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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 15, 1992                   TAG: 9202150076
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

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BLACK-EDUCATION AIDE REMOVED FROM POST

An Education Department official appointed to oversee the federal role in strengthening historically black colleges and universities was abruptly removed from his post last week.

The swiftness of Robert K. Goodwin's removal and the absence of consultation with the President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities led James E. Cheek, that board's chairman, to conclude, "We think we are in a hostile environment."

Goodwin was executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which was created to provide staff and resources to the president's advisory board.

Carolynn Reid-Wallace, the assistant secretary for post-secondary education who was confirmed in December, said she asked for Goodwin's resignation Feb. 6 to make way for an appointee of her own choosing.

While not criticizing Goodwin by name, she said "there was no intellectual vision" in the office of the White House initiative.

Cheek, formerly president of Howard University, said Goodwin's post was not intended to generate vision, and Reid-Wallace has not made it clear to him what vision she was seeking.

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