Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

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SASS Swarthmore Afro -American Students ' Society Swarthraore College Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081 Demands SASS has always insisted that black students be consulted and involved in all aspects of deliberation on matters involving black students. Not only does the Report of the Admissions Poli- cy Committee violate this principle, it has several other faults. First of all the report included in its tables information taken from the confidential files of black students and attempted to put this information on public display. Second, the report mal- igned and questioned the integrity of black December 23 i i ISr organization, a questionable position for a document supposedly Mr. ' Courtney . Smith: cruiting more black students. Finally the College Marlached the problem from the conservative, overly rigid viewpoint of an institution primarily concerned with the preser- Toi ' the President of Swarthmore College: We cannot accept either the first or second edition of the report of the Admissions Policy Coro. Merry Christmasifcnt and Enrollment of Negro Students. We tEnclosed are the clarified SASS demands you requested some time ago. If you fail to issue a clear, unequivocal public acceptance of these non-negotiable demands by noon, Tuesdays t January 7, 1969, the Black students and SASS will be forced to do whatever is necessaryYtpj obtain acceptance o,f game. We further demand : ; take positi(aigned) to incre the enrollment of black students in order to achieve the criti- cal mass necessary to sustain a viable healthy black student Specifically these steps shCllnton A. Etheridge, Jr. f a s Chairman, SASS so-called risk black students for the academic year be- ginning September 1969. Significant defined here to fall cae ahbetween ten (10) and twenty (20). b. negotiations with institutions presently conducting summer enrichment or reinforcement programs for entering freshmen so that risk students accepted by Swarthmore for the ac- ademic year 1969-70 may attend such a program. c. negotiations with several quality private secondary schools so as to arrange that risk students accepted by Swarthmore for the academic year beginning i n . September 19 9 ma y ave the option of attending such a 3chool for one year prior Co entering Swarthraore with the students total expenses for that year paid for by the College. d. the designing and implementation in academic year 1969-70 of a post enrollment ' support ' program that would be avail- able to black students after enrollment and that would take special consideration of risk students mentioned above. Such a package shall be designed by the Admissions Policy

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lary 29, 1969 THE SWARTHMORE COLLEGE PHOENIX Week of Direct Action, Meetings and finally Tragedy (Continued from Page A) presenting revised SASS positions on the admissions controversy and Ad- missions Office occupation. The four new demands made at that time were: 1) that a com- plete description of the decision- making organs of the College be made public; 2) that black people be participants in policy-making on alt levels outlined; 3) that the original SASS demands be imple- mented; and 4) that no disciplinary netion whatever be taken against black people, both students and em- ployees, who have participated in this direct action. HALT Mizell explained that the black stu- dents had brought the regular ad- missions process to a halt, and would continue to do so until the College submitted an acceptable program with specific plans for the inclusion of black students on all levels. As the audience grew to fill Com- mons, the press conference became a mass meeting. The College engi- neer then urged that the meeting be moved to Clothier for safety. The crowd complied quickly. John Brax- ton, a Student Council and SPAC member, took charge of the meeting. Discussion initially centered around John Benditt ' s statement expressing unequivocal support for the SASS stund and calling for a cessation of all college functions, including regis- tration, until the present crisis was settled. DISCUSSIONS Faculty and students then discuss- ed the relative merits of various actions, beyond the Benditt proposal. Ellen Schall, president of Student Council, called for the meeting to Joseph B. Shane, Vice President of Swarthmore, stated in a press conference that the administration hoped that the present situation could be settled in o Quakerly, amic. able way. Mr. Shane added that he thought it would not be necessary to and the College had no desire to call the police, or any other outside force into the matter. MODERATES One hundred students defining themselves as moderates met in Com- mons at 7:30 to prepare for the stu- dent meeting in Clothier Thursday night. The group organized around the basic concerns that: 1) support be voiced for the SASS demands while refraining from comment on the tactics: 2) that the proposals concerning the consideration of the decision-making processes of the Col- lege be considered in the calmer, more rational atmosphere of a mid- February Student Week (a week of discussion