SPURRED by last year's dramatic upsurge of black student unrest, hundreds of U.S. colleges and universities have begun to offer new courses in black studies. Halfway through the academic year, the infant programs are suffering sharp birth pains. Conceived in haste, they are often beset by politics, strapped for funds, and short on qualified teachers. Many of them amount to little more than a quick reshuffling of existing courses offered by various departments, and black students sense condescension. Says Brown University Senior Phil Williams of his school's new black studies program: "It's an insult to black people." Above all, on practically every campus the new black studies programs are caught in a conflict over one basic issue: Should black studies stress academics or action? Should the work take place primarily inside the classroom or out in the community?
The story of two institutions that have taken opposite tacks suggests that neither approach offers a guarantee of success. At Harvard, which has emphasized the classroom, many black students feel that the Afro-American studies department is not revolutionary enough, and are thinking of quitting the university. At San Francisco State College, which stresses action, the administration fears that the black studies department is too revolutionary, and is threatening to disband it.
Intellectual Respectability. When Harvard's Afro-American studies program was formed in the midst of last spring's tumultuous student strike, faculty members repeatedly demanded that the courses be "intellectually respectable." That standard, for the most part, was met. The courses carry impressive titles that sound much like the other listings in the Harvard catalogue: The Concept and History of Slavery; Africa in World Politics; History of African Art; and the usual "colloquium" conducted for "concentrators" (i.e., majors) in the department.
In recruiting professors for the program, Harvard chose men who are uniformly competent and in some cases outstanding. The introductory course in black civilization, for example, is being taught by Dr. Ephraim Isaac, a lecturer from Ethiopia who speaks seven languages fluently and holds a number of degrees, including a recent Ph.D. from Harvard. Fred Clifton, another visiting lecturer who teaches a course about Boston's Negro community, is the kind of man blacks more often have in mind when they discuss the "qualifications" that professors in Afro-American studies ought to have. Clifton has only a B.A. degree, but in addition to previous teaching experience (philosophy and sociology at the State University of New York at Buffalo), he has had practical experience as educational coordinator of Baltimore's Model Cities program.