Lathan, Art

English

Howard University: Digital Howard

New DirectionsVolume 6 | Issue 1 Article 710-1-1978Waiting for the Cavalry: Confessions of anAffirmative Action CoordinatorArt LathanFollow this and additional works at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirectionsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Howard @ Howard University. It has been accepted for inclusion in New Directions byan authorized administrator of Digital Howard @ Howard University. For more information, please contact lopez.matthews@howard.edu.Recommended CitationLathan, Art (1978) "Waiting for the Cavalry: Confessions of an Affirmative Action Coordinator," New Directions: Vol. 6: Iss. 1, Article7.Available at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections/vol6/iss1/722Waiting forTheCavalryConfessions ofan Affirmative ActionCoordinatorNEW DIRECTIONSOCTOBER. 197BILLUSTRATION BY BRUCE FAGINII 1 LL &:tl II LLL Ll 1 LL LL LLLI LlLL LlULLL , LL L1By Art Lathan Let me explain. I'm talking prima.First of all I'd like to make it known that about university faculty members. -I don't plan to leave my job as the coor- non-teaching staff personnel are fine. _dinate point for affirmative actions on a go along with the program, but the faCC'-universitycampus.The PeterPrinciple has will go along with nothing. This is cal=-come home to roost. Where else can I academic freedom. It is this differmake such a handsome salary by just that makes facu Itybehavior so pred ictat =leaving people alone? I wish the same and manipulable. I stroke it by lea - _luxury onall my children and theirchildren them alone and provoke it by asking the:-too until the need for affirmative action no what have they done for me lately.longer exists or until Bakke wins, which- don't want to do anything for anyboc;ever comes sooner. But first I must gather Their mission is to teach you how to do _my offspring intoa circle and career orient yourself. This is called self-actual izatithem. A suitable, straight forward expla- Truthfully, iffaculty behaviorwas entirenation of my duties is hard to come by.My predictable, the job would soon becorachildren cannot understand what I have dull. However, it'sthe stratagems and I' -to do with jobs if I can't hire or fire. I games we play together that keep thin~sometimes find it difficult to comprehend happening for me. Their attempts to abocmyself. or subvert the program range from ignor-I must explain that my job is lonely, ing my entreaties to broadfrontalassau -frustrating, and more often unrewarding interspersed with "holier than thou" pro-yet I recommend it highly. The only ration- nouncements. My scores come from rTJ)ale that I can put forward with any confi- counter-ignorances, up to full exposuredence is that a university campus is the of their intransigence, mixed with a fey,best laboratory of human behavior imag- wicked barbs here and there. I particularfyinable in such concentration. Observing enjoy the one about the best brains in thehuman behavior is my hobby. Better still, country being unable to produce gradu-I discovered-after a few months on cam- ates who can read and write well, whichpus-that Ineed not be a passive observer suggests a creative change is due. Illiter-of human behavior, as I could participate. ate faculty might possibly generate liter-if I wanted to and play it to my liking. It's ate students. That is called one-ups-man-easy here. I could stroke it or provoke it ship. Very often I lose, but the few winsdepending on what response I desired for keep me playing.that day. I attribute my losses to my isolation and~ David versus Goliath dimensions of-"" right. My isolation is Iike no other con--==:-on.I have no counterpart on campus,- ides the jan itor with whom I can com-- serate, and no authority except thatOedin me by "The Boss." To invokeauthority too ofen is to risk either em-zarrassment or being fired so I try to keep-0 decisions in the lower courts to main--=- some credibility for my position. Even-0 minority faculty members look upon-,:=. with some wariness, trying to decide-ether I'm fish or fowl. I happen to be a=- eck male. With all my isolation and lack- line authority, I am still expected toe access to confidential information,inarily available only to top adminis-- rs. If information is golden, confiden-- information is like diamonds and my- cuisitiveness quite often evokes the