Black Faculty/Staff

Context on-line, December 97-January 98

Silver Anniversary History of the UTK Black Faculty & Staff Association

Editor's Note: The Black Faculty and Staff Association is celebrating its 25th anniversary this academic year. Following is a summary of the organization's history written by Dr. Ira Harrison, UTK associate professor of anthropology. BFSA's web page is at http://funnelweb.utcc.utk.edu/~bfsa/default.html

BY DR.IRA HARRISON
UTK Professor of Anthropology

This paper provides background on the persons and perspectives of the association of black faculty and staff at an historic southern white university. Hindsight reveals that in the 1970s black faculty and staff were trying to perform admirably in our jobs; find decent housing for our families; maintain collegial relations at UT, Knoxville College, and among black Knoxvillians; respond to Supreme Court decrees; deal with the ambivalence, and yet the hunger for, higher education among grandchildren of slaves denied adequate opportunities to learn how to read and to write; and keep up with the swirl of activities around the American Bicentennial.

In this milieu the UTK Black Faculty and Staff Association (BFSA) evolved. Newspapers, letters, memos, and memory reveal that the BFSA evolved in 1974 largely from the efforts of four persons: Ralph Boston, Marvin Peek, Dennie Littlejohn, and Patricia Bell Scott. It has continued since, as the only indigenous black representative body in the University.

(There is a slight flap concerning BFSA's date of formation. See Context, volume 12, number 6, letter from Luther Kindall to Editor Linda Weaver on December 13, 1994, and letter from Milton M. Klein to Weaver on December 19, 1994.)

Origins and Anxiety

I want to articulate the trials and triumphs of African-Americans to relate to each other, with BFSA as a forum, and to make a contribution to the institution and the society of which they are both a part and apart from.

I and the following persons were new black faculty or staff in the fall quarter of 1974:

Ronald Belfon, instructor/staff attorney, Legal Clinic; Dr. Betty Cleckley, associate dean and associate professor, social work; Riggins Earl, instructor, religious studies; Joyce Everett, instructor, Human Services; Sherrye Goss, instructor, audiology and speech pathology; Dr. William Hammond, assistant professor, psychology; Gloria Johnson, instructor, English; Colleen Jones, instructor/administrative assistant, business administration; Lethonee Jones, assistant professor, social work; Deborah Raikes, instructor and assistant, undergraduate reference; Patricia B. Scott, instructor, black studies; Norman Ware; assistant professor, statistics; Dr. Clifton Woods, assistant professor, chemistry; Josephine Allen, assistant professor, social work and political science; Dr. John Colen, associate professor, social work; and Sharron Hodson, instructor, nursing.

In May 1997 Dr. Ira Harrison, 1997-98 BFSA co-chair, presented Austin-East High School principal Henrietta Grant with Kroger receipts that BFSA members collected. The Kroger program allowed A-E to get additional computers for the school.

The struggle of African-Americans to relate to each other in this strange land of opportunity at UTK is reflected in attempts by some staff and faculty to move from an informal group to a formal group, an association. The push to formalize the group was based on the feeling that black faculty and staff had no base from which to launch unified support for causes with indigenous interest to us ethnically. We needed long and short range objectives, visibility, and respect from black students.

Persons who attended the first organizational Black Faculty and Staff Association meeting on October 14, 1974, were:

Ronald Belfon, Ralph Boston, Dr. Billy J. Cleckley, Joyce Everett, Dr. Franklin Hamilton, Dr. Ron Hammond, Dr. Ira Harrison, Capt. John Howell, Pamela Ice, Colleen Jones, Dr. Velma Jones, Robert Netherland, Marvin Peek, Deborah Raikes, Dr. Barbara Reid, Dr. Herbert Ruffin, and Cary Woods.

An ad-hoc group had been meeting informally since 1972. The meetings were get-acquainted sessions, over lunch. Questions raised were about recruiting more black faculty and staff to the University and the academic and financial plights of UTK's black students. Ralph Boston attempted to raise money at these gatherings to establish a fund to aid students and/or the Afro-American Student Liberation Force as emergencies appeared.

Faculty and staff interest in the meetings declined, but Boston, Netherland, and Peek attempted to rejuvenate the reluctant group, calling the October 14, 1974, meeting. Luncheons were dropped in favor of meetings for business purposes. Attendance was generally sparse, but the leaders persevered.

Boston was elected chairperson. Woods and Netherland worked on issues such as the University's disinterest in affirmative action, black studies, UTK police relations, hiring and upgrading black faculty and staff, and the Black Cultural Center.

