University Daily Kansan
Thursday, June 21, 1873
3
KU's Black Engineers Increase
By CATHY O'BRIEN
Kansan Staff Writer
Enrollment of black engineers at the University of Kansas has risen from 6 to 35 since the creation of SCOEMBEE, Student Employing and Educating Black Engineers.
SCOKMEW was started in 1970 by Wille J. D. Numersey, who is now at the University of Minnesota as a professor.
Charles Lockhart, president of SCO-RMEB, listed three goals of the program. These are to assure that more minority engineers graduate from KU, that there is an effort to increase readiness and to help all minority students find suitable job placements.
SCORMEBE does not begin its program with the college student. They recruit high school students of high ability and with a strong background in summer program in engineering at KU.
THE ASSISTANCE given these students includes personal and educational counseling and tutoring. Lockhart said the job opportunities presented to the student dealt directly with the engineering discipline and the industries that helped support the program.
Students were recruited mainly from metropolitan areas through a cooperative effort with high school administrators and teachers.
ANDREW DARTON, former director of the program, suggested that a lack of knowledge on the part of teachers and counselors may have contributed to student confusion about what an engineer really is and really does. For this reason, the former programs are set up as identification programs as well as motivating forces.
"We try to motivate and interest students to go into the School of Engineering," said Durton. "We have to get right down to earth and remove and that invisible screen."
This summer the funding for the engineering program has been through the NSF, which created the need for the development of new courses. Last year this part of the program was financed by the KU Endowment Association.
THE ENOWMENT Association has made it a habit not to support the same program for two consecutive years, Darton and Hunt. The group is around for a different means of support.
The NSF has a Student Science Training Program that gives assistance to students with limited educational opportunities. Darton said the correlation between the NSF program and SCOMMEB led to a proposal for funds from the NSF.
In the past the program had been for high
school seniors, but NSF rules only allow use of their funds for juniors. This, therefore, created the need of the development of the new courses.
ALTHOUGH THE high school senior was not provided for through NSF funds, SCoRMEBE funds have worked to provide the needed assistance, said Darton. This summer there are eight seniors among the 37 in the engineering program.
NSF does not allow the use of funds where there is discrimination, so no one has been or will be kept out of the program because of race, color or creed, said Lockhart.
"The University should feel proud. Out of
No one has been or will be kept out of the program because of race, color or creed.
the new NSF proposals they accepted but
50. This is one of the "D炉" ondion said.
DURING THE WINTER the emphasis is on the college student, except for a recruitment period in the fall when SCORMEBEM members speak to potential engineers, who will attend that during this time the financial aid was almost entirely contributed by industry.
"SCoMEBE is unique because the students have a great deal of input into the program. Most are controlled by the University. In our case, the students are the ones who make the decisions," said Lockhart.
SCorMEBE has been busy. Lockchart said they had been working on progress reports, their constitution, and in the past year have started a newsletter that is put together by someone who knows it are now in the process of putting together a structure that would explain SCorMEBE fully.
JUST BEFORE the end of the semester, Lockchart said, his committee went to the dean of men's office and suggested that a wing in a residence hall be designated for engineering students only, on an experimental basis.
Lockhart said this environment would be ideal because the engineering student had to spend more time on his studies than the average student, and this would rid the student of the chance to be influenced by the people who didn't need to study.
This is planned for men and not the women because there is only one woman in the house, so they are accepting four in the fall, said Lockhart. There were few women was that they did not
apply. He said they thought there was no place in engineering for them.
BECAUSE OF THE lack of women, Lockhart said that an experimental program wouldn't be practical or accurate. It wouldn't be practical because many women live off-campus or are married. He would have men for an experimental wing, he said.
They are also making an effort to set up some kind of permanence within the School of Engineering to know exactly how many jobs will be available and where the money for their program will come from. Lockhart will send me now, if it was like "walking a tighrope."
Lockhart said they had no way of knowing who would provide a job or contribute to the program, but he had to spend half of their time going to various companies asking for contributions to SCOMEE, which took away from the program to work on improvements in the program.
THE GROUP'S proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) said more than 60 per cent of the $65,000 available to the program had been contributed by industry. One recent contributor was the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corp., which gave the program $2,000 for the 1973 summer session and $8,000 to be used in a ten-year period.