re-er that I am tolerated only through::::grace of the "Feds." Consequently, Iiciously use the threat of the cavalry_ loping to my rescue. Of course, the::::valrynever arrives but the diversion al-for a little face saving for both sides.am fully aware that federal legislation:::Bated my job, outlined my duties, and:c- e me everything I needed to success-- /y implement affirmative action except_ a slingshot. I was a little naive when I- t arrived a few years ago. I knew that=5rrnative action had successfully oper-in the private sector for more than"I had even done a littleresearch beforehand on theproblems so that I could bea helpful partner."five years and I deduced from this thatinstitutions of hiqher education need onlybe reminded that a problem existed andthey would brainstorm an even more ef-fective affirmative action course. I hadeven done a Iittle research beforehand onthe problems so that I could be a helpfulpartner I knew all about the relative posi-tions of women and minorities. I knew, forinstance, that the Chinese were thehighest academic achievers- by allmeasurements- of any other ethnicgroups, including whites. I fully expectedmerit to be awarded accordingly. Imaginemy surprise then to discover that theChinesefacultywas no better representedon campus than the Black faculty.Gradually, I became aware that some-thing was awry. The faculty already wasmore aware about the problem than I, forthey had created both the problem andthe awareness. I then began to ask ques-tions and get educated. Why?Professionalsports has already broken the barrier ofBlack head coaches, why wasn't highereducation first? Or, concurrently, are thereany minority head coaches at major col-leges still? I was amazed that in fieldswhere Blacks were well-represented out-23side the walls, they were practically non-existent inside. Where are the studentsand teachers in music? When fully one-fourth of the current hits on Broadway areBlack productions, one would think dra-matic arts departments would have sig-nificant Black talent. Not so.Why? Is it thesupply problem? That's the answer-andalso the solution-I'm told. But who con-trols supply? "We do," I'm admonished. Iwas astonished.Within a few months of my arrival, mostspent in a daze within the maze, I dis-covered that academicians are a cleverbunch. I was liberated by this revelation.They've one-upped the blue-suede-shoecrowd by devising a way to have theircake and sell it too. While remaining themost segregated public institution, theyhave sold the idea that they are liberal,the bastion of freedom, free thought, de-mocracy and all those wonderful things.They got the good housekeeping seal ofapproval for a commodity they never puton the market but denounced instead.I'm somewhat wiser now but I shouldhave been suspicious of their record priorto federal intervention when facultiesdoubled during the sixties and womenand minority faculty lost ground? And didyou know that in support of their solutionof a better supply, academicians arebusily at work to restrict the supply ofminority students coming into the pipe-NEW DIRECTIONS OCTOBER. 197824 line? To understand this is to understandthe dichotomy of faculty action-theircleverness. Their preachment/sales pitchis to do what's right, and uphold qualitystandards. Academicians see a conflict inthe twin objectives but they won't revealthis to you directly. Nevertheless, the mes-sage has been coming through obliquelyfor decades. It's another one of their do-it-yourself projects, i.e.we make the knowl-edge available and you do what you mustwith it.Now comes one of my most earthshak-ing discoveries. Let me return to my pre-vious assertion that academ icians createdboth the problem and the awareness. Ifyou are made aware that minorities areinherently incapable of rising to the stand-ards necessary to a quality institution youwon't insist on their inclusion. The prob-lem then becomes yours on what to dowith these rejects, and social costs mustbe paid elsewhere leaving universitiesfree and clear. Would you believe that Ifound out that academicians have led theenlightened world in advancing theoriesof racial superiority?The demi-gods of science have takenover where the bible left off. On everycampus there are pretenders to thethrones of William Shockley, Arthur Jen-sen, Hans Eysenck and a legion of others.Yet no one aspires to be a Gunnar Myrdal.How can we play cops and