Newspaper Page Text
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17
THE MAROON TIGER
PAGE 5
Religion and Philosophy Department Practicing Apartheid?
Interim Chair defends himself against rising criticism for not hiring black philosophy teachers
By Julius T. Jessup
Over the past few weeks, students have
witnessed growing concern over the state
of the Department of Philosophy and Reli
gion at Morehouse College. After the sud
den death of the Department Chairperson
Roswell Jackson in 1992, Dr. Anibal Bueno
was positioned as interim chair. What is at
issue is how Dr. Bueno will influence the
selection of future professors.
During the January 19th Crown Forum,
SGA President Spencer Tolliver spoke of
the apparent separation within the Depart
ment: African-American professors teach
ing religion and non-African American pro
fessors teaching philosophy. The senti
ment that Mr. Tolliver expressed was that
this “is placing us once again at the back of
the bus.”
In a brief interview, Dr. Anibal Bueno
explained that no “qualified” African-
American professors of philosophy had re
sponded to the call put out by the depart
ment. When asked if it was not the respon
sibility of a historically black college to
search further for African-American pro
fessors, Dr. Bueno mentioned that the search
was large enough to determine that there
was no one available at the time. He would
hot promise that the next instructor would
be African-American.
At present, there is no manner of deter
mining whether there will be an African-
American professor of philosophy at More
house College. The Department of Phi
losophy and Religion is giving no assur
ances as to the hiring of future instructors.
If no African-Americans are brought into
the program, it will be the students once
again who will lose out. A predominantly
African-American college will be deprived
of the perspective of an African-American
professor in one of the basic subjects of a
liberal arts education. It is not the quality
of the professors that is being questioned.
Instead, it is the objectivity of the More
house College Department of Philosophy
and Religion.
All of the black professors under Bueno teach Religion while only white professsors
have been hired to teach philosophy courses.
Facility, fiscal improvements placed on back burner for now
(from page 1)
Morehouse College. The position
currently remains vacant.
Mrs. Lillian Jackson, Special
Assistant to the President. As
spokesperson for the college, Mrs.
Jackson handled the college’s
press releases, and the general dis
tribution of information to the
press. The position has currently
been filled by Mr. John Baker
Brown who is new to the More
house community.
Mrs. Anne Allison, Director of
Student Activities. Mrs.
Allison’s responsibilities included
the sponsoring student activities
for the social as well as academic
enhancement of.the student body.
The budget that Mrs. Allison over
saw was significantly larger than
the SGA’s nearly $100,000 bud
get. Mr. Purdue explains that "the
position has not been eliminated,"
By Yohance Whiteside
1995 marks the renewal of More
house College’s mission to edu
cate some of the greatest black
minds in the country. However,
January 1995 marks the fourth
month that Morehouse College has
been without a president. The po
sition is now being held by In
terim President Wiley Perdue.
Strides have been made to fill
the office, however. Morehouse
College’s Board of Trustees has
established a search committee to
oversee the process of finding a
new president. This committee’s
members range from Rev. Otis
Moss, Chairman of the Board of
Trustees, to Spencer Tolliver,
president of the Student Govern
ment Association , to Dr. Willis
Sheftall, Jr., Chairman of the Eco
nomics and Business Administra
tion Department. This commit-
but it currently remains unfilled.
At present, Dean Bellamy and
Dean Gaffney have been assigned
many of the responsibilities for
merly under the purview of Mrs.
Allison.
It is important to underscore that
the Office of Development, which
is without a VP for Development
or an Associate VP, is the fund
raising arm of the college. With
the resignation of Mr. Richard
Ammons, and the dismissal of Mr.
John Brown, the college’s rela
tions with Coca-Cola, Salomon
Brothers, Citibank, Merrill Lynch,
Showtime Networks, Delta Air
lines, AT&T, Texaco, Eastman
Kodak, Kellogg Foundation,
Mellon Foundation, National Sci
ence Foundation, and numerous
other corporate, foundational, and
governmental donors were left in
virtual limbo.
tee, in turn, has employed the use
of a search firm, Lamlie Amrop,
to facilitate it in its quest. Lamlie
Amrop has the distinction of be
ing noted as one of the top six
search firms in the country. It is
headed by Dr. Charles Taylor,
former president of Central State
University. The committee is now
in its preliminary stages of the
search. It is presently interview
ing Morehouse stake-holders --
faculty, students, and alumni — in
an effort to obtain some idea about
the qualities and criteria that these
people deem important in a presi
dent. At the completion of this
process, the committee will de
velop a detailed position specifi
cation that will serve as the basis
upon which all the applicants will
be judged. The search committee,
along with the search firm, will
then shorten the list of applicants
down to twenty-five. Of these
The Office of Human Resources
reports that “no cabinet level po
sitions will be filled” until the ar
rival of the new President. As for
the other vacancies, many of the
responsibilities have been desig
nated to others still with the col
lege, or have been reassigned to
the Office of the President.