In addition to financial help, the industries provide speakers, tours of their plants and material aids. An example of aids are the slide rules that have been provided for the past three years by Atlantic Rich Company of Dallas, Darton said.
Two grants to be used for student assistance have been awarded to the department of chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Kansas.
Grant Pipeline Pumps Funds To Engineers
Dow Chemical Company has announced a $2,300 award which is to be used primarily for undergraduate scholarships in chemical engineering. The KU students holding Dow scholarships.
Continental Oil Company has awarded a grant of $3,000 for use as a graduate fellowship. This is a continuance of the Continental Oil Fellowship that has been received SU for a number of years, according to Don W. Green, department chairman.
Vernon Breit, Scott City engineering graduate student, is the current fellow.
They are John B. Bowman, Hutchinson sophomore, William Renner, Rantoul freshman; Dennis Schlepp, Goodland sophomore; Eric Wheeler, doctorate; and Lee Zeugin, Leavenworth junior.
One of the things accomplished in the past year, Lockhart said, is the approval of a position of minority dean. They are now "offed footers" in an effort to fill the position.
HE SAID THAT they were looking for someone who was a minority member because such a person would have the right to be heard in the program. Lockhart said that a minority member in the same field would have gone through the same problems that the other group did.
Another thing that they are working on is a basis for the selection of the students into the program. Lockhart said that in the past, they simply looked at the transcript. He said that because of the increase in the number of new applicants more selective in awarding scholarships
A study by the American Society of Engineering Education said that out of 40,000 B.S. engineering graduates in 1970, there were only 314 blacks. Over 50 per cent of this number were from traditionally black institutions.
According to the proposal written to the NSF for funding, the average GPA of black students under $C$RMMEB is above that of the rest of the freshmen in engineering.
LOCKHART SAID that many of the SCOMME students were in the upper 8% percent.
A Ford Foundation Report said that of the 470,000 blacks in higher education, almost 70 per cent were in predominantly white universities and colleges.
Eugene Nichols Works in a Petroleum Facility
Jansan Photo
African Studies Program Grows Though KU Enrollment Dwindles
The KU African Studies program is gaining momentum despite the constant threat of fund shortages and the decline in funding. Jacob Gordon, chairman of the program.
Equality Promised
The program was approved by the Board of Regents in 1971. Since then, it has grown rapidly in faculty, curriculum and scope; more than 20 faculty and nearly 50 courses.
The program was originally aimed at achieving recognition for the role of Africa and people of African descent in world civilizations Gordon said. The objectives were to add a new dimension to the study of Western civilization. Eventually, Gordon
said, the integrated program was to become recognized as a resource center to the community and surrounding areas on black affairs.
to coordinate a program that will allow Ku students to study there.
Gordon said he believed that the objectives had been achieved or will be.
There are now three KU students studying in Africa. Gordon said he hopes to help send many KU students to Africa for summer study sessions.
The program is now attempting to develop black studies courses in the curriculum of Lawrence and surrounding school districts. Through this process of teaching, the said he hopes to "pull the state together on the many multicultures that exist."
One of the major failures of the program, Gordon said, had been a lack of understanding by students of the program. Many mistakenly believe that the program is for blacks only, Gordon said. However, he added, enrollment showed that more whites enroll in some black studies courses than do blacks.
The program is just getting started on a national level, Gordon said. He will travel to New York City in October.
From Page One
Nichols said that part of the commitment was to employ minority groups. He said that as fast as qualified people were available and as vacancies occurred, the University would fill them with qualified individuals, regardless of their racial background.
year we have a problem. We don't know whether we'll find enough money because the program last year was essentially limited to blacks."
Electric and go to school the other quarter. ANOTHER PROGRAM was Dykes' appointment of a chancellor's task force last fall. He said the task force, made up of students and faculty, was designed to study students and to make recommendations about bringing them more fully into the mainstream of university life.
"That applies to the faculty; that applies to the administration; that applies to the clerical staff and the maintenance staff of the physical plant," he said.
"We have increased substantially, in the two years that I've been here, the black student enrollment and the number of black students enrolled," he said. "I take a great deal of personal pride because of whatever else I've done here. I think we have made a significant way the roles of blacks and women."