robbers ifeverybody wants to be the cops? Moneyseems to be no barrier to their blunder-buss like thrusts for enlightenment. Hardlya semester goes by that all administratorsare not provided free copies of the latestanti-affirmative action tract, usually well-researched, expensive, and full of facts,figures, and documented condemnations.Reverse discrimination is the visible ar-gument but beneath it is the holy grail-1.0. tests and the inability of salvation forminorities. Little doubts invade my con-victions from time to time and I check fig-ures again. You won't believe this but ifreverse discrimination were a dreadeddisease, there would not be enoughNEW DIRECTIONS OCTOBER, 1978around to provide one professor an appli-cation for a federal research grant."Race ratings on the scientificscale probably began with therecapitulation theories of thelate 1800s."My education remains incomplete be-cause I can never understand why onerace must be superior to all others exceptthat the search for truth must go forwardand the proof must be discovered, againand again. Ohyes, the proof changes fromtime to time, yet the conclusions nevervary. Race ratings on the scientific scaleprobably began with the recapitulationtheories of the late 1800s. Recapitulationmeans that each baby in its mother'swomb, during its nine months develop-ment, repeats the adult stages of all itsevolutionary ancestors including the fish.As best as I can understand this, a Pro-fessor Daniel Brinton read (1890) the se-quence of humandevelopment as obviousproof of African inferiority since Africanswere still children i.e. retained more juve-nile traits, Then comes along a later dem i-god, Professor L. Bolk, who in 1926 inter-preted the process (Neotony) in just theopposite manner. It was retention of ourancestors' juveni Ie stages that led to thehigher human evolution. In other words, ifyour embryo resembled an undevelopedfish, rather than a fully developed fish, youare now prime material. Did this changereverse the hierarchy of race superiority?No indeed, it nowmeant that Africans' de-velopment regressed beyond the covetedjuvenile stages which of course madethem inferior still. And all this was scienceheld to just as firmly as the current holygrail, 1.0. tests.A prol iferation of proofs of inferiority hasmarched by, some discarded, somechanging shapes depending on the sizeof brains, lengths of leg calves, you nameit. One of the better ones, developed in18608 by the French Anatomist EtienneSerres, was that Black males were moreprimitive because the distance betweenthei r belly button and thei r peniswas rela-tively shorter than that of white males.If the relationships between belly but-tons and brains haveyou confused, I hopeyou are not shaken to learn that there havebeen reversals in interpretations of 1.0.tests.You bet.Changes never tease, evenin our cognition, The Stanford Binet (theCadillac of 1.0. tests) was first used in1912 as an instrument to limit immigrationto the United States of certain Europeanstock. Then as now, it successfully met itsobjective. More than 80%of all Jews, Hun-garians, and Russians tested as "feeble-minded" and thus notwelcome to the club.The test targets have now changed butthe test results remain the same.Any hopes that 1.0. tests,which survivedthe historical role change, would perse-vere to become the ultimate proof of racialsuperiority were severely hurt recently bythe revelation that another late, impecca-ble demi-god, Sir Cyril Burt, had falsifiedimportant data. I'll be damned if thiswasn't the data that Jensen et al. hadbased most of their racial premises on.Wonders never cease. The hardships ofthe struggle for enlightenment on thewhite man's burden has not been borneby the behaviorists alone. Historians,artists, electronic engineers, all have con-tributed. Given these transient race theo-ries, coupled with a Plessy vs. Fergusonor an Alan Bakke, the media, the GallupPoll, and eventually the courts toppleover like dominoes behind one complaintthat awhite man's rights were in jeopardy.The next theory just has to be the right one.Through the discovery method, I wasable to finally analyze one of my problemsas affirmative action coordinator was thatI had no status in a status-conscious cir-cus of academicians. At the top of therings are the widely published professorswhi Ie part-time lecturers support the bot-tom. My level is subterranean, Since