In subsequent meetings, a committee on aims and objectives was named to hammer out a rationale and objectives for a Black Faculty and Staff Association. Committee members were Belfon, Hammond, Jewel Hysmith, Raikes, and Woods.

Objectives

The following list of objectives, without reference to priority, gave the organization a framework.

Provide a forum for black faculty and staff expression.
Recruit black faculty, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students.
Retain, promote, and tenure black faculty and staff.
Work to increase the opportunities so that the social, psychological, academic, and economic needs of black students can be better met.
Provide a vehicle to increase interaction between black faculty and staff throughout the Univer-sity system and in the city.
Provide expertise that can be utilized in bringing about better extra- and intra-university race relations.
Bring together black UTK personnel for mutual social and political needs.
Help black awareness at the University; e.g., speakers, entertainment, films, books, and related activities.
Work with individual black students as well as the various black University organizations in a support and advising capacity.
Provide a black scholarly atmosphere by sponsoring lectures, book review sessions, and similar programs.

These objectives became the first BFSA bylaws. First officers were: chair-Ralph Boston, minority affairs and special services; co-chair-Marvin Peek, coordinator of Black Studies and assistant professor of history; recording secretary-Deborah Raikes, instructor and reference librarian; corresponding secretary-Pamela Ice, editor-producer, public relations; treasurer-Hardy Liston, assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Meetings were held in the homes of members, and dues were set at $20 a year, or $5 a quarter.

In 1975, BFSA rented its first mail box, and Walter Jackson, assistant professor of art, designed a logo. The chancellor's response to BFSA's existence, full or partial participation of members, and the attendance or absence of officers at meetings were issues at the March and April meetings. A total of $3,387.80 was in the Minority Scholarship Fund. These committees set to work: tutorial, academic, fund raising, community, social, and publications.

The formalization of BFSA was not the only activity on campus in 1974 vying for the time, energies, and commitment of newly arriving black faculty and staff. The UTK Black Studies Office, directed by Marvin Peek, submitted a proposal to the Tennessee American Revolution Bicentennial Committee (TARBC) for a symposium on "The Contribution of Blacks to the Development of Tennessee History" to be held October 23-25, 1975, at the Knoxville Hyatt Regency Hotel. Sessions and paper abstracts on the black experience in Tennessee would be presented under the theme, "We Also Served" concerning religion, law, education, business, health, social welfare, communications, history, and sports.

Patricia Scott, assistant coordinator of black studies, led the editorial board: Dr. Sam McMillan, English; Dr. Ira Harrison, anthropology; Marvin Peek, black studies; Ron Belfon, law; Dr. Riggins Earl, religious studies; Dr. Luther Kindall, education; Dr. Gerald Gaither, education; and Wilbur Lucas, theater, Knoxville College.

Meanwhile, in May of 1975, Deborah Raikes started work on the first UTK Black Faculty/Staff Directory. It was to be a guide to the city and the campus for new black faculty, staff, and students. It included information on churches, civic and other clubs, and day-cares; grocery stores; restaurants, barber and beauty shops, florists, dry cleaners, laundries, liquor stores, funeral homes, and other black-owned businesses; financial institutions; recreational facilities, radio stations, night clubs; service stations and mechanics; attorneys and physicians; pharmacies, hospitals, insurance companies. By November, Raikes, with the help of Felicia H. Felder, Walter Jackson, and Jane Gross and the support of the Black Studies Office and the new Black Cultural Center had produced the first Black Faculty/Staff Directory at UT Knoxville.

The Black Cultural Center opened under the directorship of Dennie Littlejohn on August 1, 1975, with an open house ceremony on November 1, 1975. The Center was a home away from home for black students on the campus and a place to get tutoring and advising. Jerry Bellon, curriculum and instruction; James Daniel, history; Felicia Felder, undergraduate library; Stan Lusby, religious studies; Robert Netherland, admissions; Philip Scheurer, student activities; Patricia Scott, black studies; and Stephen Young, music, were members of the advisory committee, with Ira Harrison, anthropology, as chair. Director Dennie Littlejohn and Associate Dean of Liberal Arts Charles Jackson were ex-officio committee members. Student members were Victor Boateng, Hubert Eskridge, Jane Overcase, and Dorothy White. Jackie Wilson, staff reporter with WBIR-TV, represented the Knoxville community.

