Ura Franses ?c* osn-’ e -c -s r îP
Univ r s i t y of , : \ ' 3t ! .iL .t r y
PSU Black Studies seeks masters program
The P o rtla n d State U n iv e rs ity
Black Studies D ep artm en t has
requested
a m asters
degree
program , a transfer to the Social
Science D iv is io n and a name
change. According to department
head D r. B ill L ittle , the masters
program w ould allow more inten
sive research, publication and com
m unity service.
The department now offers a Cer
tificate in Black Studies to students
who earn th e ir degrees in o th e r
fields. Approxim ately 600 students
take courese in the Department with
150 in the Certificate Program. O f
these approximately 40 per cent are
Black Am ericans, 15 per cent are
A frican and 20 per cent are Arab.
The masters program w ill develop
persons who can correct omisions
and errors o f past scholarship and
who can serve in teaching, foreign
service and many other fields.
L it tle proposes to change the
name o f the d e p artm en t to
A fric a n /A fro -A m e ric a n Studies to
more nearly reflect the department’s
focus. Classes are currently taught
on A fric a n h is to ry and econom ic
development, and the course o ffe r
ings w ill be exanded to inclu de
Brazil and the Carribean.
“ Black Studies implies to many
people only the study o f Blacks in
the United States, which is a small
part o f the study and research we
anticipate,” L ittle explained. Black
Studies is the study o f the peoples o f
A frican descent, both on the A fr i
can continent and in Diaspora. The
proposed program w ould be con
cerned p rim a rily w ith the exper
iences o f A frica n -A m e rica n , A fri-
ca n-C a rrib ea ns and A fric a n s in
A frica. A frica w ill be the focal point
o f examining the forces that have
shaped the lives o f Black people
throughout the world.
L ittle also hopes to take Black
Studies out Urban Studies and into
Social Science where he feels it
belongs academically. 1 he masters
program would allow expansion o f
s ta ff and w o u ld in v o lv e close
re la tio n s h ip s w ith o th e r d e p a rt
ments such as geography, history,
anthropology and literature.
Since it w o u ld draw m ore a d
vanced students, the m asters
program w ould allow more inten
sive research and p ub lica tio n and
w ou ld assist the developm ent o f
communication w ith other research
in s titu tio n s . This w o u ld help the
department better respond to com
m u n ity requests fo r in fo rm a tio n
and assistance.
A m ong the co m m un ity services
now provided are three m ajor lectuc
series: the Charles Chestnut Literary
Series, the G eorge W a sh in g to n
Bush Black Leadership Series and
the W .E.B. DuBois Black H istory
Series. The dep artm en t sponsors
approxim ately ten workshops each
year and has p u b lish e d several
m ajor research projects.
The department, which has often
s u ffe re d lack o f s u p p o rt and
com m itm ent from the U nive rsity,
s till has its problems according to
L ittle . A lth o u g h there is support
fro m the pre sid e nt and vice
president, the fa c u lty com m ittees
tend to be negative and throw up
obstacles, fh e fa cu lty comm ittees
opposed department status and at a
time of shrinking budgets are com
peting fo r s ta ff and funds. “ The
battle fo r the masters program w ill
be fo u g h t on resources; ra tio n a l
goes out the w indow .”
PORTLAND OBSERVER
Volume 10 Number 14
April 10.1980
10C per copy
USPS 959-680
Civil Service adopts minority list rule
i i i c ruruaiiu v iv u service c o m
m ission, after a lengthy hearing,
decided last Friday to change the 80
year old "ru le o f three.” According
to that rule, applicants fo r a city
position must be selected from among
the three persons with the highest civil
service score.
Many blame the C ity’s lack o f at
tainm ent o f its a ffirm a tiv e action
goals on the fact that minorities tend
to score lower than whites on civil ser
vice tests, and therefore place lower
on the lists. The current City w ork
force is about 8 percent m in o rity
(compared to 9 percent minorities in
the work force), but a large percent o f
inc m in o rity memners are in the
Hum an
Resources
and
Ad
ministration and Finance Bureaus.
The new rule w ill allow a depart
ment that has an underrepresentation
o f minorities to request a ffirm ative
action status. That department w ill
receive two lists - one with the three
top candidates and the other with the
top three female or m in o rity can
didates. The manager can, but is not
obligated, to hire from the second list.
A lthough the new rule w ill make
m inorities and women available to
those managers who wish to hire, it
does not guarantee that they w ill be
hired.
Planing mc monon to accept the
rule change, C iv il Service Com
missioner Rudolph Westerband said
court orders against consideration
o f race in employee selection were
made “ in an attempt to get qualified
people in to jo b s w ho had been
denied.”
