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The Sally Hemings Vol 1, No. 6

BLACK RECRUITMENT LET'S PUT OUR MONEY WHERE OUR MOUTH IS.

President Shannon reiterated for the nth time yesterday his support for the recruitment of blacks and women. But we want to bear more than words. We want to hear, for a start, some specific signs of support for item #7 of the strike demands. Item #7 reads:

We demand that the University of Virginia publicly commit itself to accepting 20 per cent as a goal for the enrollment of black students throughout the University, and further, that $100,000 be allocated for black admissions programs.

Now, 20 per cent may seem like a high percentage, especially compared to our dramatically inadequate .4 per cent last year. But:

1) We as a University say we cannot admit more blacks because they are not prepared for a University education. We are indeed intellectual snobs. If we are alive as an institution at all, it behooves us to look at the reality of the situation. And the reality is that black people have until very recently been forcibly prevented from attaining an adequate preparatory education at any level anywhere in the Commonwealth of Virginia. We have a responsibility to ourselves and to this state to break this cycle and to stop admitting students only on the basis of who will or who will not best succeed here. We must instead begin to admit students on the basis of who will most benefit from having come here.

2) Blacks comprise 20.6 per cent of Virginia's population. But they comprise only .4 per cent of U. Va.' s population. This University continues to perpetuate such institutional racism, even though its personnel, with few exceptions, continually reiterate non-discrimination. When are these constantly talked- about personal "convictions" going to influence institutional actions? We must either stop talking or start acting.

3) Next year's first-year class will include about 125 black students. Only three or four times that number will reach our goal of 20 per cent in the fall of 1971. The goal is not excessive. Vote for it.

We ask also $100,000 for black recruitment for next year. Does that turn you off? Then compare it with these facts:

1) The University spent no money at all for black recruitment for the first 143 years of its operation. For 127 of those years, it enforced a policy of deliberate exclusion

2) $25,000 was raised Saturday morning for student bail. If we can do this in five hours for white people-- fraternity men, Shakey's pizza delivery boys, dates-- how can we fail to raise four times that amount to attract black students here for a whole year?

3) The University-- in its specific on-going black recruitment programs, in the transition program, and in its financial aid programs-- quite likely approaches $100,000 per year in expenditures for black recruitment already. If so, let us as a University make a public commitment to that. And let us as students indicate our support for these programs and these goals. Let's put our money where our mouth has been.

SUPPORT DEMAND No. 7!