Afro-Am Executive Committee Prepares for Second Round

When two of the three men offered tenured positions in the Afro-American Studies Department (AASD) rejected the appointments last week, the University's hopes to build a strong department suffered a serious setback.

Originally, when members of the Afro-American Executive Committee, formed by Dean Rosovsky to recruit scholars for the department, received the bad news, many felt ready to throw in the towel after months of hard work. Now,while waiting for Nathan I. Huggins, professor of History at Columbia University, to decide whether or not to accept their offer, committee members are beginning to bring out other alternatives and gear up for some more work.

Before any intensive work is done, however, Huggins' decision must be registered. Huggins, who will have reached a decision by Friday, was "the main person in the whole package," one committee member said. He would most likely have chaired the department, as well as headed up the DeBois Institute, sources said. If Huggins rejects the offer, the executive committee may have to start again, from scratch.

Already the committee plans to meet with President Bok and Dean Rosovsky Wednesday to discuss how to go about the second round of the search. As of yesterday, no one talked of calling the search off.

Committee members say there are still equally excellent scholars available in the field. Many of these were already seriously considered in earlier meetings, and will be reevaluated again.

Two members of the committee, Richard B. Freeman and Orlando Paterson, say the committee will continue looking for people along the precedents it set the first time, primarily looking for historians. The ideal is two Afro-American historians based primarily in America, and one specialist in the Caribbean, Freeman added.

Students in the past have requested that the department not be restricted to a single field, but members feel there are no available scholars in fields such as sociaology and economics who meet Harvard standards. Many students affiliated with AASD are presently doing joint majors in other departments due to this deficiency.

"The department also needs someone who is an Africanist," concentrators say. African historians in the History department will not sufficiently connect African history with the culture of Black Americans.

The committee does not consider it a primary focus to find an Africanist for the department.

Already Orlando Patterson feels he has two historians who are willing to come to Harvard and are qualified for the positions. Freeman however, said any talk of offering appointments to these two is speculation, and many names are being thrown around at the present time. Freeman does not know how long the process could take.

Members are divided over how long the procedure will take, and exactly who at this point are the prime candidates, but all are committed at the moment to continue the search, and doing so according to the guidelines set in the fall