“ U n fo rtu n a te ly there are not
enough
jo b s
fo r
everyone.
H istorically m inorities and women
have born the brunt o f scarcity in
the past; they still bear the brunt.
I t ’s a sad situation that courts must
take account o f the im balance in
em ploym ent w ith the w o rk force
and decide th a t a s ta tu te th a t
p ro h ib its d is c rim in a tio n must I in
II
some circumsta
way that consider^ race and sex. The
Supreme C o u rt has decided that
the o nly way to make the statute
work is to consider race and sex.
“ It is now 1980 and s ta tis tic s
p ro ve th a t n o t w ith s ta n d in g the
1964 C iv il Rights A ct and statutes
passed by the Oregon Legislature in
1949 the largest and most populated
city in the state has a problem -- a
serious problem . I t ’ s em ploym ent
figures do not reflect the people that
the C ity serves.”
A lth ou g h opposed by the m ajor
c ity u n io n s, the rule change was
p
a .V S C U unanimously.
U llc t llim o i
passed
U
I.7S
.I Iini iai uil m
ini
Jordan uses new minority certification
Cartier Productions Fashion Show and Disco Dance Saturday Evening at
the Jantzen Beach Red Lion. Looking on is Master of Cermonies George
Smith. Miss Mikes is also one of nineteen young ladies seeking to
represent Portland in the Miss Black America Contest.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
Carter nominates Jones
President Jimmy Carter this week
announced his intention to nominate
James E. Jones J r., o f M adison,
W isconsin, to be chairm an o f the
Special Panel which was created by
the Civil Service Reform Act o f 1978
to resolve conflicts between the Merit
Systems Protection Board and the
Equal Em ploym ent O p p o rtu n ity
Com m ission
in
em ploym ent
discrimination cases.
Jones has been a professor o f law
and industrial relations at the Univer
sity o f Wisconsins since 1969 and con-
sidered an expert in both civil service
and civil rights law. He has been on
the staff o f the Institute for Research
on Poverty since 1970 and has been
director o f the Center for Equal Em
ployment and Affirm ative Action at
the University's Industrial Relations
Research Institute since 1974.
He was born June 4, 1924, in Little
Rock, Arkansas. He received a B.A.
from Lincoln University in 1950, an
M .A. from the University o f Illinois
in 1951, and a J.D. from the Univer
sity o f Wisconsin School o f Law in
1956.
C aptain Robert A
rv*t
Captain
A. Sk?hw2irt7
Schwartz, per
sonnel officer for the Police Bureau,
said Tuesday that C om m issioner
Charles Jordan has asked that a ffir
m ative action c e rtific a tio n
be
authorized for the Bureau.
Stating he doesn’ t know yet how
the new tw o list system w ill w ork,
Schwartz expects the Police union to
file a suit asking tor an injunction
against use o f the new system.
Placing minorities and women on a
separate list w on’ t accomplish the
goal o f hiring m inorities “ because
female whites are higher on the list
than minorities.”
Schwartz credits the fact that
Blacks score lower on the written test
to lack o f education. "W hen Blacks
have the same education as whites,
they do as well on the written test.
Blacks do as well as whites in the
other areas - the psychological, oral
interview, medical and background
analysis. The physical a g ility test,
used to rule out female applicants,
"has been altered until it now screens
out no one.”
W ith 800 to 1200 persons com
peting tor 50 jobs, the competition is
great. The average candidate having
The Black United Front will
hold a public hearing on the
School Board's desegregation
plan and the BUF education
proposal. The hearing will be held
on April 10th, at 7:30 p.m. at King
Neighborhood Center, NE 7th
Avenue.
qhmii ihrop
about
three years o f college, ««_~
“ with .
some notable exceptions this has built
a trememdous police force.”
The last examination was slanted in
a way that it gave preference to
Oregon residents and people who are
or have been police officers, so that
the first fifteen in the list were officers
11 other cities.
Recruiting of Black applicants has
not been successful. Captain Schwartz
believes college educated Blacks, who
...
would be successful candidates, have
better opportunities in other fields so
are not interested. Recruiting efforts
in Los Angeles, San Jose, U tah,
Cleveland and other cities have been
"abject failures.” A few years ago a
recruiting team brought six Black o f
ficers from North Carolina, but only
tw o remain and one o f those is
resigning. Schwartz said he docs not
know why the turn over o f Black o f
ficers is so high, but they might have
been affected by "cu lture shock” -
coming to Oregon from the South.
