Guinier on the Defense

IN PRESENTING HIS DEFENSE of the Afro-American Studies Department to the Faculty, Ewart Guinier '33, its chairman, will probably not make any substantive comments on the Review Committee's recommendations. Rather, Guinier will most likely contend that the entire review procedure is invalid and that the recently-released report is illegitimate. Guinier will also state that the Administration has made major efforts to subvert the development of his department.

The Review Committee report called for major changes in the department's administration and structure. Specifically, the report, released two weeks ago, urged that the Faculty provide joint concentrators between Afro-American Studies and other established disciplines. Similarly, the report called on the Faculty to use joint appointments between Afro-American Studies and established departments to attract new professors. The Review Committee also recommended deferring a graduate program until the undergraduate one is better developed. It advised that new Faculty appointments be made by ad hoc faculty committees, not the Afro-American Studies Department's executive committee. The report suggested administering the proposed DuBois research institute on Afro-American affairs on a University-wide basis. Most importantly, the Review Committee report called for Guinier's ouster, by the end of the spring term, if possible.

These recommendations would end Guinier's control of the department. The executive committee never acts independently of the chairman and is his puppet cabinet. By taking control of the DuBois Institute and Faculty appointments out of its hands, the Review Committee was trying to end Guinier's domination.

Guinier opposed all of these recommendations in his own progress report, released two weeks before the Review Committee made its report. Yet Guinier has not commented on the substance of the committee's recommendations since they were made public. To highlight his claim that the report is illegitimate. Guinier has pretended that he "has not had the time to read it."

IN A SPEECH AT CORNELL last Saturday and again on Tuesday night in Harvard Hall. Guinier said that the Administration failed to consult him and the department's executive committee while initiating the review procedure. The Faculty legislation creating the Afro-American Studies Department and mandating a review in 1971-72 also required any such study to progress in consultation with the department. Because of the failure to consult with the department, Guinier called the review also violation of the Faculty legislation. Guinier also blasted Dunlop and Bok for setting up an ad hog committee from outside the department to review it. Guinier asked how such a committee could know anything about the operation of the department, which, he said, is considered the finest in the United States. In both speeches, Guinier charged the Administration had not lived up to its commitment to fund the DuBois research institute. He specifically charged at Cornell that Dean Dunlop renged on a commitment to get funding from the Ford Foundation.

Guinier is careful in all his addresses not to implicate the Faculty in the Administration's duplicity. At Cornell Saturday, Guinier re-affirmed his belief that the Faculty will judge his department fairly when they hear his story. To insure that the Faculty is informed about the department, Guinier has made a massive effort to distribute his progress report. A former New York City politician and labor organizer, Guinier is conducting his campaign to save his department in the same way say incumbent office-holder does.

Guinier mailed his progress report to the entire Faculty and to about 1000 people around the country who have expressed some interest in Harvard's Afro-American Studies program. Guinier hopes that they will remember his document while considering the Review Committee's report (which was also mailed to the entire Faculty). Guinier hopes that his constituency around the country will read his material and urge Dean Dunlop. President Bok, or their friends on the Faculty not to restructure the department. Like any politician, Guinier has attempted to pick up endorsements for his department's program. Guinier went to the recent convention of the Association for the Study of African-American (formerly Negro) Life and History and tried t politicise the meeting, by distributing his pamphlet. He claimed Tuesday night that the Association had recognised Harvard's program as the finest in the country.

TO GET THE FACULTY to read his pamphlet, Guinier placed ads in the Crimson urging people who went his comment on the Review Committee report to read his progress report. Guinier rarely goes anywhere without copies of his pamphlet. He leaflets dining halls and on the street. The chairman has also tried to supplement the Information Office's efforts by leaving piles of the document in public areas. About twice a week copies of the progress report are left on the ledge of the Superintendent's office in Eliot House, which all people entering the House must go by when entering.

That the Faculty will accept Guinier's contention that the Review Committee is an illegitimate body is doubtful. There is no indication that anyone has bought his argument, which rests largely on his contention that Deans May and Dunlop failed to provide him with details of the organization of other departmental reviews. Guinier said that he could not offer any suggestions on how to set up the review without this information. Without his input, Guinier argues, the Review Committee is illegitimate. But not enough professors believe Dunlop and Bok have deliberately subverted the program to sustain Guinier's position. The mood on campus has changed since 1969 when the department was set up under the threat of student militancy and should Guinier threaten the Faculty, they will probably not be concerned.

The Review Committee report presents a series of well-reasoned and well-thought-out positions. The only way Guinier can stave off a reorganization of the department is to speak directly to each of the Review Committee recommendations, something he has not done to date.