University of Virginia Library

Shannon's Maze

—Alexander Pope"Peri Bathous"

By Robert Rosen

President Shannon made good
Tuesday night on the implication
made in his "initial thoughts" of
weeks ago, namely, that he would
soon elaborate his position. He has.
At the Student Council's request,
Mr. Shannon made a lengthy verbal
reply to the Council's and Coalition's
Eleven Proposals, and for
those with enough physical and
emotional stamina to wait it out,
the President's opinions and positions
proved to be slightly less
disappointing than originally
thought. In so, so many words, the
Pres. has reached the following
positions: A full-time Black Assistant
Dean of Admissions is now a
part of the University admissions
system. (Mr. Shannon refuses to
clarify this for the public, preferring,
rather, to see in Mr. Stokes's
appointment to his new position
something of a "coincidence" rather
than a new policy.) The difficult
Black Studies program is, at least,
beginning to emerge from the
murky depths of confusion. Mr.
Shannon, if I understand what he
said, is of the opinion that an
"inter-departmental" specialization
was at least theoretically possible
years ago. But, for all the lack of
concreteness, there seems to be
hope. Here the ball has to be picked
up by the Faculty as soon as
possible. The $10 application fee
will now be made optional with the
approval of Dean Ern and there
seems to be a reason to believe that
paternalism in this area give way to
understanding.

Mr. Shannon sidestepped the
issue of the Board of Visitors, but
he was very clear about his stand on
collective bargaining and the right
to strike. His unequivocal position
was that wages were "abysmally
low," that the Administration is
doing all that it can (which, he
admits, is not nearly adequate), and
that if this policy does fail, there is
no alternative! In other words,
unionization is an absolute evil, but
his Administration can offer no
other solution to the deplorable
wage conditions! It is a fatalism
which is fine for those of us who
are not non-academic employees of
the University. Needless to say, the
attitude is deplorable.

In regard to the transitional
program, the cause celebre, Mr.
Shannon was at first equally devoid
of new approaches. He did offer
$5,300 toward a program if the
students raised $15,000! But later
in the evening, Mr. Shannon offered
to aid the students in their
voluntary efforts to raise money,
by appearing on television and
appealing to Virginians to back this
effort. The present state of the
transitional program is unknown to
the public. With Mr. Shannon's
help, however, a successfully financed
program may be in the
offing.

To those moderates and liberals
who have consistently been disappointed,
Tuesday evening was
only another round in the fight.
But persistence has made the
dividend check conceivable if not as
yet payable.

Once again, it is up to President
Shannon to determine whether or
not the black man is to be sought
out, left to the mercy of time and
the courts, the next step in the
battle for equality here.