University of Virginia Library

More Than Half-Way

Mr. Shannon's lengthy response to the
proposals developed by the student coalition
and forwarded by the Student Council leaves
a lot of room for disappointment, but none
for indignation. Indignation would have been
warranted if Mr. Shannon had taken lightly
the recommendations and the demonstrations
from which they sprang, but the fact is that
he - and many of his assistants - obviously
gave the matter tremendous attention and
consideration from the moment he received
the proposals. It took no insignificant amount
of time to write a letter so long and yet so
agonizingly carefully-constructed. If, indeed,
the letter includes, as Mr. Shannon says,
merely his "initial thoughts," we can only
imagine that he will be spending many long
hours developing his ultimate conclusions.

Considering the effort that went into the
initial response, and the unprecedented rapid
fashion in which it was offered, we must
conclude that Mr. Shannon is taking the
proposals, the ideals which prompted them,
and the widespread commitment to them that
produced them, very seriously. No one could
reasonably ask for anything more than such a
reaction in five days' time, and so no one can
be honestly indignant at the fact of the letter
which embodies that reaction.

Anyone, however, can be genuinely disappointed
by the content of the letter. Too
often it refers us to bygone efforts; too often
it seems to evade the central issue to take
refuge in semantic subtleties; too often it
lacks commitment where commitment would
have meant everything - too often it seems to
reflect the absence of a progressive, forward-looking
attitude toward resolving the moral
dilemma indicated by the very real crisis
confronting the University and the state.

Above all, Mr. Shannon seems to have
failed to understand the basic principle
underlying the proposals and the demonstrations
from which they sprang. He writes: "Let
me reiterate that the University of Virginia is
formally and firmly committed to a policy of
equal opportunity for all persons as regards
race, color, religion or natural origin."

We ask him, can anyone really imagine that
a policy of "equal opportunity" today can
undo the results of 150 years of unequal
opportunity anytime soon, if ever? "Equal
opportunity" will become as odious a phrase
as "law and order" became last year if it
continues to be used to try to reconcile
anti-racist pronouncements with the racist
institutions which make them. The point is
this: a policy of equal opportunity is hardly
an improvement over a policy of racism for
the simple reason that decades of racism have
left too many of those offered the equal
opportunity untrained or unprepared to take
advantage of it. To offer a black applicant
from Prince Edward County "equal opportunity"
to gain admission to the University is
about as meaningful as offering a one-armed
midget "equal opportunity" to play center on
a professional basketball team. A policy of
equal opportunity can only result in stagnation
of the racial situation as it is now. Only a
policy designed to make up for decades of
racism - one designed to undo the damage
done by too many years of unequal
opportunity - can lead to any improvement
of the current racial situation.

The white race, and the white University,
must be willing to go more than "half-way" in
theory and in action if there is any conscience
or truth in noble denunciations of racism or in
noble pronouncements or egalitarian ideals.
That is why it is imperative that there be a
transitional program, different standards for
admission of underprivileged applicants, specific
recruitment of black applicants because
they are black by an admissions officer
specifically black for the purpose, optional
application photographs and fees for those
who feel that such requirements discriminate
against them, a stated policy of refusal to
recruit at visibly all-white schools, regardless
of what their stated policies may be, etc., etc.,
etc.

Mr. Shannon points out that "the University
has officially advised the U.S. Office of
Civil Rights and the U. S. Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare that the
employment policy of the University is
completely non-discriminatory," presumably
to explain why he cannot hire a black
Assistant Dean of Admissions. Surely he does
not expect that reason to hold any water with
anyone, for the obvious reason that he
somehow managed to find a half-time black
admissions officer without sacrificing the
University's HEW standing. It would be easy
enough for the University to seek out a
full-time black recruiter without "advertising"
for one if such advertising jeopardized its
non-discriminatory standing.

Of course a policy of non-discrimination in
employment or in admission is just another
evasion of the sort that the policy of equal
opportunity is. We must be discriminatory
now if we are ever to atone for, or undo, so
many years of discrimination in the other
direction.

Many of the proposals do not even call for
such reverse discrimination in order to be
implemented. The demand for increased
wages either by an increased state scale or by
local option for the University (admittedly a
complex matter) and the demand for the right
of University employees to engage in collective
bargaining to improve their own wretched
situation is motivated by simple standards of
human decency; the demand for a black
studies program is motivated by a desire for
better and more comprehensive educational
opportunity as well as by simple belief that
one man's history is as worthy of study as
another's; the demand for increased black
enrollment at the University is motivated by
the belief that everyone should share in the
benefits of what his taxes support as well as
by a desire for a realistic educational
environment. One doesn't even have to go
more than half way to implement these
proposals - they are sadly overdue.

Thus there is room for disappointment at
the content of Mr. Shannon's letter. In most
cases he merely asserts his sympathy with the
proposals and his continuing efforts to see
them effected. When, however, we consider
his offer personally to "undertake to find the
money from private sources to pay" application
fees for those who cannot afford them,
we must assume that his personal commitment
to the ideals involved is sufficient to
warrant our giving him time to produce results
from his continuing efforts. He obviously
cannot implement the proposals in a week, so,
trusting in his good faith, we owe him the
time to make his "pledges" good. We hope the
impatient ones of those supporting the
proposals are willing to give him that time.

In the cases in which Mr. Shannon seemed
to misunderstand the context in which the
proposals were offered - the need to go more
than half-way, to give extra opportunity to
those who have been denied it for so long -
we can only hope that he will come to
understand that need and to sympathize with
t. Only when he does, and only when all
others in authority and/or ascendancy share
that understanding and that sympathy, can
there be any hope for the healing of our sick
society.