Southern Gets Tenured Position in Afro

The Board of Overseers Tuesday formally granted a joint-tenured position in the Afro-American Studies and Music Departments to Eileen Southern, currently a lecturer on Afro-American Studies.

Southern, who is only the second person and the first woman to receive tenure in Afro since the department was established in 1969, will assume the chairmanship of the department this spring from Ewart Guinier '33, who will be 66 years old--the mandatory age at which chairmen must retire.

Helen H. Gilbert '36, chairman of the Board of Overseers, said Tuesday that the Overseers--which, with the Corporation, makes all fnal decisions on Faculty appointments--easily approved Southern's appointment.

Delighted to Have Her

"President Bok announced that she [Southern] was able to come and we were all delighted to have her," Gilbert said.

Southern, who will be at Harvard Monday to teach Afro-American Studies 135a, "History of Afro-American Music," said yesterday she had not yet heard whether the University had granted her tenure.

When reached last night, Dean Rosovsky said Southern's tenure will take effect on January 1. She will remain a lecturer until then, he said.

Rosovsky said the University will continue to look for other scholars to fill tenured posts in Afro.

Southern's appointment comes after a semester of work last year by a special search committee appointed by Rosovsky to find candidates for as many as two joint-tenured appointments in Afro.

Rosovsky set up the search committee after several other attempts by the University to find black scholars for tenured Afro positions failed.

Guinier, who has disagreed with the administration over the search procedure, said Sunday he had not been notified about any new tenured faculty in Afro.

Last May, President Bok convened an ad hoc committee--which must act on all Faculty appointments before sending them to Bok and the Governing Boards--to consider Southern, Ephraim Isaac, associate professor of Afro-American Studies, and William Shack, an associate professor of Anthropology at Berkeley.

Isaac said Sunday he had not been notified whether he would receive tenure and added that he "expected the situation to be clarified this week."

Gilbert said the Board of Overseers did not consider any other possible appointments for tenured positions in Afro.