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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1980)
K rs F ra n ce s S ch o sn -'^ca sp a p e r fiooa University of Oregon Library LU .13, O re v. : on _•! . -7 4 J3 c-ugens, MHRC hits City's minority hiring performance The M etropolitan Human Rela tions Commission, in a report soon lo be presented to the City Council, has lound that minorities are not lound in city employment in per centage relative to their members in the work force (8.4 percent). The C ity ’ s utilization o f m inority em ployees is 6.3 per cent, of which 3.7 per cent are Black. O f 3,935 em ployees, 111 were Black men and 36 were Black women. Further, m in o ritie s are un derutilized in every city department except Finance and Administration. Finance and A d m in istra tio n and Public Safety have reduced their underutilization in major areas, but Public Affairs has not. The analysis states, "P ublic Utiltities and Public Works pose a major problem with regard to improving protected class utilization." Biased Hiring An even more devastating finding is that in spite o f the C ity’s a ffir mative action guidelines, minorities were hired at approxim ately one- half the rate at which they applied - indicating that there are still barriers to fu ll employment opportunity in six of the C ity’ s eight job catagories. In the " O ffic ia ls and A d ministrators” category 6.4 percent ot the applicants were minority but no m inorities were hired. In the "Technician" category 15.4 o f the applicants were minorities, with 8.3 o f those hired being m in o ritie s. Other categories were as follows: "Protective Services" - 19.4 percent o f applicants, 5.6 percent o f hires; "O t lice/Clerical” - 18.7 percent o f applicants, 7.5 percent o f hires; "S kille d C rafts” - 7.0 percent o f applicants, 2.6 percent o f hires; "Service/Maintenance” - 11.0 per cent ot applicants, 5.6 percent o f hires. The high rate o f white males does approxim ate th e ir rate o f ap plication, but those o f women and especially o f minorities does not. The study is based on Fiscal Year 1977-78, pointing to the fact that staff shortage in the A ffirm a tive Action Office makes reporting slow and analysis a year behind. Public Safety The Department of Public Safety is handled by Commissioner Charles Jordan. The department was below parity (8.4 percent m inority) with 5.3 percent, an improvement from 4.5 percent in the previous year. The department was highest in "O fficals and Administrators” with 28.6 percent. A ll other categories were below p a rity. The lowest categories were "P ro te c tiv e Ser vices" and "T e c h n ic ia n s .” The department was below p a rity in hiring, but 40 percent o f the new hires in "T e c h n ic ia n ” were minority. O f the 942 employees, 16 were Black men and 14 were Black women, or 3.2 percent. The greatest deficit was in the Police Bureau, w ith 13 Blacks out o f 906 em ployees. Finance and Administration The Department o f Finance and A d m in is tra tio n was directed by M ayor N eil G oldschm dt. There were 13 Black men and 16 Black women out of 508 employees or 5.7 percent. Fourteen o f the Black em ployees were in the Bureau o f Human Resources. Though above parity with 11.8 percent minorities, this department underutilized m inorities in the “ Technicians” category. The departm ent increased its m inority percentage from 8.9 per cent the previous year. Public Affairs The Department o f Public Affairs is headed by Commissioner Mildred Schwab. This departm ent un derutilized m inorities in "S kille d C ratt” positions and there were no m inorities in " O ffic ia ls and A d m in istra to rs.” Not only was the department below parity in hiring minorities, but none were hired in (Please turn to page 2 col. 4) PORTLAND OBSERVER Volume 10 Number 7 February 21, 1980 10c per copy Rights attorney heads law school Derrick A. Bell, Jr., prominent civil rights attorney and professor o f law at H arvard Law School has been chosen to head the University of Oregon’ s School o f Law. Bell will assume his duties as Dean on January I, 1981. Bell, 49, is a graduate o f Duquesne College in Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Law School. While a law student he was associate editor of the Pittsburgh Law Review. He is a member o f the bar in California, the District o f Colum bia, New York and Pennsylvania and has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, five Circuits o f the U.S. Court o f Ap peals and several U.S. D istrict Courts. A member o f the A tto rn e y General’ s honor graduate recruit ment program, Bell’s first appoint ment was in the O ffice o f Legal Counsel in the Civil Rights Division ot the U.S. Department o f Justice, in 1957. In 1959 he became Executive Secretary o f the P itts burgh Branch, NAACP. From 1960 to 1966, Bell was staff attorney and then First Assistant Counsel fo r the N A A C P Legal Defense Fund, handling civil rights litigation in virtually every southern state. Among the cases were M e rrid ith vs Fair (M ississippi schools) and Bailey vs Patterson (transportation). He was chief attorney on several m ajor school desegregation cases including Oklahoma City, Jackson, Mobile and Savannah and super vised more than 150 school desegre gation cases. In 1966 he was named Deputy D irector o f The O ffic e o f C iv il Rights ot the U.S. Department o f Health, Education and W elfare, where he was responsible fo r ad ministration of Title VI o f the 1964 C ivil Rights Act and helped draft the 1968 school desegregation guide lines. He was responsible fo r co o r dination ot compliance and enforce ment in Education, Public Health, Welfare, Vocational Rehabilitation, Aging and Social Security. Bell directed the Western Center on Law and Poverty at the Univer sity o f Southern C a lifo rn ia Law School from 1968 to 1969, and since 1971 has been a member o f the Har vard Law School faculty. Bell has written extensively in the field o f civil rights and education, one ot his belter known books being, "R ace, Racism and American Law ." Oregon student joins panel C am ille H a m ilto n , a Stanford University pre-law student activist and 1978 West Linn High School PORTLAND, OREGON! 