NAACP TO INVESTIGATE Austin Peay State University, Clarksville Tennessee

Student leaders are often deluged with complaints of racial injustice on our campus. (Even though campus leaders promised to follow the Grier stipulations by both the letter and the spirit of the law.) Most of these students, faced with the prospect of retaliation from professors and administration, simply suffer in silence. We believe that APSUs latest academic reorganization and budget reductions has adversely affected African American students.

Timbuktu African American Minors Association
Austin Peay State University
P.O. Box 4777
Clarksville, TN 37044

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The purpose of this Press Release is to bring to your attention some of the concerns of students on the Austin Peay State University campus in the wake of recent academic reorganization and budget reductions that have been made. Having exhausted all avenues of in-house appeal for action to address the following concerns, we are appealing to you the Media for intervention.

   (PR WEB) Student leaders are often deluged with complaints of racial injustice on our campus. (Even though campus leaders promised to follow the Grier stipulations by both the letter and the spirit of the law.) Most of these students, faced with the prospect of retaliation from professors and administration, simply suffer in silence. We believe that APSUs latest academic reorganization and budget reductions has adversely affected African American students. Since the ascent of the current administration much of the African American faculty and staff have been demoted, redirected, dismissed or have simply left in the wake of reorganization. Examples include the firing of the directors of Affirmative Action and Financial Aid, the demotion of the chair of Sociology, and the demotion of the director of the Ft. Campbell center, who was then made ‘Regent Online Degree Program Coordinator. These actions have resulted in a dearth of the mentors and leaders with whom we identify and relegated those who remain to positions inconsistent with the high degree of training, experience, and accomplishment they brought with them to APSU.
   On Wedensday, March 26, 2003, Dr. Speck, Vice President for Academic Affairs, distributed what is essentially the Universitys final plan for reorganization. The plan calls for the African American Studies program to be moved under the auspices of the History Department. This is problematic for several reasons. One, this move will undermine the autonomy of this program. While other enrichment programs such as Womens Studies and International Education will report directly to the Dean of Arts, African American Studies will be subordinated to a department. This is contrary to the advice given by Dr. Fred Hord, director of the National Association of Black Cultural Centers, and Dr. James B. Stewart, former past president of the National Council for Black Studies. These scholars stated that African American Studies was a discipline in its own right, and needed to be free standing. Both were brought to the campus as paid consultants to the Administration on this issue.
   Second, under the aegis of the History Department, African American Studies will be supervised by personnel with no training in the specific subject matter of this minor. African American Studies is a broad interdisciplinary field, encompassing, among other things, Anthropology, Psychology, Literature, and Sociology. It is more than simply history; therefore, subordinating African American Studies to the History department would be tantamount to moving Chemistry under Biology. While the two share some similarities, each is distinct enough to warrant the degree of separation imposed by Department level status.
   Additionally, the move represents a de facto demotion for the Director of African American Studies. In her two years at APSU, the current Director, Dr. Nancy Dawson, has worked tirelessly to expand the program to its current levels. In the 2001-2002 course catalogue, there was one course comprising African American Studies. Reflective of Dr. Dawsons efforts, the 2002-2003 catalogues boasts seven courses for African American Studies. There are also weekend seminars and community forums that have been added. Enrollment has increased more than 300% with more than forty students now taking minors in African American Studies.
The African American Cultural Center is used very frequently for classes, seminars and other training events such as the recent Leadership and College Orientation Summit held for local high school students. Under the history department, the Director of African American Studies will lose the creative and budgetary control that is essential to crafting and administering an academic program capable of intellectually stimulating student growth. In light of Austin Peay State Universitys commitment to recruiting and retaining African American students, these two entities can serve as powerful illustrations of the Universitys determination to bring African American students to campus and support them after they arrive.
   Another concern involves the reduction of the Wilbur N. Daniel African American Cultural Center from its current 12 month operation period to a 9 month operation period; consequently reducing the current directors (Dr. Jacqui Wade) salary ten thousand and the centers secretary will also be reduced. It is important to us that the center operates year round because it is essential to the retention and recruitment of the African American study body.
   In conclusion, the African American Studies program and the Wilbur N. Daniel Cultural Center serve imperative functions in the lives of APSU students. The courses offered and the Cultural Center serve the purpose of educating all who choose to learn about the rich and diverse history, culture and contributions of people of African descent. They also serve as an indispensable recruitment, retention, and support system for African American students at Austin Peay in this mist of a hostile and racist environment.

Catherine Davila, Timbuktu, African American Studies Minor Association.     931/302-1667
         
Calvin Nelms, President African American Students Association. 931/221-5503