without classes). PLENUM That evening Swarthmore students, meeting in a plenary session, voted to endorse, as proposals, the SASS demands of December 23 and Janu- ary 9 and to submit these to the faculty. Also approved was a motion to ask the faculty to postpone the academic schedule for two days, per- mitting discussion in the College community. Originators of discussion proposals and S.C. President Ellen Schall were designated as the Plen- ary Steering Committee. This group of students organized workshops and conducted subsequent plenary ses- Following their walkout from the Clothier meeting, a group of stu- dents assembled in the Student Council room in Tarblcs to discuss more radical forms of action than the students in the Clothier plenary session were willing to consider. SUPPORT DEMANDS Numbering about 100, that group agreed almost unanimously to sup- port not only the SASS demands as of January 9 but also the SASS ac- tions in support of these demands. Meanwhile, the faculty met in Mar- tin and passed four proposals: post- poning classes for two days, moving the exam schedule back two days, inviting black students to the faculty meeting the next day and stating, The faculty, in the midst of acting on the problems of black admissions and a black curriculum, finds itself fuced with a resort to force and a refusal to make use of rational pro- f d cedure Friday, Jan. 10 Community discussion continued Friday in sessions planned by the to the lack of trust and confidence between the disputing parties, assur- ing that ideas from both sides wilt be fully considered in faculty meet- ings. SASS agreed with Mr. Stott ' s observation that basic to the goals of Swarthmore College was the bal- ance between quality education and social equality. In the second faculty meeting to art on admissions problems, several concrete proposals were adopted with a large measure of consensus in view that, The College recognizes that it is necessary to maintain a viable black student community . . . To this end, the College will strive to enroll a minimum of 25 black stu- derts in each freshman class . . . increased to 35 after a three-year period. RISK STUDENTS The faculty also passed that the college should seek to enroll a sig- nificant number (approximately 10) of so-called ' risk ' black students. The faculty adjourned until 10 a.m. Saturday morning. A meeting for moderates in Com- mons that evening entertained sev- eral proposals, but the group of about Deans Barr and Hargadon (I, to r.) leaving Adt steering committee, in the form of discussions among the administration □ nd SASS and various student cau- Following a plenary meeting in Clothier at 9:30 a.m. students re- grouped in workshops and again in pust-lunch discussion groups. Clinton Etheridge, Don Mizell and Mr. Gilmore Stott, Administrative Assistant to President Smith, met at Media Fellowship House at noon in response to telegrams from Mr. Rob- ert Woodson, head of the Fellowship House, for a press conference L.id a luiicheon. The press conference was short, consisting essentially of pre- pared position statements from Mr. Stott and the SASS leaders. Mr. Stott stressed the irony of the crisis in that there seemed to be a great deal of agreement between the SASS demands expressed in its De- cember 23 letter to President Smith, and the final conclusions of the Ad- missions Policy Committee report. With this in view, Stott criticized the black organization ' s timing of the January 7 ultimatum and the Janu- ary 9 demands, since, in his opinion, thi situation was resolvable without the resort to the action which had followed. Clinton Etheridge delineated the SASS position with a prepared statement, defending SASS ' s action as a relevant education for both black and white students. PRESS EXCLUDED Members of the professional press were excluded from the luncheon- discussion which followed. Etheridge stated that the experiences of this year served as a rude awakening for SASS piembcrs about the effic- acy of the traditional channels for change, in which the perspective and life-style of blacks cannot be prop- erly understood or reckoned with without direct involvement of blacks. The first set of demands in October hoped to shock these people out of their complacency. The rationale behind the final action, the taking of the Admissions Office, was simply that the demands had been over- looked, and that the only way to spur authorities into immediate rec- of the urgency of the de- 200 students produced no votes or resolutions. However, an informal poll showed disapproval of a con- tinuation on Monday of the suspen- sion of classes. A stated issued by SASS, said that SASS sought to redefine the underlying philosophy of education here, to make the education at Swarthmore more responsive to Ihe human needs of people both within and outside of the College. COALITION Working long into the night, an eight-hour meeting of a coalition group of SASS supporters formu- lated a request to the faculty for immediate perusal and support of the content of all SASS demands, ask- ing for faculty acceptance of eight SASS demands to the satisfaction of SASS before the night of Sunday, January 12. The coalition sounded out moder- ate views gleaned from