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FREEDOMWAYS        FOURTH QUARTER 1972

college and universities one is stuck with either the dogmatism of racial chauvinism or the relativism of Billingsley's attitude of different strokes for different folks. He states that Black Studies "at its best . . . is designed for several audiences or student bodies." These are black students, white students, black faculty, the black community, the white community; in short the whole society. This may be the long-range scope effect that Black Studies will have. However, at this time the most pressing issue is the one raised by black students all over the land: an education that will prepare them to participate fully in the psychological, economic, political and cultural liberation of black community.

Billingsley is seemingly more concerned with the needs of higher education institutions, needs which may be incompatible with the rigorous discipline and political perspective required if Afro-American studies are to become an effective means for training committed and culturally liberated black intellectuals and technicians who are prepared to serve the black community. The issue of structure is very important to the survival of black studies programs, contrary to what Mr. Billingsley thinks. When, for instance, he says that the comprehensive course envisioned by Harvard "may be an effective instrument for the study of the black experience" and "may be quickly and easily installed" he reveals either a lack of familiarity with the tremendous amount of scholarship pertinent to the study of the black experience or else he is timid about confronting a powerful and conservative institution such as Harvard. With regards to small colleges attempting to offer black studies, a better suggestion would be to try and develop a consortium program with neighboring schools. Another type of structure mentioned by Billingsley is the cross-listing of courses developed within the traditional departments. A "loosely coordinated program" will produce students who have loosely coordinated ideas. Also, the major problem with this approach is, as Billingsley mentions, the limitations placed "on innovation and relevance to the black experience." Programs do not have the power to appoint their own faculty and authorize their own courses. The "center" of Afro-American Studies, for example the one at the University of Michigan which is classified as an "area study," is another type of dependent structure. All professorial appointments must be "joint," that is, consistent with the philosophy and needs of the traditional departments. Such a "center" may find itself the ball in a game to see which department will employ the director of Afro-American Studies, thus weighing the academic bias of the "center." Black faculty

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