President Nan Keohane's recent decision to dissolve a top administrative post dealing with minority affairs came under heavy fire from University students and employees at a meeting Thursday.
About 50 people attended the meeting, which was co-sponsored by the Black Student Alliance and the University's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Keohane announced Wednesday that she will redistribute the responsibilities of the University vice president and vice provost, a post currently held by Leonard Beckum, that is primarily concerned with minority issues. Beckum's responsibilities will be allocated among a director for Durham community relations, a new director of affirmative action and equal opportunity and the Office of Intercultural Affairs.
Although Keohane has said that the change will allow "the people involved [to] have more direct line responsibilities, meaning authority to tell people what to do," some students and employees said in Thursday's meeting that her move is a step backward in the University's treatment of blacks on campus.
"It's re-inventing the wheel, and what happens is you never get anything done, you just keep spinning around," said Dr. Brenda Armstrong, associate professor of pediatric cardiology and chair of the committee that proposed Beckum's position in 1988.
Armstrong met with Keohane Thursday to discuss the impact of the changes, and she said Keohane seemed "genuinely surprised" at the outcry surrounding her decision.
"Her intent is to strengthen. There is no reason to believe that she isn't sincere," Armstrong said. "[But] she gave no indication that she may reverse her decision."
Many of those who oppose the administrative shift said it relegates minority issues to middle management and diffuses the University's power to deal effectively with those concerns.
"History has required the power of the president's office and sometimes the president's office and the Board of Trustees" to see real strides in an issue, Armstrong said. "All examples of lesser efforts have resulted in abysmal failure."
Since the decision to cut Beckum's post, Armstrong and the minority employee task force, which was created in 1992 by Dr. Ralph Snyderman, chancellor for health affairs, have taken pains to remind Keohane of the history of minority issues at the University.
The task force sent a letter to Keohane Thursday requesting "a complete and thorough evaluation of the Office of Vice President/Vice Provost prior to its reorganization and a restructuring that will... fight racism, job harassment, discrimination, and unfair employment practices."
Tracing the history of efforts to combat racism at the University, Armstong described Terry Sanford's tenure as University president, when a vice presidential position similar to Beckum's was created to address minority issues.
Armstrong said that this position, which was held by Harold Wallace, spanned the only time when significant strides have been taken in minority issues at the University.
By eliminating Beckum's post, "we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past," Armstrong said.
Armstrong and others at the meeting also voiced concerns about the message Keohane's decision sends to the Durham community and to prospective students and employees.
"You have the feeling they don't want black men anywhere in power positions," said Ronald Royster, who works in the interventional cardiac catheter lab.
Maurice Corders, a Medical Center employee, said, "It's kind of a slap in the face, a promise that has been broken, and although the president didn't know the history or know it was a promise, it still feels like a slap in the face."
A vice president is a strong, single figure that students and employees can look to, Armstong said, and eliminating the post sends a message that administrators feel racism is no longer an issue on campus.
"What do you tell the person who sweeps floors in the Medical Center when the person he looks to is gone?" she said. Even if Keohane's new structure addresses minority issues effectively, "the rest of the world sees `vice president,"' Armstrong said.
Armstrong said she is not convinced that Keohane's reorganization is the best way to address minority issues. "We don't need another person to tell us that there are a lot of black people working here and 80 percent of them are in unskilled labor," Armstrong said, commenting on the proposed post of director of affirmative action and equal opportunity.
The full fallout from Keohane's decision remains to be seen, Armstrong said.
"How students and the rest of the community deal with it will determine how important the issue remains," she said. "It will send a signal to the community."
A group of about 40 students is meeting with Keohane today during her office hours to discuss the issue further.
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