Newspaper Page Text
Page Five
PANTHER October, 1974
Clarkite “checks out” instructional media lab.
Checkmate! Sunny day is a winner.
AROUND
CAMPUS
Workers are busy completing the new counseling offices
in basement of Merner Hall.
By Kenneth Hodges
Henderson Fights Cutbacks in Services for Poor
By Barbara Jackson
Dr. Vivian W. Hender
son, at the invitation of
President Gerald Ford, at
tended the recent Eco
nomic Summit meeting,
aimed at curtailing infla
tion, held in Washington,
D.C.
According to President
Henderson, the summit was
divided into several sec
tions with each section
holding a “mini-eco
nomic” conference.
The sections included
Health, Education and Wel
fare (HEW), Labor, Busi
ness, Transportation and
Housing.
Dr. Henderson, a noted
economist, was particular
ly interested in HEW.
“I was interested in
government policy regard
ing social services that
meet the needs of blacks
and other minorities as
well as poor people in
general,” he said.
“I wanted to involve my
self on the impact of eco
nomic conditions and infla
tion on higher institutions,
particularly Clark.”
Henderson said that a-
mong the people attending
the HEW conference were
welfare recipients, health
care people, elderly peo
ple and consumer groups.
In addition to presenting
his ideas in the White
House summit meeting,
Henderson attended the
Black Economic Summit
meeting. He was the only
black college president
there.
This meeting, called by
civil rights activists, “was
oriented toward trying to
say to the White House we
are not going to stand by
and let the federal govern
ment cut off services to
blacks and poor people as
a means of fighting inf la-
ion,” President Hender
son explained.
“Rather, it should ex
pand services to these
groups through measures
as tax reform to fight in
flation.”
Approximately 60 blacks
attended the meeting,
called “A Call for Ac
tion.”
They made recommen
dations to the President
which included: full em
ployment, housing and
community development,
lower interest rates, price
controls, replacement of
food stamps by cash, eco
nomic development and aid
to minority business and
participation in decision
making.
Dr. Henderson said that
the blacks who attended
the meeting, along with
others, did not believe that
government spending was
the major source of in
flation.
“It is my view then and
right now that the first
thing that should be done
is to impose strict eco
nomic controls to get at
prices, wages, interest,
profits, dividends and
rent,” he said.
“The problem is in the
market place where arbi
trary decisions are made
on prices and wage in
creases. I think this is
where we have got to go.”
“The problem is that
Clark College and institu
tions and people like Clark
and the poor are victims
of policies and procedures
by big business, big labor
and big governments. We
have little power with
which to combat policies
and practices which fail to
correct the economic dis
locations we face,” Dr.
Henderson said.
“Thus, the victimized
members of the population
--poor, elderly, unemploy
ed, welfare recipients,
blacks and other minori
ties--share disproportion
ately the burdens of high
price, high interest and
other kinds of dislocations.
“This is extraordinarily
so in the case of institu
tions such as Clark,”
President Henderson said.