the day ' s workshop because of the felt need for majority support of all initial student actions. Saturday, Jan. 11 Meeting Saturday morning and af- ternoon, the faculty passed motions calling for the prompt establishment of an Ad Hoc Black Admissions Com- mittee (AHBAC) , and appointed faculty liaisons with the students and SASS. AHBAC was to consist of three faculty members, five students in- cluding representation of SASS, and two administrators, with representa- tives of each group to be chosen by that group and the committee chair- man chosen from the committee by the committee. AHBAC Responsibilities of AHBAC in- cluded recommending appointment of an admissions officer who shall be black, reviewing present admissions standards and procedures involving black applicants, considering changes in the membership of the standing Admissions Policy Committee and preparing reports w(th the under- standing that this committee be free to make use of outside professional help. The appointment of a black selor is subject to review by SASS. He is to be available to all black stu- dents for confidential advice and guidance and not responsible to the deans to provide this information. The faculty then considered re- quests to allow student observers or reporters at its meetings, but after considerable debate, the motion was defeated. At the meeting, Clinton Etheridge and Don Mizell read statements of SASS ' s opinion on faculty action on their demands. They noted that the fiiculty had not yet addressed itself to the decision-making implications of their demands, although SASS was pleased with the progress of the faculty thus far. PLENUM Saturday morning ' s plenary meet- ing in Clothier summarized Friday ' s events and organized Saturday ' s workshops: discussion of black ad- missions and SASS ' actions ' . Students then moved on to these sessions. Dean Robert Barr ' s defense of re- cent faculty meetings highlighted Saturday ' s afternoon plenum in Clothier. He argued that the faculty resolutions were intended as a com- promise between wisdom and speed with the hope of SASS ' s agreement However, Richard Schuldenfrei. Assistant Professor of Philosophy, pointed out that although there was substantial agreement among faculty members as to the faculty ' s progress i there were many different views on MODERATES The Expanded Moderate Caucus met in Clothier on Saturday after- noon, with roughly 200 students. Pri- mary conclusions included that deci- sion upon whether students should go back to classes on Monday should be put off until a time when more information was available, and that black power interests and student power interests were separable and that at this time the prime objective of students should be to solve the ill next fall might benefit from agement of black transfer students from two-year colleges with the un- derstanding that financial aid would be available if necessary. SPECIFICS Finally, it passed five specific measures in which the college would endeavor to enhance opportunities for all black students to attend col- leges. These included: continuation of Upward Bound, consideration of using college facilities for an ABC- type program, study of the possibility of weekly evening seminars for socio- economically deprived local high sehool upperclassmen, continued par- ticipation in area programs to in- crease the number of college-bound students, and attempting to arrange with local schools to offer black Swarthmore applicants an extra year of schooling if necessary. AMENDMENT In its Sunday afternoon session th« faculty amended its resolution concerning the Ad Hoc Black Ad- missions Committee and considered financial and social implications of thj resolutions already passed. First the faculty urged the President and necessary :arry t t thei .r!y dations with the understanding that this requires a reappraisal of bud- getary and fund-raising priorities. Next it urged Student Council to support activities which, while open to the entire student body, would be largely black in orientation. The fac- ulty also passed three amendments relating to the functioning of the AHBAC. They gave it the power to recommend changes in the geo- graphical pattern of recruitment and to recommend changes in the membership of the standing Admis- sions Policy Committee. ADVISORY The faculty also heard a state- ment on SASS ' s view of the AHBAC. The statement in essence said that the committee should have more than an advisory role and that its com- position should be as proposed by the faculty with the stipulation that four of the students represent SASS, mid with strong feeling for a hlack faculty member and black adminis- .spapermen the student body Saturday night, the students passed a resolution calling fcr a change in the philosophical basis of decision-making ot the Col- lege, and decided to hold off on any action on the problem of continuing academic business until the faculty had met Sunday and SASS had re- sponded to that meeting Duncan Hollomon ' s resolution call- ing for a legitimate process for de- cision-moking in which groups af- fected by the decision would take part in the process, represented by mem- bers chosen by their respective con- stituencies was passed. The