Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies - Ford Foundation

Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies in the United States 65
grams were, in some sense, created in response to the political demands of
a constituency that, since the mid-seventies, has largely ceased to exist.
Many Black students abandoned these courses because they lacked academic
substance. Criticism previously ignored was taken seriously, and the
most egregious courses and behavior were excised.
Student enrollments leveled off after 1974. They will probably never
again approach the level of 1970, but they seem, at the moment, to be low
(in most places) or modest, but stable. 41 Despite the fears (or hopes) that
they would be allowed to die, few programs have done so. The fact that they
have remained part of the academic landscape is likely to encourage more
constructive relationships with other parts of the university. For political as
well as demographic reasons, most state institutions are not likely to discontinue
support, even in the face of serious budget constraints. The University
of Michigan has been forced to eliminate some departments.
Geography has been forced out, but Afro-American studies has not been
touched so far. The fact is that some departments and programs—those at
Berkeley, Harvard, and Wesleyan, for example—are becoming stronger in
program and in character of enrollment. 42
Even with the passing of generations of students, some of the problems
that provoked unrest among Black students in the sixties persist. The
conservative national trends reflected in White student attitudes are making
some Black students feel even more isolated than before. The former
liberal consensus is no longer present to lend support and encouragement
to Blacks in their struggle for racial justice. Some White faculty and students
may be openly hostile to programs like affirmative action and to admissions
policies that give preference to Blacks and other minorities. Some
may challenge their right to take the place of those assumed to have superior
records. 43 In recent years there have been racial incidents involving the
denigration of Blacks at schools like Wesleyan, the University of Cincinnati,
the University of California at Santa Barbara, and Dartmouth. Blacks are
more likely to experience racial hostility now than they were a decade ago.
These trends are offset by fifteen years of a sizable Black presence in northern
colleges; Blacks are more likely to be taken in stride, and less likely to be
made to feel exotic.