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that it resulted in a strengthened research program at STRI. The Regents will be kept informed of the situation, and specific authorization will be sought, if necessary, as the dialogue with the Gorgas Memorial Institute proceeds.

HEARING BEFORE THE HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES 

Mr. Adams reported on a recent set of hearings before Congresswoman Cardiss Collins' Subcommittee on Government Activities and Transportation, which had examined a variety of matters pertaining to the Institution. Of primary concern were the Smithsonian's affirmative action policies and practices and questions of ethnic representation in a variety of contexts. In these areas, Mr. Adams added, the outcome was generally positive, and a number of very constructive suggestions were made to the staff. It appeared that the subcommittee recognized that the Smithsonian has made modest but real progress with regard to hiring of minority professionals at the junior ranks but noted that the Institution had been less successful in hiring in the more senior ranks. The subcommittee clearly felt that the under representation of minorities at the senior level ought to be corrected soon.

The subcommittee expressed approval of the Smithsonian's revised plans for offering life estates to the individuals occupying buildings without ownership or leases on the properties of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. The subcommittee also registered strong concern about the Institution's sale of the Frederick Douglass House on Capitol Hill, a portion of the property formerly occupied by the National Museum of African Art. Conceding that there had been a degree of insensitivity to the symbolic importance of that house, the Secretary agreed with the subcommittee that there had not been adequate early communication.