plenary session was adjourned and it was decided that the student body would again meet at S p.m. Sunday. Sunday, Jan. 12 Much of the substantive action of the faculty was accomplished in three long sessions stretching from Sunday morning to early Monday morning. Meeting from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., the faculty considered and passed dealing mainly with the prob- oflen present al meetings. tiiitor to be included in those cate- gories. Finally, in response to a question from Clinton Etheridge, President Smith said that it went without saying that he was prepared to use the full influence and prestige of his office to win approval by the Board of the resolutions recently passed by the faculty. STUDENT POWER Student activity during Sunday wai devoted to separating the ques- tion of student power from the cur- rent crisis and with the question of classes on Monday. The radical caucus, (actually a misnomer: the radical caucus consisted of students who more strongly affirmed SASS ' s position than the general student body) meeting three times, came out against direct action at the present time and for postponing the question of student participation in decision- making until next semester. How- ever, they did want a commit- ment on the part of the faculty to a Student Week in February and to some sort of student participation in decision-making before that week

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Art Buchwald How Peace was won Washington — The Vietnam- ese war, after a brief absence, is back in the news. President Nixon is g oing to Midway Is- land to see if he can get President Thieu to agree to what President Thieu sup- posedly agreed to before Mr. Nixon made his speech. President Thieu is going to Midway to get President Nix- on to say what he said on television is not what he real- ly meant. And they ' ll prob- ably come out of their confer- ence with a joint statement Saying they are both resolved to have an honorable and just peace in Vietnam and that their meeting was very help- ful. Then President Thieu will go back to Saigon and say that President Nixon assured him that he would back the Saigon government and would not support any other form of government. President Nixon will go back to Washington arid assure the American peo- ple that as soon as Hanoi comes to terms, the South Vietnamese people will be able to choose their own destiny. • • • This will cause consterna- tion in Saigon, and President Thieu will demand to see Am- bassador Ellsworth Bunker to have him clarify what Presi- dent Nixon said when he got back. Ambassador Bunker will as- sure President Thieu that President Nixon has the in- terests of the South Vietna- mese Government at heart, and nothing President Nixon said changes the desire of the United States to see that the elected government of South Vietnam is protected in any peace settlement. President Thieu will then tell reporters that he has been assured that he is head of the legal government of South Vietnam, and nothing the Uni- ted States says will have any effect on what the United States agrees to in Paris. This will cause some dis- cussion in Paris, and Ambas- sador Henry Cabot Lodge will ask President Nixon if he can proceed in trying to negotiate the settlement despite Thieu ' s hard line. Ambassador Lodge will re- ceive instructions to proceed toward a settlement despite Thieu ' s hard line. Ambassador Lodge will re- ceive instructions to proceed toward a settlement according to President Nixon ' s original five-point program. When Lodge follows his or- ders, the South Vietnamese delegate to Paris will fly basic to Saigon and report to the South Vietnamese that the Uni- ted States is trying to sell them out in Paris. • • • President Thieu will cair in Ellsworth Bunker and demand to know what the United, States is doing in Paris. Bunk- er will assure Thieu that Am- bassador Lodge is only doing what Thieu and President -Nix- on agreed upon at Midway. Thieu will tell Bunker that he and President Nixon did not agree on anything except to bring the war to a just -and honorable finish. Bunker will then cable President Nixon that he needs help in reassuring Thieu ' th ' at the Saigon government ' s in- terests will be protected. President Nixon will send out Secretary of State Rogers and Secretary of Defense Laird to mollify Thieu about the United States ' intentions. After their meeting, Presi- dent Thieu will report to his Cabinet that he has the prom- ise of President Nixon that under no condition will the NLF have any role In a fu- ture South Vietnamese Gov- ernment. • • • This story will leak to the press and President Nixon will be asked to explain how President Thieu s view of ne- gotiations differs from his. President Nixon will say that the views of the United States, and the South Vietnamese are the same; the United States will continue to stress that the South Vietnamese people must decide their own destiny and that they are the only ones w ho can say what kind of gov- ernment they want, whether, it be the present one, a neutral- ist one or even a coalition with the NLF. Thieu will immediately de- mand a meeting with Am-» bassador Bunker. Meanwhile, back on Ham- burger Hill. . 4