Nichols said KU's Affirmative Action Plan, which was adopted March 1, was evidence of the University's commitment to opportunity in admission and employment.
"We have to get our money from the Memorial Union Corp. through book store rebates, from the Endowment Association and from work-study," he said. "For next
According to Nichols, the main problem at KU is where to get the money that is needed to support the programs. He said KU applied for a federal grant but was turned down because Congress didn't have money to start new projects.
"IT IS DESIGNED for not only equal opportunity, but to make an improvement in the lives of the unadmitted and to help the minorities," he said. The American Indians and Mexican-Americans and involves giving them a chance to be involved in overcoming the cultural lag that they have."
Watson Library and Kenneth Spencer Research Library include a little-known collection of black newspapers among their holdings.
KU Libraries House Black Newspapers
George Griffin, librarian of the Kansas Collection, said Wednesday that the collection was obtained in fiscal 1970-71 for research materials in black studies at the University.
Much of the collection was purchased from the Library of Congress. Publications can be found at us.gov.
There are some old black newspapers in Spencer Library, Griffin said, but most of them are from the 19th century.
in Watson Library or micronase. The conduction was paid for by the African
Griffin said these newspapers dated from the late 1820s. The first black newspaper published in America was Freedom's Journal, which began in 1827.
Black newspapers, both sensational and somber, can be found in Watson Library.
Black Mortuary Thrives in Lawrence
The Bowser-Lee Mortuary was established in 1941 and today is one of two black-owned businesses in Lawrence. The other is Reed Water Conditioning.
Pearl E. Bowyer, the owner, said that she and her husband established their mortuary 32 years ago, they encountered only a few problems.
At that time there were three mortuaries in Lawrence, Bowser said. Blacks had always used white funeral homes and were accustomed to them.
Bowser said the Bowie-Loser Mortuary now has 40 per cent of the black business in it.
"It was difficult for us because we had to draw business away from the competition," he said.
Bowser said that in the past, white-owned
"This has changed. There is no discrimination now," Bowser said. She added that white-owned mortuaries are even soliciting black business.
In 1919 Bowsher's husband received his morticians license. When they came to Brooklyn, he and their brother lived. There they established their first funeral home. They moved to Coffe-yvine and established their second funeral home in 1831, they made their final move to Topeka.
funeral homes had discriminated against blacks. There was a time, she said, when whites would refuse to serve blacks for fear of losing other white business.
Prior to his death, the Bower's had funeral homes in six Kansas towns. She said they sold all but the Lawrence and Topeka homes because they didn't have enough
licensed directors to manage them. Bowser now manages the two homes.
The only problem she sees is that black men and women generally don't have the financial basis to back a business of their own.
They had little trouble establishing themselves in new places, Bowser said, because her husband had created a good and dependable image of himself and his work. She also said that members of minority groups today who wish to enter their own business, shouldn't have a very difficult time.
"This too is changing," she said. "The really hard part comes to the first person who does something different and who is the pioneer."
J-School Recruits Minority Trainees
Another problem, Gordon said, was that few students knew that Introduction to African Studies will fulfill a social science or a humanity requirement.
The news media, particularly broadcasting, has discovered the token minority in Facebook.
By BETSY RIORDAN
Kansan Staff Writer
Cookery, fashion and the number of Baptist Church that were being erected in the area made up the pages of an 1893 issue and Headlight, a headlight, a black newspaper from Topela.
THE PROGRAM offers consulting services to newspapers, in-service training, job placement programs and internship training.
Edward Bassett
To insure this, the School of Journalism has begun a program of actively recruiting minority group members, especially in Kansas City.
the William Allen White School of Journalism, said Wednesday. A black token, for example on a television news show team has become a common sight, he said.
But this tokenism will pass, Bassett said, and minority group members will have to accept the fact.
INDIVIDUALS ARE attracted by scholarships offered by the William Allen White Foundation and the KU Endowment Association. Funds are contributed by
"It is helpful for the media to have minority group employees," Bassett said. "They bring expertise to the job and their backgrounds are vitally important to all."
The School of Journalism has been concentrating on recruitment of blacks, Bassett said, because the American black culture was more solidified in its goals.
Through summer workshops, high school students are given first-hand experience.
