Will The Center Hold?

When students occupied University Hall in the spring of 1969, one of their demands was the creation of an Afro-American center on campus, designed as a meeting place and social center for Black students. Two other institutions sprung from demands of those days of heated confrontation have endured--the Afro-American Studies Department and the W.E.B. DuBois Institute.

But the Afro-American Center, originally student-run and financially independent, has not. The center could not generate enough funds or solicit enough contributions to keep itself afloat. The University did not actively pursue funding sources when the center began to founder. Moreover, students found they couldn't maintain a program of the center's magnitude without full-time staff, whose salaries further depleted available resources.

First located on Sacramento St., the center moved a couple of times. But, "by the time they found an optimal site, funds were way down, student participation was way down, and soon there was nothing left," Lydia P. Jackson '82, president of the Black Students Association, says. Five years ago, it went under, leaving Harvard without a center for minority students.

Similar protest at other universities across the country spawned similar centers. In contrast to Harvard's experience, many of these have succeeded and play vital roles in the lives of minority students. Officials and students at these schools say they cannot envision their university without one, and they agree that Harvard should establish a Third World center. "Harvard can take a strong, leading place in the area of Third World centers," Pat Romney, director of Yale's Black/Afro-American center, says.

Aside from the Afro-American center, Yale has a center for Puerto Rican students, while Asian-Americans and Chicanos share one. They all receive operating funds from the budget of the dean of student affairs, and programming funds from membership fees. It costs an undergraduate $26 per year to join the Afro-American center. Romney is responsible to the dean, and a board composed of faculty, administrators and students governs the center.

Kathy Guy, a junior at Yale active in governance of the Afro-Am center, calls the center "necessary. "It's important at a predominately white school to establish an identity--it's not that we necessarily want to form a separate group, but we have unique clesires and needs that the university cannot provide for," Guy says.

Romney also stresses that the purpose of Yale's various centers is not to isolate students. "We talk of a 'successful' minority student as one who can operate well in either environment," she says, adding, "Since there's always pressure to be assimilated, a minority student has to be presented with options."

Harvard undergraduates trying to set up a Third World center here emphasize that the facility would prove an "option" for nonminority students as well. Jackson says, "We don't view the proposal as our own little island. A Third World center would be neutral ground for the entire University community." But Romney says whites at Yale have not fully accepted the Afro-Am center. "There's a lot of resentment--essentially, the issue is a primitive one. White students resent "Black students on campus."

Romney quickly adds that an increasing number of non-minority students use the facility, saying. "The situation's better now than five or ten years ago." The administration's attitude toward the center, she says, has not improved. "In an era of a declining economy, the center is a lower priority."

In conclusion, Romney says, "I can't think of any drawbacks to the center--students always have the choice to relate or not to relate." Guy echoes that sentiment strongly, saying, "I don't think it would be in the best interest of the university not to have a center. For some students, it's the only part of the university that makes them feel at home."

A similar center at Princeton encompasses all Third World students. A 1970 protest by Black students for a center went unheard, but a year later the school's board of trustees approved a petition signed by members of several minority groups for a center. Now, Princeton's Third World center is situated in a frame house obtained in 1973 and an annex--which was built at a cost to the university of $250,000 in 1974. The house has 15 rooms, including two offices, two meetings rooms, a library and a study area. The annex has a room seating about 350, a recreation hall, a kitchen and a dining area.

In addition to operation costs, covered entirely by the dean of student affairs' office, Princeton gives the center $12,000 a year for programming. Debbie Stapleton, full-time director of the center, says the administration is "proud" of the center, but acknowledges, "Sometimes it's a struggle."

Stapleton characterizes the facility as a place where students "can come to be counseled without being hassled." She says Princeton's eating clubs pose "subliminal pressure" for minority students, adding that the school tries to integrate Third World students into the mainstream. "The center gives students a chance to share culturally, politically and socially" when they might not otherwise have the opportunity, Stapleton says.

Like Princeton, Brown has a center for all Third World students. Formed in 1976 after vigorous demonstrations, the facilty serves 14 minority organizations--including fraternities and sororities.

Felipe M. Floresca, coordinator of Brown's center, estimates that nearly half the college's minority students use the facility daily. Floresca says the title "coordinator" was chosen intentionally to avoid the title "director" and all that it denotes. A recent graduate of Brown, he works full-time with one full-time administrator and six work-study students. The dean of the college allocates the center $60,000 in funds annually.

For its first three years, the center's programming growth was slow. It was isolated from the rest of the Brown community and suffered strained dealings with the school's administration, Floresca says. With his appointment as full-time coordinator last April (previously the center had only half-time administrative help), the role of the center has been expanded.

Whether or not they have Third World centers, many other schools have extensive facilities for minority groups on campus. Oberlin College, for instance, has a co-ed Third World dormitory for 50 students. Across the river, Boston University boasts the Martin Luther King Center, which has an office of minority affairs. Stanford has a center for three of four Third World organizations on campus. The Black Community Services Center started at Stanford as a community affairs office in 1969. It now covers 26 student organizations and about 500 students. Stanford's Chicano cultural center also includes about 500 students, and the Asian American campus organization is seeking to establish a center of its own. These three minority groups, as well as the Native Americans, all have "theme dorms."

Aside from the logistical assistance these facilities afford, many students say the centers help fulfill a deeper need. Princeton senior Rhinold Ponder, former co-chairman of the university's center, points out that Third World students admitted to predominately white institutions face a constant dilemma. "The idea of accepting minority students to a place like Princeton or Harvard is not enough. They just can't be readily integrated into the mainstream--they are culturally different, and in order to share themselves, they have to learn about themselves," Ponder says.

An argument commonly used against establishing a Third World center says minorities will not be assimilated into the mainstream if they are encouraged to congregate. In response, Ponder says, "Any university has to perpetrate an environment conducive to students' well-being and comfort; only then will the minority student be better able to share himself and be well integrated."

Ponder adds that Princeton's center has a stigma of being "radical" attached to it--although "because of this school's rabid conservatism, just about any political activity is deemed radical.'" Some white students, Ponder says, view the center as perpetuating prejudice. But that's usually the perception of those who don't care to find out."

Ponder also warned that any Third World center will flounder without intense student participation. "Given the obstacles any center faces to begin with, it is much easier to take it away than to make it stay if students don't participate heavily. That's the major problem."

Harvard's Jackson, who served this summer on the committee President Bok formed last spring to investigate the possibilities of a Third World center on campus, terms the Princeton model "feasible." She says students trying to establish a Third World center hope for an accessible location with a library, kitchen, a large meeting room, office space for Third World organizations, and smaller seminar rooms.

The committee, chaired by the Rev. Peter J. Gomes, will submit its recommendations to Bok by January 1. Currently, the committee--which includes Archie C. Epps III, dean of students: Edward L. Keenan, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Nancy Randolph, special assistant to Bok; and three undergraduate representatives--is interviewing University officials and will soon hash out substantive models. Gomes' preliminary proposals, which he stressed are far from finalized, suggested three possible models--one patterns after the Institute of Politics, one after Radcliffe's Education for Action, and one after Phillips Brooks House.

Gomes' preliminary report also states, "Our own past history with the Afro-American Cultural Center suggests that more rather than less administrative involvement with the project would be helpful, always mindful of the delicate line between involvement and control."

In response to substantial administrative "involvement." Jackson says, "We don't have a problem with official input. We welcome it--if the University shows a genuine commitment. That would be a reasonable trade-off."