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From: EDITORIAL - THE ROBESONIAN
Date: 15 Sep 2004
Time: 17:52:47 -0400
Remote Name: 172.139.217.57
The following editorial in The Robesonian by Editor Donnie Douglas was a response to recent concerns about lack of American Indian Faculty and other issues at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. American Indians who grew up with an attachment to The University of North Carolina at Pembroke should be concerned, even upset, with the surprising news that just one out of 25 faculty members at the institution is Indian. In fact, UNCP, which boasts one of the most diverse student populations in the country, has a faculty that is almost albino. Out of 204 full-time instructors last year, l74, or 85 percent were white; nine were black; eight were American Indian; seven were Asian, and six were Hispanic. So one of two conclusions must be made. Either the university's administration is giving a stiff arm to American Indians who are seeking positions on the faculty or, as chancellor Allen Meadors maintains, qualified American Indians are not applying for the positions. Barring any evidence that we haven't seen - but would welcome if its exists - we will side with Meadors on this one, for two reasons. Meadors, who has demonstrated often that he values diversity at the university, would have no motive to deny qualified Indians a place on the staff, assuming the chancellor's not a bigot, which we think is safe to say. Moreover, if there were a conspiracy to deny American Indians faculty positions at UNCP, there would be an uproar, and Meadors would be the target. But Meadors is popular among all three races, which is a difficult bar to clear in a county that is consumed with racial politics. Instead, there is a whimper, from a single part-time faculty member, who contacted The Robesonian and prompted today's Page 1A story. We don't agree with everything that Reginald Oxendine says, particularly his charge that the university is discriminating against minorities. But he is exactly right that it's a shame that more American Indians - and other minorities for that matter - are not on the staff. Oxendine specifically laments the lack of minorities who could serve as role models for students at UNCP. It would be ideal if the university's instructors would more closely reflect the students in their classrooms. We believe this a lingering symptom of the Jim Crow South, when American Indians, like blacks, were denied basic opportunities, such as the right to a quality education. There continue to be too many young people of color who don't value an education, and often that is because their parents weren't allowed one. The fix to this problem isn't going to found in the administrative offices at UNCP. It is up to American Indians in this community to educate themselves sufficiently to qualify for a faculty spot at UNCP. Only then will the face of the UNCP faculty match that of the students at the institution.