University of Virginia Library

Black Students
Oppose Integration

Reprinted from "Diamondback,"
the student newspaper at The
University of Maryland.

"The young black student is
giving up the idea of integration,"
according to a New York University
professor of education.

Virgil A. Clift, testifying before
the University committee on meaningful
integration last Friday, suggested
the investigators work with
this fact in mind if they are to
make any significant progress.

Clift, who has done extensive
work on integration at NYU, commended
the committee and the
University for "taking a stand and
deciding to do something that is
significant in terms of integration
on campus."

He added, "We have reached a
stage in this country where it has
become exceedingly important that
institutions and organizations give
serious attention to this problem."

If something is not done to solve
the racial problem, Clift thinks,
"we are headed for guerrilla warfare."

Clift listed six factors the committee
should keep in mind while
gathering facts on meaningful integration:

* Young black students, as well as
young white liberals, are reading
Eldridge Cleaver, the autobiography
of Malcolm X and Che Guevara and
are no longer interested in integration,

* students do not feel that committees
such as these are sincere in
their efforts to attract black people
from inner city areas,

* Intellectually superior Negroes
are not going to state schools; they
are entering schools like Harvard,
Yale and Radcliffe,

* black militant groups within Negro
communities believe it is impossible
to achieve any significant degree
of racial integration in this
country,

* most black students are culturally
deprived so the University must
be able to provide remedial education
and

* underprivileged black students
may suffer severe mental problems
which the University must be able
to accommodate.

Clift listed the committee's subcommittees
and made suggestions
on how each could become more
effective.

Concerning campus housing he
said, "I am convinced that housing,
wherever possible, should be provided
on the campus in an integrated
situation. It gives students an
opportunity to gain certain social
skills that are imperative."

Clift suggests that the subcommittee
on student athletic activities
could play a very important role in
recruiting black students because of
the positive identity athletics gives
the black student.

Another factor helpful in recruiting
black students who would
not ordinarily come to the University
is the presence of black faculty
members, Clift said.

Black teachers would serve three
purposes in the recruitment of Negro
students:

* Young black students would be
able to emulate black faculty members,

* black faculty members would be
able to help solve any racial problems
that might develop on campus.

Clift also suggested that the University
provide a program of black
studies which would include history,
literature and culture.