The Bureau now has a fu ll time
m inority recruiter and is planning a
scholarship program where m inority
students w ould w ork fo r the
students would work for the Bureau
during the summer and go to college
during the school year. There are also
tutorial programs to acquaint poten
tial applicants with police procedure
(Please turn to page 10 Coi 3)
Fauntroy represents Kennedy
The Oregon tor Kennedy Com m it
tee announced today a series o f ap
pearances by Congressman Walter E.
Fauntroy, Democrat o f Washington
D.C., on behalf o f Senator Edward
M. Kennedy.
Walter E. Fauntroy, the first per
son to represent the D is tric t o f
C olu m b ia in the U.S. House o f
Representatives in 100 years, was elec
ted Delegate to the House in 1971.
Fauntroy was the chief architect o f
legislation in 1973 that permitted the
District o f Columbia to elect its own
M ayo r and C ity C o u n cil and
engineered the passage by both the
U.S. House and Senate o f a C on
stitutional Amendment calling for full
C ongressional representation fo r
District o f Columbia citizens in the
U.S. Congress. That resolution is now
before
state
legislatures
fo r
ratification.
Since his election to Congress, he
has continued to build a record o f
achievement, having played key roles
in the moblization o f Black political
power fro m the N a tio n a l Black
Political Convention o f 1972 to the
presidential elections o f 1972 and
1976.
In the 95th Congress W alter E.
Fauntroy was a member o f the House
Select Committee on Assassinations
and Chairman o f its Subcommittee
on the Assassination o f M a rtin
Luther King, Jr. He is now a member
o f the House Banking, Finance and
U rban A ffa irs C om m ittee and a
Member o f the House District Com
mittee where he serves as Chairman o f
the Subcommittee on Government
Affairs and Budget.
He is Chairman o f the Board o f
Directors ot the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference and Vice
President o f the M artin Luther King
Center fo r Social Change. He is
pastor o f New Bethel Baptist Church
in Washington D.C.
Congressman F auntroy w ill ad
dress the Oregon Assembly for Black
Adairs at the A irport Holiday Inn at
(Please turn to P 2 Col 4)
REP. WALTER FAUNTROY
Bill Russell A living legend
My Ullysses Tucker, Jr.
Bill Russell of CBS Sports takes time
with Ullysses Tucker. Jr., Portland Ob
porter
(Photo: Jimmy Robinson)
B ill Russell, who revolutionized
professional basketball w ith his
defensive wizardry and the man who
was an inspiring college and 1956
O lym pic’ s player, traveled to Port
land recently with CBS Sports.
Russell teamed up with play by play
announcer Brent Musberger to bring
America “ The Best In Basketball”
when P ortland played host to the
Seattle Supersonics in a N .B .A .
miniseries contest.
After performing his duties, Russell
slipped through the crowd ignoring
the calls from several fans. "H e y Big
B ill,” “ Look, there’ s Bill Russell,”
“ Billy baby,” and "H e llo M r. B ill.”
Others did not recognize the massive
broadcaster; they only worried about
the tr a ffic on the freeways going
home.
F in a lly, he made it to the CBS
mobile bus which was parked in the
rear o f Memorial Coliseum. Inside he
confirmed his Hight time to Seattle
where the final game o f the series was
telecasted. Now he and Brent Mus
berger were o ff to their hotel rooms.
" M r. Russell, excuse me but could
you spare a moment.”
" I ’m sorry, but I'm in a hurry,”
said Russell.
“ But all I need is about five
minutes ot your time.
" O k a y ,” he said. “ But not fo r
long.”
“ How do you feel as a role model
for thousands o f youngsters around
the United States?”
" I never think about it,” said the
five tim e M V P in the N a tio n a l
Basketall Association. " A ll I can do is
the best I can. I ’ve been pretty fo r
tunate to have been able to do some
o f the things I have done in life ."
"L ik e I told my son once before
when he told me that he didn’t think
I’d ever be proud o f him because I ’ve
been so many places and done so
many things. I told him that he could
make me proud by being able to take
care o f himself out in society.”
A graduate o f M cClym ond High
School in O a klan d, C a lifo rn ia ,
Russell became an A ll-A m erican at
the University o f San Franscisco. He
helped the Dons win 60 consecutive
games, an all-time collegiate record
that still stand. USF won back to back
N C A A championships with Russell,
(1954-55 and 1955-56).
He kept his winning tradition going
by playing on the United States team
that won the basketball gold medal in
M elbourne, A u stralia, w ith an un
beaten record, (8-0).
Russell joined the Celtics in 1957 as
th e ir N o. I d ra ft pick and im
mediately led them to their first N BA
title, their first o f I I during his 13-
year p ro career, in c lu d in g a un
precedented eight in a row. The streak
was snapped in 1967 by the
Philadelphia 76ers and W ilt Cham-
( Please turn to page 10 col. 2)