Leonard Jeffries Speech Sparks Debate at UMass

Racial tensions flared anew at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, last week after a Black fraternity invited controversial City University of New York professor Leonard Jeffries to speak on campus.

About 100 students participated in a protest march through the rain just before Jeffries's speech Thursday night, according to Dan Wetzel, editor-in-chief of the Amherst university daily newspaper, The Collegian.

Jeffries, whose appearance at Harvard prompted similar protests last fall, was invited to the Amherst campus by the fraternity Phi Beta Sigma.

The professor's visit to campus came less than a week after federally mediated talks concluded an agreement between university officials and campus minority groups. The university accepted a plan to implement new efforts to improve the atmosphere on campus for racial minorities.

In the days preceding Jeffries' appearance, students sparred over the decision to invite him to the school in a series of articles and editorials in The Collegian.

Steve Sparling, who chairs Amherst Hillel's Black-Jewish Relations committee, told the Collegian that Jewish students are offended by Jeffries's "anti-Semitic" remarks, and view Jeffries as "an intimidating force."

But Douglas Greer, president of Phi Beta Sigma, wrote in an editorial that Jewish students' perceptions of Jeffries are unwarranted. Their knowledge, he wrote, comes from the "most racist newspapers in the world."

"How could you intelligently debate what the man has to say when you have never heard fully what the man has ever said?" Greer wrote.

In an interview with The Crimson, Greer said Phi Beta Sigma members knew that Jeffries's appearance was likely to anger other campus groups.

"We understood that, but it wasn't our primary concern. Our primary concern was to educate people," Greer said, adding that the fraternity did not want "to divide Jewish and Black."

Greer said the fraternity invited Jeffries to speak because of his expertise in African history, parts of which have been "suppressed."

He said Jeffries' speech left Black students "flabbergasted," because Jeffries showed that "a lot of things we take for granted come straight from Africa."

In his talk, attended by about 500 people,Jeffries urged students to seek an Afro-centricview of history, and to question the "white"version taught at most universities, The BostonGlobe reported.

"Greece was not the beginning of culturalcivilization...Civilization and high cultureexisted among people of color long beforeEuropeans could read or write," Jeffries said.

Jeffries also countered accusations that he isanti-Semitic. He said that many of his colleaguesand relatives are Jewish, and that he thinks ofJews "like anyone else," The Globe reported.

Greer said that white students "were leftdissatisfied [by the speech]."

"A lot of people wanted to hear him say, 'Ihate white people, I hate Jews,"" he said.

But Greer, pointing out that most of theprotesters stayed outside during Jeffries' speech,said, "They can at least listen to him and hearwhat he has to say. If you don't even listen towhat he says, you don't even try to alleviatetensions.

In his talk, attended by about 500 people,Jeffries urged students to seek an Afro-centricview of history, and to question the "white"version taught at most universities, The BostonGlobe reported.

"Greece was not the beginning of culturalcivilization...Civilization and high cultureexisted among people of color long beforeEuropeans could read or write," Jeffries said.

Jeffries also countered accusations that he isanti-Semitic. He said that many of his colleaguesand relatives are Jewish, and that he thinks ofJews "like anyone else," The Globe reported.

Greer said that white students "were leftdissatisfied [by the speech]."

"A lot of people wanted to hear him say, 'Ihate white people, I hate Jews,"" he said.

But Greer, pointing out that most of theprotesters stayed outside during Jeffries' speech,said, "They can at least listen to him and hearwhat he has to say. If you don't even listen towhat he says, you don't even try to alleviatetensions.