Youngstown University - Neon Yearbook (Youngstown, OH)

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American society. It has been both a means of spreading academic knowledge and also instilling racial pride and positive identity in our Black student population. Our Black History Week as been hailed as one ofthe most outstanding in the country. In the final analysis Youngstown State University is to be congratulated for a foundation well laid. May 1972 Report on Black Studies Alfred L. Bright Director of Black Studies Black Studiesf27

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zsfaiack 0ur program is one of the few in the country to successfully implement an academic major that meets the full re- quirements of its institution. It is es- pecially important to state that while many universities have implemented majors in Black Studies, few have given them the careful attention that we have here in our institution. Consequently, many Black Studies Programs throughout the country are currently undergoing drastic changes. The bulk of these programs were instituted between 1968-70. They were instituted on the heels of demands and consequently were somewhat thrown together without solid administrative and academic foun- dations. The lack of genuine support for such programs is now manifesting itself in the form of serious reforms and, in many cases, ,total destruction of the programs. Many of these programs, by the very nature of their initial designs, find themselves defunct andf or crippled by the current economic pinch affecting most universities throughout the coun- try. Many are nonfunctional andfor misfits' within their university's struc- ture. Why? The answer is basic. They failed to gain the support and coopera- tion necessary to build a strong founda- tion to support their objectives and development. Our program, on the other hand, has gained distinction on a regional and national level for its careful deliberation and excellent design. It has taken us two years of careful study and broad par- ticipation to design our major. The results are evidenced in the tightly knit structure which our program is founded upon. We have gained the full support and cooperation of the broadest possi- ble cross section in the institution and have designed a program that reflects the ongoing philosophy and academic standards'of our University. Our committee design has proved to be quite successful and is now being studied by the A. Phillip Randolph Institute fNew York Cityj as a possible national model for Black Studies Programs throughout the country. While our most serious work is yet to come, all of us deserve to feel proud of our accomplishments in this area. BLACK STUDENT RECRUITMENT We now have an efficiently operation program in minority student recruit- Studies ment which is moving out into the com- munity to attract students to our institu- tion. It must be made perfectly clear that while many of these students may be inclined to major in Black Studies, the primary focus of the recruitment program is aimed at offering them the full range of higher educational oppor- tunities. In the 1970-71 academic year, the total Black Student enrollment ffallj was 479. This year the figure showed well over 550 Black students in the freshman class alone. At present this recruitment committee is addressing over 600 minority seniors from the area high schools in an attempt to attract many of them to our institution in the fall. We are optimistic that the results of this committee's dedicated work will prove successful in increasing our Black student population to close to one thou- sand students bythe fall quarter of 1972. In addition to these recruitment ef- forts, our committee is carrying out plans to assure the retention and matriculation of these students. We are working in close cooperation with a broad cross section in the institution in- cluding Financial Aids, Admissions, Counselling and Testing. The Student Development Committee and the newly proposed Upward Bound Program, to help provide some assurance of retain- ment and matriculation of these students. YOUNGSTOWN INNER-CITY' SCHOLARSHIP FUND As a further means of assisting these students, the Black Studies Program has established and implemented a special scholarship program known as The Youngstown Inner-City Student Scholarship Fund . The purpose of this program is to help identify and assist needy graduates of our Youngstown public high schools who demonstrate the ability to successfully complete a college education here at Youngstown State University. The Program attempts to assure a student's education by providing funds for a year's tuition and fees. Thus far the scholarship program has been quite successful. To date, we have received well over two thousand dollars in contributions and donations from many concerned citizens from our local community and institution. The Program is attractive because it helps a student to help himself and also con- nects the donor with a specific in- dividual. The donor can thus watch his contribution manifest itself through the educational development of a human being. VISIBILITY IN THE COM- MUNITY AND THE COUNTRY The Black Studies Program has gain- ed a distinctive position in the com- munity and throughout the state as well as many parts ofthe country. Our Black History Week Program has proven to be one of the highlights of the Institu- tion and has been successful in shedding new light on the dynamics of the Black man and his contributions to the I

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if E.-1 W A we '1'g , 18 1 in W W - 'inn 1 if Mum- 'M p Rv ,. W 1 -.4 The Political Science department at YSU provides the student with courses designed to lay the foundation from which a political sense and perspective might be derived. Other than conference courses fwhere the student selects his own field of in- quiryl there exists, at present, few courses which correlate practical application of textbook theory. Though YSU, working with the cooperation of the municipality of Youngstown, offers a program of Ur- ban Internship, in many instances the student participant finds himself employed in a clerical or secretarial capacity. One area which warrants some recognition is the recent institution of computer application in the use of social and political data. Perhaps the future will find YSU's political science department following the cue of other universities which provide students with options for cam- paign work credit, and which strive to offer courses of instruction which localize, and utilize, the theories presented in the classroom. AAR... ,E A-I -J , f S v B Dr. Francis S. Redburn, assistant professor of political science, and David Diroll in the key punch room of the computer center. 28fPolitical Science