1980 (Photo: Richard J. Brown) graduate, w ill represent college students o f the 13 western states here, February 24-26, as a guest panelist on the subject o f " a f f ir mative action” at the College Board Western Regional Conference. The Black U nited F ront has The Black U nited F ront ad decision, it was assumed that in a Other members o f the panel are: presented its education plan to the vocates the establishment o f high school system hostile to Blacks, it Robert L. Bailey, Director o f Ad com m unity, asking to r academic q u a lity elem entary and m iddle was necessary in order to ensure that mission and Records o f University remedies rather than num erical schools in the Black com m unity, Black children receive what white o f California, Berkeley; Phillips W. desegregation. “ After fifteen years which w ould be open to non children receive to require that Miner, Associate Director o f A d ot transferring Black children out o f residents on a space available basis. Black children be assigned to missions, Pacific Lutheran Univer their neighborhoods, we can find no The Front referred to the writing schools where white children were in sity; and, Jesse L. Welch, Assistant academic or psychological reason ot Derrick A. Bell, Jr. o f Harvard attendance.” It was a goal simple to Director o f Admission, Washington for continuing the process,” Ronnie School o f Law and recently named state and extremely difficult to ac State University. Herndon, co-chairman said. "W e Dean o f the University o f Oregon com plish. From an educational The program to be held at Jan- reject the c o n tin u a tio n o f the Law School. standpoint, it has proven, to put it tzen Beach Red Lion Motor Inn, has process whether through bussing, “ In the lengthy struggle to gain mildly, far from effective. In fact, a variety o f workshops and panels boundary changes or clustering.” com pliance w ith the Brown on a nationwide basis, the overall o f interest to delegates form the 13 achievement record o f Black western states. The Affirm ative Ac children in desegregated schools has tion panel w ill focus prim arily on not improved. After an analysis o f strategies for achieving and main hundreds ot school desegregation taining a heterogeneous student studies, Nancy St. John, in her 1975 body since the U.S. Supreme book School Desegregation O u t Court’s decision in the Bakke case. comes for Children, concludes that The specific topic is " w ill the real ‘ During the past twenty years con minority please stand up?” siderable racial mixing has taken Miss Hamilton says she is not cer place in schools, but research has tain why or how she was selected to produced little evidence o f dramatic represent all the students o f d if gains to r children and some evi ferent ethnic groups and economic dence o f genuine stress for them.’ stations in the 13 western states. M ore im p o rta n tly , the disparity " A t any rate” she said, “ I am glad between Black and white students in fo r the opportunity to participate expulsion, suspension and other and to make an unscheduled visit disciplinary actions has dramatically with my family in West Linn.” increased. Black students are being Miss H am ilton is the sister o f tracked into dead-end special cours Konrad Hamilton and the daughter es where performance expectations o f Judge H.J. Belton Hamilton and are pathetically low and drop-out M id o ri M inam oto H a m ilto n o f rates are predictably high.” West L in n , Oregon. She is well In light o f this, the BUF recom known to West Linn residents for mends that the seven neighborhood the humorous roles she played in the schools be given educationally - high school dramatic productions. oriented remedies including good a d m inistrators, teachers and curriculas. The district's policy o f "counseling” Black students to at tend schools out o f the community Rose Gangle has file d fo r the should stop, but parents who wish Democratic Party nom ination to to participate in the administrative Legislative District 14, the seat now transfer program should be held by Dr. Howard Cherry. provided transportation. Ms. Gangle is best known for her The Front recommends middle involvement with the issue o f bat schools at Eliot and Kennedy. Eliot, tered women. A legal secretary and which is currently a K-4 program paralegal, she is active w ith the has few resident children, so its con Oregon C o a litio n Against version would not cause a m ajor Domestic end Sexual Violence, Harold William« la a candidata for tha Damocratlc Party nomination d islocation . The ECE - fo llo w which was instrum ental in the to Legislative District No. 14. Williams, a labor nagotiator for tha through program housed at Eliot passage o f Oregon's 1977 Abuse Stata s Executive Department, Is formar Director of Affirmatlve Ac should be moved intact to nearby Prevention Act. tion for thè Stata and was Executive Director of tha PSU Educational Boise. She is cu rre n tly w orking w ith Cantar. (Please turn to page 3 col. 2) rural organizing projects and serves Front asks academic remedies CAMILLE HAMILTON the articles she wrote for the school paper and her successful campaign fo r student body president, thus breaking a string o f male student body presidents for the school’ s 53 year history. She is known throught the state fo r her achievements in speech and poetry competition. In college, she has continued to be active in politics and drama but severely reduced her other extra curricular activities. Keeping up the accelerated academic pace necessary to graduate in three years while trying to m aintain a grade point average acceptable to the law school, she says, is enough to keep her busy. Gangle seeks House seat . • ■ t. X»v as the metropolitan area’s represen tative to the state board. Ms. Gangle has worked as a paralegal for Bradley Angle House, a shelter for battered women, and cu rre n tly volunteers fo r the program. A former employee o f Legal Aid, she helped form the C om m unity Law Project and is involved in several organization working to in sure c iv il rights to women, monorites and the poor. Ms. Gangle is the former District 14 Leader for the Democratic Party ROSE GANOLE
