Study Stresses DuBois Institute Role

[This is the third in a series of articles examining the recently released study of minority and women Faculty members.]

Two of the principal recommendations to emerge from the study of minority and women Faculty members are calls for strengthening the DuBois Institute and the establishment of a post-doctoral program for minority scholars.

Urging "vigorous encouragement and support" for the DuBois Institute, the report states that "the Institute can play a larger role in the intellectual life of the community by bringing together both minority and non-minority scholars and students" through lectures, conferences and symposia on Afro-American history and culture.

"As director, I say hallelujah," Nathan I. Huggins, chairman of the Afro-American Studies Department and director of the DuBois Institute, said last week.

Huggins said he considers the establishment of a post-doctoral program for minority scholars to be intimately connected with the strengthening of the institute, which will oversee such a program.

Since its inception five years ago, the institute has supported about 25 pre-doctoral fellowships for scholars wishing to study Afro-American, African and Caribbean cultures, Huggins said. He added that the addition of a post-doctoral program would attract greater numbers of minority scholars to the University.

Although Huggins said bolstering of the institute--which this year became a part of the Faculty--was "crucial" to the success of the minority Faculty study's other recommendations, he expressed cautious optimism about how quickly the strengthening effort can be carried out and how successful it will be.

It will take more than a few sentences at the end of a ten-page report to strengthen the institute; money and publicity are needed.

Huggins remains hazy on the financial ramifications of the report's suggestions, saying only that "part of my task is trying to attract money to the DuBois Institute." President Bok and Dean Rosovsky have expressed their commitment to providing greater support--financial and otherwise--to the institute and to a post-doctoral program, according to administrative sources.

But no one provides concrete figures for how much money is necessary, partly because no one is sure how big the post-doctoral program will be. Privately, administrators say they would be delighted if the program attracted even a dozen scholars.

The limiting factor, Huggins said, is communication. "Even having the budget, there's still this very important thing of making people aware that there is this resource available to them," he explained.

He confessed that he had no definitive methods for making the program's existence known. "Maybe a poster with W.E.B. DuBois pointing his finger and saying, 'This is for you,'" he suggested.

If the money and advertising difficulties can be worked out, Huggins said he foresees major benefits from the post-doctoral program for both scholars and for the University.

A year in the post-doctoral program would provide recent Ph.D. recipients a chance, for example, to conduct research or spend time writing a second book, something that could dramatically improve a scholar's chances for tenure, Huggins said.

In addition, bringing increased numbers of minority scholars here would "be a very positive step insofar as there are people in some departments who are ignorant of the presence of Black scholars of real quality--their presence would serve to belie that," Huggins added.