DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | University of Iowa Committee on Human Rights policies, 1958-1986 | 1968-11-15 University Human Rights Committee to President Howard Bowen Page 3

Transcribe
Translate

University of Iowa Committee on Human Rights policies, 1958-1986

1968-11-15 University Human Rights Committee to President Howard Bowen Page 3

-3-

reflect the composition of our total society. Those Universities formerly segregated have been desegregated, 3 but affirmative integration by all Universities is now sought. Thus, for example, when Federal officials have made field visits in connection with requests for matching funds for library construction, one of their prime concerns has been the degree to which the facility will be availed of by Negro and other racial minorities by virtue of their presence on the campus. So too the University of Michigan was recently threatened with loss of Federal funds because of its racial composition, even though Michigan's percentage of Negro students is 1.60%4 (almost twice Iowa's o.95%)5, its professional staff is 1.55% Negro 6 (higher than Iowa's 1.25%)5 and its non professional staff is 14. 65% Negro 6 ( more than twenty times Iowa's 0.70%)5 . Nor is it open to the University to excuse its situation by pointing to the relatively low percentage of minority races in Iowa. As long as Federal funds are involved the government will insist that a national, rather than a provincial, view of the obligations of the University be taken. 
   A second and more cogent reason for the University to pursue a well financed policy of minority recruiting is that the Federal policy is right, both morally and in terms of societal needs. Responsibility for the ever widening chasm between the advantaged and disadvantaged rests with 

3. For example, those former symbols and bastions of segregation the Universities of Alabama and Mississippi now have and Negro student respectively. On a percentage basis this respectively times and times that of the University of Iowa
4. Percentage derived from figures used in Michigan's HEW Fall 1967 Compliance Report as reported by letter dated February 9, 1968 from Robert P. Sauve of the University of Michigan to Professor Pail M. Neuhauser of the University of Iowa. 
5. University of Iowa's HEW Compliance Report
6 University Record of the University of Michigan for April 27, 1967

Saving...

-3- reflect the composition of our total society. Those Universities formerly segregated have been desegregated, 3 but affirmative integration by all Universities is now sought. Thus, for example, when Federal officials have made field visits in connection with requests for matching funds for library construction, one of their prime concerns has been the degree to which the facility will be availed of by Negro and other racial minorities by virtue of their presence on the campus. So too the University of Michigan was recently threatened with loss of Federal funds because of its racial composition, even though Michigan's percentage of Negro students is 1.60%4 (almost twice Iowa's o.95%)5, its professional staff is 1.55% Negro 6 (higher than Iowa's 1.25%)5 and its non professional staff is 14. 65% Negro 6 ( more than twenty times Iowa's 0.70%)5 . Nor is it open to the University to excuse its situation by pointing to the relatively low percentage of minority races in Iowa. As long as Federal funds are involved the government will insist that a national, rather than a provincial, view of the obligations of the University be taken. A second and more cogent reason for the University to pursue a well financed policy of minority recruiting is that the Federal policy is right, both morally and in terms of societal needs. Responsibility for the ever widening chasm between the advantaged and disadvantaged rests with 3. For example, those former symbols and bastions of segregation the Universities of Alabama and Mississippi now have and Negro student respectively. On a percentage basis this respectively times and times that of the University of Iowa 4. Percentage derived from figures used in Michigan's HEW Fall 1967 Compliance Report as reported by letter dated February 9, 1968 from Robert P. Sauve of the University of Michigan to Professor Pail M. Neuhauser of the University of Iowa. 5. University of Iowa's HEW Compliance Report 6 University Record of the University of Michigan for April 27, 1967