Council Supports Afro-Am Students

The City Council last night praised recent student activism in support of a stepped-up hiring efforts in the Afro-American Studies Department.

Vice Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72, who sponsored the resolution, said that the council stands behind students in their efforts to nudge University administration into more rapid and decisive action to rebuild the Afro-Am Department.

"The University should be embarrassed," Reeves said in an interview after the meeting, citing Harvard's shortage of Afro-Am professors. "I don't think Harvard's commitment is to this."

Currently, Afro-Am has one full-time professor, and two weeks ago, student concentrators spent the night in University hall to lobby for quicker action to fill the department's ranks.

Reeves said that the situation has been steadily deteriorating since the formation of the department in 1971. "What has happened in 20 years is that it has not gone back to zero; it has gone back to negative," Reeves said.