Expanded Afro Studies Committee To Emphasize Search for Faculty

The Standing Committee on Afro-American Studies (AAS) met Wednesday morning for the first time since its seven-Faculty membership was expanded last month to include six students.

Chairman Richard A. Musgrave, Professor of Economics, said yesterday that the Committee members had agreed their most pressing concern should be finding most pressing concern should be finding qualified faculty for the department.

The expanded committee will "nominate the first four to six appointments, two of which must be tenured," according to the Afro proposal approved by the Faculty on April 122.

The six student members--three elected by potential AAS concentrators and three from Afro--have full voting rights on the committee, a provision which caused the major Faculty opposition to the Afro proposal.

The search for AAS faculty has been going on since last February when Dean Ford appointed a Search Committee chaired by Talcott Parsons, professor of Sociology, and including Zeph Stewart, Master of Lowell House, Daniel M. Fox, assistant professor of History, and three students.

Replaces Fox

Fox has since resigned, and Musgrave has taken his place.

Musgrave declined to name any of the people the committee is considering.

The Standing Committee's other two major concerns Musgrave said, will be the development of an Afro-American Research Institute and "some thinking" about tentative course offerings in AAS for next year's concentrators.

He emphasized that all final decisions on curriculum will rest with the permanent AAS Executive Committee, which will replace the Standing Committee when the first four Faculty appointments have been made.