Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 10, 1994 TAG: 9404100093
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Nearly 200 students protested outside President John Casteen III's office Thursday. They charged that blacks are the victims of "an overtly hostile atmosphere" at the university.
A group of black and white student leaders met Friday with Casteen, and black students raised complaints Friday at a panel discussion for 275 prospective black students and their parents.
The protesters have pressed for the immediate implementation of 27 recommendations in the 1987 "Audacious Faith" plan, which was developed by a task force on black affairs.
The plan focused on recruiting and keeping black professors and students, adding more student academic support services, improving communication and raising consciousness withing the university, and changing the school's administrative structure and employment policies.
In the 15-page report released Friday, university officials highlighted the hiring of 14 black faculty members between 1986 and 1993. All but two of those instructors remain at the university, and five have tenure.
Deans have "standing orders" to actively recruit new and visiting minority faculty members, and "results are a primary factor in deans' performance reviews and salary settings," the report said.
The report also noted the appointments of blacks to high-level administrative positions, such as Bonnie Guiton, dean of the McIntire School of Commerce; John Garland, executive assistant to the president; and Julian Bivins, director of development services.
Total financial aid to black undergraduate students has increased from $3.4 million in 1987-88 to nearly $9.5 million during 1993-94, the report said. The number of black students receiving aid has grown from 642 to 1,023 over the same period.
"Many measures have been enacted, not all of which have been successful," said Louise Dudley, a university spokeswoman. "It's not true that nothing's been done."
Dudley estimated that black students make up more than 9 percent of the school's student body of 18,000.
Casteen told the student group Friday he senses a growing racial polarization among students, especially since a student referendum on the school's honor code.
The issue, which failed, would have offered an alternative to expulsion in some cases of lying, cheating or stealing.
Many black students "believed they were not heard or were denied an opportunity to speak because of their race" in advance of the vote, Casteen said.
Casteen urged students to solve problems themselves within student organizations. "I don't know anybody who can begin to solve the problems as well as you can."
Rafiq Jeffries, a black member of the student Honor Committee, said any progress made by students must be met with similar action on the part of the university's administration.
by CNB