In addition to the administrative
vacancies, numerous goals of
Morehouse’s $75 million Cam
paign project have not yet been
realized. The Maroon Tiger was
able to obtain a copy of the
President’s Annual Report for
1993-94, which has been unusu
ally withheld this academic year.
The report is an important means
for keeping corporations, alumni,
and friends of the college abreast
of the college's progress. The
report also details the monetary
outlays of the Campaign which
twenty-five, eight to ten will be
chosen to come to Morehouse for
an interview. From these eight to
ten, one will then be chosen as
president of the college. All of
the applicants for the position of
president will be kept confiden
tial due to present commitments
they may have. The position of
president is open to anyone, in
cluding women and non-More-
house graduates. Also, anyone
can nominate a person for the of
fice of president, with students
and faculty being included. All
nominations should be sent to the
Presidential Search Committee.
The process of finding a presi
dent for Morehouse College is te
dious. There are hopes that the
process will be completed and a
new president will take office by
the next fiscal year.
has raised $61 million to date. It
appears that the appropriate ques
tion is, what will become of the
campaign objectives during the
"transition?"
$20 Million Endowment for
Faculty Salaries, New Faculty
and the Morehouse Research
Institute. Ironically, just after
President Purdue was announced
Interim President, he forced the
staff and faculty to endure an un
usually long waiting period be
fore any of their contracts were
renewed.
$18 Million Endowment for
Merit and Need-based Scholar
ships. Because the campaign has
not completely achieved its goal,
this objective has not been fully
realized.
$11 Million Construction of, a
New Athletic Center. The
President’s Annual Report states
that “ACOG has awarded us an
$11 million construction grant.”
Acting President Purdue explains
that the $11 million dollar figure
includes the $8.9 million allocated
to the construction of the new
arena and the remaining operating
cost associated with the Olympic
event.
$10 Million for Renovation and
Maintenance of Residence Halls
and the Kilgore Campus Cen
ter. The board maintains that this
objective has already been set into
motion with the renovations of
Graves and Robert Hall, and the
construction of the Kilgore Cam
pus Center. However, the
President’s annual report explains
that the Graves and Roberts reno
vations, along with the Kilgore
Campus Center, were financed
with a $7.4 million bond issue
through the City of Atlanta. The
report maintains that the $10 mil
lion only covers maintenance cost
for Graves, Robert, and the Kilgore
Campus Center, allowing a sig
nificant portion of the $ 10 million
to be allocated to the renovation
of Thurman, Dubois, and Mays.
However, Acting President Purdue
explains that Thurman, Dubois,
and Mays will only receive minor
upgrades. The college does, how
ever, plan to move forward on its
plans to construct a new 200-bed
dormitory along Fair Street,
bounded by Eurley and Webster
Streets. The starting dates for both
projects have yet to be announced.
$9 Million for Campus Build
ing Upgrades. This objective in
cludes upgrades for Sale,
Frederick Douglass, Wheeler,
Brawley, and Dansby Halls.
$7 Million for Renovation of
Natural and Physical Sciences
Facilities. This objective includes
the newly renovated Hope Hall
and the future renovation of
Merrill Hall.
In addition to the campaign ob
jectives, the board has given its
approval for the planned memori
als honoring Howard Thurman '23
and Benjamin Mays. With all this
said, what conclusions can be
drawn about the state of the Col
lege? Clearly, most of the an
swers lie with Acting President
Purdue.
Numerous students have ex
pressed pessimism and frustration
over the recent developments at
the College. Even our SGA Presi
dent Spencer Tolliver is “not quite
sure the College is adhering to its
mission.” An alumni explained
the situation best when he opined,
“[Morehouse’s] future will be de
termined by at least two factors:
(1) the character and quality of
the vision, and the commitment
exerted by its stakeholders; and
(2) how well these disparate
groups can make synergy a reality
as they work towards improving
the overall interpersonal, moral,
spiritual and intellectual climate
which students truly need and de
serve.”
College continues presidential search