The Center was located in the College of Liberal Arts and sponsored Black History Month, the Black Arts Festival, Ebony Love Dancers, BCC Repertory Com-pany Productions, Learning Lab, as well as undergraduate tutoring, advising and referral services, special classes, research projects, Creative Consciousness Series, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Lecture/Celebrations, and Malcolm X Memorial Celebrations. These activities were supported by various on and off campus groups: Advocates for Neighborhood Development, African Student Association, Afro-American Student Liberation Force, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Black Baptist Student Union, Black Cultural Center Advisory Committee, Black Cultural Center Repertory Company, Black Faculty and Staff Association, Black Studies, Black Cultural Center, Commission for Blacks, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Disciples, Ebony Love Dancers, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Liberation Concert Choir, Minority Affairs, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Student Government Association-Knoxville College, UNITY, and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority.

Taking part in the 1994-95 UTK BFSA Professional Development Conference were BFSA President Paula Barnes and local NAACP President Dewey Roberts.

In December 1975, a new organization called The Commission for Blacks was established by UTK Chancellor Jack Reese in

response to a 1972 Task Force on Blacks. Its objectives were to:

Serve as a channel for improving human relations on the campus.
Advise University officials on the concerns of blacks.
Assist in the evaluation and revision of the Affirmative Action Plan.
Recommend changes in or additions to existing policies and procedures that will reflect black concerns.
Suggest ideas for new and existing academic and extracurricular programs related to blacks.
Recommend and encourage research to identify the concerns, problems, and progress of blacks on campus.
Assess on a continuous basis the status of blacks on campus.
Aid in communicating the interests of blacks throughout the University community and encourage black involvement in all aspects of campus life.

Dr. Betty J. Cleckley chaired the commission, which included: students-Mark Allen, Mary Ann Cawn, Robert Gibson, Dennis Greer, Steve Hart, George Howard, John Lomax, and Dorothy White; staff-Ronald Belfon, James Grubb, Roy Jackson, Signiara Jones, Dennie Littlejohn, John McDow, Marvin Peek, and Phil Scheurer; faculty-Dr. William E. Cole, Mary Rose Gram, Dr. Rodney Hammond, Dr. George Harris, Dr. Luther Kindall, Barbara Reid, and Stan Lusby; and alumna-Ruth Staffney.

The commission received a mixed response from black faculty and staff. Some felt that it undercut the efforts of the BFSA. Others thought, given the plight of blacks here at UTK, the more help we received from any quarters, the better. Still others adopted a wait and see posture toward this new commission.

In 1975, there were 42 full-time black faculty, about 3.8 percent of full-time UTK faculty. This meant that most black faculty were not tenured, and at risk of losing their jobs if they were not judged by white colleagues as worthy to continue work at the University. The undergraduate black student population had declined from 659 students to 595 students, or 9.7 percent. Thus, if black faculty were retained, would there be students?

The persistent problem facing BFSA was whether or not to become a University-affiliated organization and thus eligible for University largess, but forfeiting the right to sue the University if the need arose. The prevailing attitude was that BFSA ought to be free from the University in case it was necessary to have to take the University to court on the behalf of faculty, staff, or students. Thus, BFSA continued to rely on its own initiatives, talents, and resources for identity, operations, and success, while its individual members were pulled, pushed, and buffeted by campus and off-campus demands.

In 1976, Dr. Rodney Hammond, assistant professor of psychology, became BFSA's second chair, with Deborah Raikes, instructor and undergraduate librarian, vice-chair; Gloria Johnson, English instructor, treasurer; Ethel Glascoe, clerk-typist in geography, secretary; and Cary Woods, administrative assistant to the vice president for public service, as corresponding secretary. At the January 16, 1976, meeting not only did the question arise of whether or not such an organization with such small numbers should continue to exist but also, the fact that the association had inherited a debt from a social hour held at the Faculty Club by the previous administration.

Discussions continued during the February 12, 1976, meeting about the aforementioned advantages and disadvantages of BFSA becoming aligned with the University. The treasurer reported that BFSA had a balance of $58.35 in the treasury.

In less than four years after this BFSA meeting, all of these officers and most of the early active members were no longer at the University! This observation prompted me to see how long BFSA leaders have remained at UT! By calculating the dates of entrance to and exodus from the University during the first ten years of the Association: 1973-74 to 1983-84; I find that faculty officials remained an average of 6.8 years, while staff officials remained an average of 6.08 years, as of January 1996.

