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Winter Quarter, 1971, saw the initiation of aunique, student-sponsored program focusing on the"culturally diverse" people in America, when membersof the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights wereinvited to the D.U. campus.The students who planned and presented the programchristened it "A Day to Remember, A Time forAction", in the hopes it would not begin and endwith a series of presentations given by theCommission members, but would expand into somepositive programs for minority studies at D.U.Commissioner Frankie Freeman, a partner in theSt. Louis law firm of Elliot, Marks and Freeman,and the Executive Director of the Commission,Howard A. Glickstein, joined Commissioner MauriceB. Mitchell on campus at the invitation of theBlack Experience in America Seminar.Throughout the day, the Commission met with leadersof Denver's Black and Brown communities and D.U.faculty, administrators and student leaders, and wereguest speakers at the Black Experience Seminar.Those meetings, held on both a one-to-one andgroup basis, proved to be a source ofconsiderable enlightenment as participants learnedthat despite the fact that the Commission serves"only at the pleasure of the President", eightyper cent of their reports are acted upon orimplemented into law.The afternoon schedule included a press conference,where members of the University community alsotook the opportunity to make the first public announcementof present and proposed programs for the"culturally diverse" at D.U.The programs ranged from the establishment of aspecial, world-wide collection of books, manuscripts,and, eventually, original documents on Blackand Mexican-American history, to a studentinitiatedEducational Opportunity Program (EOP),to an exchange program begun Winter Quarterwith five Black Colleges.The proposal for the establishment of the Blackand Mexican-American History Collection came inthe wake of plans for a new D.U. library for whichthe University had recently received a $4.5million grant, and followed the College of Arts andSciences application for a National Endowmentfor the Humanities Grant which would, broadlyspeaking, change the freshman requirement programfrom a series of survey courses to severalprograms of concentration such as the Black Experiencein America. "In the final analysis, the Universityof Denver could become the leading research centerfor minority history in the Western United States,"Dean Edward A. Lindell of the College of Arts andSciences explained.Both Mrs. Freeman and Glickstein spoke favorablyof the programs for the "culturally diverse"underway at D.U., but Mrs. Freeman was quick topoint out that she doesn't know of any university whidis doing enough. "We've come a long way, but we'vegot a long, long way to go," she said.In a public address to the University and Denvercommunity, the Commission gave a thorough historyof their organization and offered details ofsome of their more interesting hearings. "Weare a society of alienated and isolated people," Mrs.Freeman said . "We could even ask the question: howmany of you know someone of a different race fromwhom you could ask to borrow an egg?"242

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