Black Existence Course

To the Editors:
The time has come to stop lamenting the
irrelevance of the Bryn Mawr-Haverford
educational experience. It’s time to stop
griping over polite teas with faculty mem-
bers and exchanging smug in-jokes
with other students. Bryn Mawr and Haver-
ford need change and if it’s going
to do us any good, the change has to come
now. We don’t need discussion after dis-
cussion about “The Revolution,” the
poor blacks, whites, Indians, Vietnamese,
etc. We don’t need cliques of teeny-bopper
revolutionaries or the self-righteous “so-
cially aware” who get all their in-
formation from the New York Times.
We don’t need hours of grandstanding by
“liberal” professors or “radical” stu-
dents. This is nothing but mental
masturbation. It makes us feel good,
but doesn’t accomplish a damned thing.
If we are dissatisfied with our respective
colleges and educations, it’s time we did
something about them. We need action
and we need it now.

The Black Students’ League is taking a
step. Next semester we will run a course
on the black man’s existence in America.
The course will give us the opportunity
to compare the theory we’ve been choking
on to reality. Reading will include some
theory, policy statements from agencies
dealing with blacks, and material drawn
from the fields of community organiza-
tions, social work, psychology, so-
ciology and politics.

Each week we will have a guest who is
actually working in the field under dis-
cussion. These people will not be
executive directors, policy and program
designers, “experts” or theoreticians.
We want people who are actually working
in the field. We want people who are
actually working under a system and know
how it works or doesn’t work instead
of how it’s “supposed” to work. Speakers
will be drawn from the Philadelphia area.
All of you white liberals, bitter blacks,
revolutionaries, liberal faculty and the
generally “concerned,” here’s your
chance. If this and other courses of this
type are to affect any change in the college
situations, it must be recognized by both
colleges and granted credit by both
colleges. It must become part of the
curriculum. Other courses like it must
be established.

It’s time we abandoned our superiority
complexes and detachment. It’s time we
got down to it. Here’s a chance to start
the trend toward change. We want the
course. We want credit. The easiest way
to get credit is to have some faculty
member take the course. Demands on him
would be minimal. If no one on either
campus will take the couse, we’ll try other
means. If you’re interested in taking the
course, send a note through campus mail
to Brenda Jefferson in Pembroke East.

Brenda Jefferson '70