Professor Marcia E. Sutherland, in The Western Journal of Black Studies, January 1990, states that "black faculty in white academia is an uneasy fit due to various aspects of white racism: tokenism, avoidance, isolation, visibility and invisibility, intellectual starvation, lack of mentorship, joint appointments, lack of graduate students, and the resistance of white students to black scholars."

I suspect that some of these same issues plague black faculty and staff at UTK. However, the 1970s officers established BFSA and it has survived.

Reflections

Few organizations are able to thrive with an exodus of leadership talent! BFSA has survived because the issues faced by African-Americans at UT Knoxville remain. However, three problems persist for BFSA: the retention of black faculty and staff, the attraction of new black faculty and staff, and the dilemma of BFSA to be an official part of UT or to continue to be apart from the University. Problem one reflects what some have termed the revolving door of black talent, which impacts unfavorably on problem two, attracting new black faculty and staff. Problem three is the catch-22 contained in the fact that official University organizations cannot sue the University. To remain nonofficial, BFSA remains marginal to the largess of the University, yet free and open to participate legally in campus and community-wide issues, to address complaints against it. Also, work for BFSA wins one little reward with one's white colleagues.

Retrospection

BFSA is the evolutionary result of the desegregation of public education in America and Tennessee in particular, but BFSA is also the invention of African-Americans at UTK.

It is generally agreed that the 1954 Supreme Court's decision outlawing racial discrimination in public education in the United States of America was a major step toward the democratic ideal. In Tennessee, racial segregation in public education was the law until the 1960s. Cognizant of national trends in higher education, President A.D. Holt, on September 1, 1965, issued a memorandum on University Policy on Equal Employment Opportunity to vice presidents, deans, directors, department Heads, and other administrative personnel. He said that UTK has entered into agreement with the United States Government in compliance under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to employ qualified persons regardless of color, creed, race, religion, sex, or national origin. The University had become an "equal opportunity employer."

In 1968, Rita Sanders Geier et. al. and Raymond Richardson, Jr., et. al., engaged in litigation with University of Tennessee et. al., Tennessee Higher Education Commission, over the expansion of UT Nashville, the status of Tennessee State University, and the dismantling of the dual system of education in the state of Tennessee.

The defendants reported that, while some limited progress had been made by most predomi-nantly white institutions in recruiting minority students, officials at the predominantly white institutions had not made any real progress in attracting black faculty. Black enrollment at traditionally white institutions increased 42.2 percent, from 2,720 in 1968-1969 to 3,869 in 1969-70, with most of the increase occurring on the freshman undergraduate level. Financial aid for black students had increased substantially. However, percentages of black faculty for all institutions had increased very little, from .4 percent to .9 percent.

The defendants concluded that while limited progress had been made by most predominantly white institutions in recruiting minority students, officials at the predominantly white institutions had not made any real progress in attracting black faculty.

BFSA is in its silver anniversary year (1997-98). Blacks, or African-Americans for those who prefer this nomenclature, comprise only 3.24 percent, or 43 persons, of a total faculty of 1,327 persons. Blacks are a minority of the minority faculty of 135 persons, or 10.17 percent of the total faculty. Seven black faculty, or 6 percent, have left the campus this year.

At age 25, what shall BFSA do next?

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Connie Bateman, Human Resources Management; Margaret L. Crawford, University Historian's Office; Donald A. Cunningham, Institutional Research; Dr. Nina T. Elliot, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs: Camille M. Hazeur, Diversity Resources and Educational Services; John T. Hemmeter, Institutional Research; Pamela Hindale, Student Data Analysis; Felicia Felder-Hoehne, Hodges Library; Dr. Milton Klein, Professor Emeritus; Dennie Littlejohn, Space and Facilities Management; and Ronald B. McFadden, Arts and Sciences, Student Counseling, for providing background and statistical data on black faculty, staff, and students.

Also thanks to former BFSA officers Ralph Boston, Luther Kindall, Rodney Hammond, Joyce Jones, Kay Williams, Thomasenia Robinson, Gilda Cowser, Carolyn Henderson, Deborah Raikes-Colbert, Sharron Hodson-Fitzgerald, John Jackson, Marvin Peek; and several others who gratefully shared their time and experiences of early black faculty and staff affairs.

And finally, thanks for the enthusiasm and insight of Attica Scott, current BFSA president, Community Partnership Center, Hoskins Library.

1997-98 BFSA OFFICERS

Chair: Attica Scott

Co-chair: Dr. Ira Harrison

Corresponding Secretary:

Khadra Baskin

Recording Secretary:

Constancio Nakuma

Treasurer: Angela Mobley