"We hold classes in seminar form," Bassett said. "They are less formal, also less intensive. They are held simply to interest people."
If an individual should be unable to attend the University of Kansas because of lack of money or time, the school would bring the program to him. Bassett said.
BASSETT SAID the program was complicated by difficulty in finding interested people and getting them to make a commitment to the profession.
alumni and through "broad soliciting," Bassett said.
Once the commitment was made, however, the individual usually stayed in job security.
Bassett said that he had always been interested in attracting minorities to the job.
"IT BEHOVES you help to someone," he said. "If we share, then others will also." There have been criticisms of the program, Bassett said.
"You don't see a broad acceptance, and there have been reversals. Some people worked out, so the critics say they should learn," he said of talents, and they should be put to use."
A lack of firsthand information characterized local black reaction to the nomination of Clarence Kelley for the governor of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Local Blacks Have Limited Reservations About Kelley in FBI
In contrast, a 1998 issue of the Chicago Defender stressed sensational news. Its pages were filled with stories on murder, robberies and kidnappings. This paper's front page often carried a political cartoon. One cartoon pictured Uncle Sam carving the turkey of opportunity and serving huge slices of meat to children, while a small black child was passed over
"I suppose at the moment I'm neutral, leaning toward unfavorable, regarding the nomination," said Don Green, assistant professor of human development.
"My only reservations are based on comments from black leaders in Kansas City on Kelley's policy and treatment of blacks on various issues," he said.
Jacob Gordon, chairman of the African Studies program, expressed a more fascination with his work.
"He seems to have a good record of experience with the FBI," Gordon said. "I have no evidence whether he was unfair or not to any racial group. I'm not going to say he's going to be unfit in his job. He's had a lot of experience."
"I really can't make a comment," said
one student. "All I know is what I've read
one student."
Many of the individuals questioned admitted that they had been relatively inexperienced.
Although the success depends on availability of funds, Gordon said, there is another factor. He said that students needed to know that the program was not black or Hispanic, and he program for everyone, which represented an integral part of Western civilization.
Watson Library also has microfilms of three black newspapers from Nicodemus, Kan. This community, located in the rural countryside,ateleate, at one time had an all-black population.
The Defender also carried advertising for Ford's Hair Pomade, which claimed to straighten the hair. The paper's moto was "if you see it in the Defender it's so."
Copies of the Frederick Douglass Paper can also be found in the library. Douglass was an important black leader during the Civil War and was an admier to President Lincoln.
Two Win Internship
James Kendall, Rockford, Ill., junior, and John Pike, Wichita State, are among 30 students selected to participate in the 1974 Congressional Internship program sponsored by the University. Both are in the William Allen White School of Journalism and Public Information.
They will receive three-month appointment to the staff of a U.S. senator or representative.
The 30 students selected represent 18 colleges and universities. The University of Kansas is one of 10 schools that had two students who will receive the internships.
Students were selected on the basis of their interest in governmental reporting, academic record, samples of their work and experience, or academic dean or department chairman.
The School of Architecture and Urban Design is considering a four- to five-week orientation program for minority students, according to Charles Kahn, dean of the school. The session, if held, would take place later this summer.
Kahn said that 100 freshman were expected to enroll in the school next fall, 12 of which were expected to be minority students.
Architecture School Considers Minority Orientation Program
The architecture school, according to Kahn, was one of the first schools in the University to become formally involved in minority recruitment. The focus has been on American Indian, black and Chicano students.
Faculty members and minority students recruit potential students through visits to schools
Kahn said that American Institute of Architects—Ford scholarships have been offered to some students but that money is not available to them for more scholarships. On one occasion he mailed 75 letters of inquiry and received only five responses, all of which were
"The groups approach the team with a
Apart from activities on campus, the school sponsors and directs an advocacy program to promote awareness.
This architect team was begun in 1968 and is housed at the old Coach House Hotel in Kansas City. Mt. The team, made up of seven people, manages the teams, is used to assist volunteer groups.
problem. Renovation is a simple one," Kahn said.
The team also helps to prepare proposals, which are then submitted to the departments of Health, Education and Welfare or Housing and Urban Development. The training funds has not been consistent as with other administration priorities. Kahn said.
The school of Architecture employs 24% full-time faculty Members. Of the 24%,
Charles Kahn