mostof the academicians' time is spent up-holding standards, they have little timefor social discourse other thanwith peers.st save my limited share of their social- enities far the few times I can cornerm in closed door official sessiansere there are no.ready exits. Then they~ it an. I'm captivated by their charming. , amiable banter, when I'm Art they'reb, Jim, or Jeff. I constantly miss the op-rtunity far a kiss and farewell whenzese sessions break up, far the next daymay never see them again. They haveIked within a few inches af me across:::cmpuswithaut so.much as a glance thatcou Id detect. They have perfected thezchnique of simultaneausly avaiding eye:ootact and farcing you to. scurry aut afirway to.avoid a collision. Their clever-s never ceases to. amaze me.Fartunately, this behavior af the stand-=.,'"d bearers of the enlightened world is=.:;endedby my passionate belief in their_ . acy-mine too. Yet I wish they would'9SOrtto. seeing-eye dags which I couldan the head as their owners walked_ . It helps thaugh to. have a full social-=e outside the wall if you are wanting far- an contact. An outside social liferes you the ordeal af what I call the-coken-recard question, "What do. you- ?" In any campus social gathering thisusually your introduction to. a stranger.-;)(j the question can came befare youeal your name. "What do.yau-what do.da-what do. you daa-?" I'm inannel administratian, I coordinate=- ion, oh, affirmative action, yes I like it,its not reverse action, oh hell!" I'm es-ially sensitive to. this question, as Itianed befare, because I'm still tryingsort it aut for my children's needs. Ilize it's an anxious attempt to.discover- what you do. makes you interesting- ugh to. spend a few moments with;veve«, mast of us Blacks are accus-ed to. papping the question of a livingafter the interest gets heavy. Perhapsis an inefficient use af time but why-...sh to.make or break an alliance?I have digressed considerably. Socialtacts ar avoidance thereaf is just a sidee to. the really high railers. The real"I once spent a whole daytrying to convince an eminentprofessor.that it was possibleto provide an ethnic breakdownof his department."dramatics are played aut aver the tele-phone, usually. lance spent a whale daytrying to. convince an eminent professorthat it was possible to. provide an ethnicbreakdawn of his department. He gaveme 11 dazen reasons why a waman withlh6th Croatian blood would not fit an anychart. I responded with 11 dazen and 1reasons an haw it could be dane. Theprofessor followed up our telephone can-versatian with a bristling memo. under-scaring his incredulity-samething about18th century English tax accountants who.fargat that statistics must came fram thefigures gathered by the vi Ilage watchmanwho. puts dawn what he damn wellpleases. I ignared the missile far a suita-ble interval and was about to. resart to. fullexposure when his repo.rt came in. Hisdepartment of 75 faculty was composedcampletely ot "Native Americans." As Isaid earlier, quite aften I lase.Then there was the time I was elatedafter a telephone call detailing haw ex-tensively minarities had been notified ot aparticular jab vacancy. Elated, that is,unti II gat a letter fram a gent in Bangalare,India, inquiring why his name was beingcansidered far a jab he never applied farnor even heard af. By then the recruitmentprocess had already been blessed by meand the white-male hired. I had beenhad again.You may ask what are same af my vic-taries. I suppose my angaing victory is thefreeeducatian unwittingly provided by mymentors and I am stimulated every morn-ing just thinking about what the game otthe day will be. I began each marningwith a short meditation, may the games otthis day bring clear victories or cleandefeats-no. ties, no. indignities. I can-tinue to. demand my reports, the villagewatchmen continue to. put dawn what theydamn well please, my figures prove thatwe are an affirmative action employer. Iknaw, they know, and naw you knaw be-cause I'm canfessing. And the cavalrynever arrives. 025Art Lathan is affirmative action coordinator at SanFrancisco State University:NEW DIRECTIONS OCTOBER, 1978 '

Waiting for the Cavalry: 
Confessions of an Affirmative Action Coordinator

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Waiting for the Cavalry: Confessions of an Affirmative Action Coordinator

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