimination.

The Cavalier Daily reported last
Friday that a member of the Martin
Luther King Chapter of the
Human Relations Council said,
"Regardless of what the Admissions
Office says, there are only
31 full-time Negro students attending
the University and not
71."

The fact is that last fall, as a
result of the fact that 68 registered
students identified themselves as
"Negro," two as "colored," and
one as "black," a total figure of
71 was reported to the Federal
Government as "Negro students."
Of the approximate total of 8,500
University students, about 1,000
are part-time, but until now the
question of a breakdown of part-time
students by race or color
had not been brought up and no
official breakdown has been made.

(This matter of "Negro" and
"black" brings up the fact that,
as President Shannon has informed
the officers of the Martin Luther
King Chapter, since the University
has 1,100 employees who
are reported as "Negro" and the
71 students reported above, he is
inclined to believe that usage of
the three-word term "Negro and
black" in commenting on nondiscrimination
is advisable because
it is "responsive, sympathetic, precise,
and properly inclusive.")

Secondly, with regard to one of
the letters from Mr. Yuhnke,
(President of the Chapter) released
to The Cavalier Daily last week,
in a context on "black students"
Mr. Yuhnke opened the paragraph
in which he requested use of University
funds for the proposed
Martin Luther King Scholarship
Fund by stating, "For the same
reason that special consideration
must be given to black students
in admissions policies, it is not
alone enough to simply admit students
from a culturally-deprived
background. The University must
also offer such students academic
and financial aid."

The use first of the term "black
students" and then "such students,"
in the context of the
letter, have given an impression
that the purpose of the request
was to procure financial aid specifically
for black students. The sponsors
of the Fund have not indicated
an interest in such discrimination,
but a desire to assist culturally-deprived
students without regard to
race or color. Subsequent information
indicates that the interest
of the King Chapter in this Fund
may not be specifically related to
an interest in black students, but
in disadvantaged or culturally-deprived
students generally, and the
point should be cleared up soon.

Yuhnke Replies

We appreciate the extensive publicity
which your paper has finally
conceded to give to the issues
concerning black students in the
last few days, issues which we have
been raising over the last few
weeks. However, I was most disappointed
to see that as usual the
CD has accepted unquestioningly
administrative handouts and made
no effort to contact other parties
involved in important news stories.

Sine a representative of the King
Chapter of the Human Relations
Council was not interviewed concerning
the statement by Mr.
Saunier or any of the issues raised
in the communications between
the Council and the President's
office, we hope that you will allow
us to correct one major misconception
which you included in
the story. A close reading of the
letter which the Council sent to
Mr. Shannon on April 29 will
show that we did not ask for
"complete maintenance for five
Negro students" as you reported
but rather funds for "five
students" from culturally deprived
backgrounds. This misinterpretation
has been the source of some
confusion in a number of quarters.
Your lack of careful reporting
has not helped eliminate that
confusion.

Robert E. Yuhnke, President

Martin Luther King Chapter

Virginia Council on Human Relations.

In order to obviate any further misunderstanding
on both sides, we quote
here in toto the fifth paragraph of
your letter of April 29: "For the same
reason that special consideration must
be given to black students in admissions
polices, it is not alone enough
to simply admit students from a culturally
deprived background. The University
must also offer such students
academic and financial aid. As you
know, the faculty recently established
the Martin Luther King Scholarship
Fund. We feel that it is important for
the University to promote the success
of this Fund. Therefore we recommend
that the University seed the Fund with
a contribution sufficient to provide
complete maintenance for at least five
students. This could come from present
scholarship funds or other uncommitted
funds." These were your words.
They speak for themselves.-Ed.

Parking Pathos

I find myself in complete agreement
with Dean Runk concerning
the prohibition on mobile
parking on the Grounds. However,
I feel this way for much different
reasons. I was under the
impression that the standards of
conduct were higher at the University
of Virginia than at similar
institutions. Apparently I was
wrong. Tuesday night vandals for
the third time this school year
damaged my automobile while it
was on University property.

In the nine years that I have
been driving an automobile, I have
traveled to most parts of the United
States and never once been a victim
of vandalism. It is only since
I have been at the University that
I have incurred such damage.

I would hope that appropriate
measures could be taken to protect
private property on the
Grounds.