Whither Afro-Am?

The recent formation of an Alumni Committee to Support Afro-American Studies and plans by the Black Student Association (BSA) to sponsor an Afro-American Studies rally Friday seem to point to a growing concern among students and alumni about the direction the department is headed.

The alumni group took out a full-page advertisement in the Crimson this week calling on the University to reaffirm its commitment to a stong Afro-American Studies Department. And BSA President Gaye Williams '83 said the planned rally will also try to pressure the University to negotiate in good faith in the case of Ephraim Isaac, a former associate professor in the department who was denied tenure in 1975.

Isaac has charged discrimination on the basis of race and national origin in the case, which is currently working its way through the courts. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled almost three years ago that there was "probable cause that Isaac was discriminated against," Isaac's lawyer. Theodore Landsmark, said yesterday.

Isaac's case has become a rallying point for some of those interested in the department because it appears he was denied tenure because his specialty is Ethiopian history. Dayna L. Cunningham '80, an organizer of the alumni group, said this week. The department is trying to limit its academic locus to post slave trade. America and is purging it self of Africanists, she added.

"Interestingly, Harvard doesn't deny that, saying they have the management right to determine the locus of the department." Landsmark said Nathan I. Huggins, chairman of the department, yesterday did not return repeated telephone calls on the subject.

Members of the alumni group say that the department's decision is a political act, taking it away from its "African roots."

"There is a mood and attempt to go away from the early principles of the department," the Rev. Dwight N. Hopkins '76, a member of the alumni group, said yesterday. "Any, Black alumnus who reads the New York Times has got to be concerned," be added.

In addition to the question of focus, the alumni group is concerned about the University's overall commitment to the department. "The history of Afro-American Studies has been one of deliberate neglect and abuse by the College, and hard work by students and alumni to maintain it," Cunningham said.

As signs of this official "neglect," students point to the fact that the department has only two full tenured professors, and that two more tenure appointments that the department said it would make in late March still have not been made.

In addition, "the current trend toward joint appointments is something to be guarded against." Hopkins said, noting that the next two tenure offerings are to be joint appointments with other departments, which may divide the professors' loyalty to the department.

Also at issue is how much student input the department will allow in upcoming decisions about curriculum and general philosophy of the department. Hopkins said that since the department was formed essentially on the demands of students who sat in at University Hall, there was a strong tradition of listening to student voices in directing the department. The first chairman, Ewart Guinier, was chosen in large part due to his support among students. Hopkins said, adding. "He really listened to students--I think that's what attracted us to the department."

But indications are that the student voice in department affairs has waned somewhat. Williams led a delegation of students to meet with Huggins Thursday, and while she praised his willingness to meet with them on that occasion, said she did not hold out much hope for a greater student role.

"He does not see any formal student role in the department," she said, adding that she was "a little disappointed. I think we share a difference of opinion, but he's the chair."

The alumni committee will continue to concern itself with the issue of "academic integrity," and particularly the issue of tenure decisions, which it considers crucial to the well being of the department. "Our strategy is to bring the case in different causes." Cunningham said, "The Ephraim Isaac case will bring attention to the faculty hiring process," she added.

But Cunningham says that in the battle over Afro-Am at Harvard, the stakes are larger than just the one department. With the Reagan Administration toning down criticism of South Africa, attempts to academically sever the links of Black Americans to Africa are in part a political attempt to weaken the ties Black Americans feel to Black Africa, she added.

"It's an absolute lie to say that African history is not part of Afro-American studies," she said, adding that it is a lie that may move into the political realm, and "Harvard sets the ideological stage for a lot of that."