DuBois Institute Beset By Planning Problems

THE AFRO-AMERICAN studies Department may not be running smoothly, but at least it's running. The W.E.B. DuBois Institute isn't even doing that yet.

Plans for the Institute, four years in the offing, have been beset by many of the same troubles that have plagued the Afro Department's early existence. Controversy over control of the Institute has brought planning to a virtual halt, making a 1970 prediction that a research program would begin during 1970-71 look like a sick joke.

The major point of contention in the DuBois debate was whether the Afro Department would have sole control over the companion Institute. Afro chairman Ewart Guinier '33 believed that the Rosovsky Report and April 1969 Faculty legislation gave the responsibility for DuBois to Afro alone. When, late in 1969, President Nathan M. Pusey '28 appointed an interdepartmental committee with Guinier at its head to direct the institute's development, Guinier refused to convene it on the grounds that it was formed contrary to Faculty legislation.

No progress was made in this impasse until last January.

Then, in the same resolution that called for Afro's restructuring, the Faculty voted to establish the DuBois Institute on a University-wide basis. By this time Guinier was only in a position to denounce such a plan; he could not, as he had earlier done, obstruct its implementation.

After the Faculty passed its January Afro resolution, Guinier said he feared the directorship of the Institute would fall to someone outside the Afro Department. "DuBois's name should not be defamed by someone who doesn't believe in the 'pride of race' which he lived for," Guinier said.

This March, President Bok named an eight member committee to get DuBois moving again. To the surprise of many observers, Guinier was one of those named. At that time, some speculated that Guinier would refuse to serve on the new interdepartmental committee, but all reports indicate that Guinier participated fully in the committee discussions.

The committee has met four times since April 10, with Walter Leonard, a special assistant to the President, as its chairman. Besides Guinier and Leonard, the members are Orlando Patterson, professor of Sociology, Preston N. Williams, Houghton Professor of Religion and Contemporary Change; John F. Kain, professor of Economics; DanielAaron, professor of English; James M. Jones, assistant professor of Social Psychology; and Sarah L. Lightfoot, assistant professor of Education.

SO FAR, committee discussions have been very general. The Leonard Committee hopes to report to the Faculty in November. By then, the committee must settle the questions of staffing, funding and housing the Institute. The committee will also examine the Institute's relationship with various departments and Faculties at Harvard.

Possibly the Institute will sponsor graduate studies and develop its own degree-granting program. There is the further possibility that the Institute will eventually become a cooperative venture with one or more black universities.

When the Committee to Review the Department of Afro American Studies submitted its report to the Faculty in October 1972, it recommended that the Faculty establish the DuBois Institute as a "consortium endeavor with black and other colleges and universities throughout the nation."

The Leonard Committee received a memo from Martin L. Kilson, professor of Government, suggesting the consortium recommendation be dropped. When it makes its report, the committee will propose organizing the Institute solely within Harvard at the outset. Leonard said that once DuBois is established, it may become a collaborative effort with other schools.

In an interview earlier this month, Leonard said that the committee report will include a projected start-up date for the DuBois Institute. Leonard said the committee currently has no idea of what that date will be.