Students fight cutbacks in Black Studies Program
1989Barbara Putnam 1989-05Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 3 →
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DETROIT-After the Wayne State University administration attempted to shrink the Black Studies Program and deny tenure to a Black Studies professor, Black students began to fight back.
On April 10, about 100 Black students occupied the Student Administration Building, demanding that university officials stop dismantling the Center for Black Studies and instead transform it into a full Black Studies Department named the "Africana Institute." After several days of negotiations, the university agreed to this central demand and to hire tenured faculty for it.
Linda Sanders, a Black psychology student who has been taking food to the students, said, "The students are really angry. The university wants to close down the Center for Black Studies and donate our books to a museum. The Center is a part of the Black students' heritage."
Sanders pointed out that "the 'study-in', as the students call it, has been getting broader support each day." Many local Black leaders—such as the Reverend Holley of the Little Rock Baptist Church, who is a Detroit city-council member-have given support to the students.
There have been several well-attended rallies outside the occupied building. On April 18, small school-children from the Aisha Shule entertained the students with their singing. Standing in front of a large black, green, and red flag, they sang "Power to the People," and "We are African, We are at War" to appreciative students and supporters.
The University has moved cautiously, afraid of arousing more Black discontent. The administration flatly refused to make Malcolm X's birthday a holiday. But it agreed to make Martin Luther King's birthday something of a holiday. Students and faculty, if they choose, may stay home that day, but the university will not officially close.
Negotiations are continuing over a wide range of demands that hinge on improved enrollment of Black students and conditions for them and Black faculty. Although the key demands have been met-or at least promised-by the university, students are continuing their "study-in," as they say, until "all their demands are met." I] one year for $8. [] Enclosed is a I'd like to join Socialist Action.
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