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Show Consequences Of Catastrophy Universities React To King's Death By RICHARD ANTHONY College Press Service WASHINGTON (CPS) What is there left to be said about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Too much has been said already, and by men who would do better to keep silent politicians who would as soon have been seen in friendly company with Mao Tse-Tung Tse-Tung as with King joined their voices to the lamentation. But this was predictable. It's best to say very little to say that King was a man of faith and superlative courage, a man who misunderstood mis-understood the realities of power in this country and the more subtle ways of race hatred, but who held to his word. The hatred from the right and the disdain from the left cannot change these things. But it's not so important now to discuss what King was like. Will Anything Change? What is important is to consider whether or not his murder will make a difference. More than one columnist has written that, yes, it will, that Dr. King's death will do more to advance the cause of the Negro than any demonstration demon-stration he might have led in his life, and just look at the Open Housing Bill ... Legislative measures like the open housing bill should not be dismissed out of hand. Very possibly it will be of some value over time to the black middle class, though for now it serves mainly as a grotesque comment on America, Amer-ica, illuminating very clearly how much more we as a people care for property rights than for human rights. Impact On Universities A few schools have gone .further. Stanford University, for one, has pledged to double the number of its "minority group" students; to double the proportion of its minority group employees; to admit ten minority group students who do not meet the standards of admission; and to give black students top priority for financial aid. Much of the response to the murder has come from students. At Rutgers Uuniversity in New Brunswick, N.J., for example, students held a march into the city to protest discrimination. The student council there has taken the position that any fraternity practicing discrimination ought to be banned from the campus. Students- at Colgate University in upstate New York held a sit-in in the administration building to protest fraternity fra-ternity discrimination there. The students association at the University of Minnesota has sponsored a sit-in at the office of the mayor in St. Paul, protesting the stockpiling of rifles similar to those used in Vietnam by the city's police department. And so forth. These efforts ought not to be derided. They are preferable pre-ferable to doing nothing at all, simply holding a march or two and leaving it at that. But that they are sadly inadequate, there should be no doubt. Two Societies The Kerner Report on last summer's upheavals in the cities said the United States is becoming two societies "separate and unequal." It's a catch phrase, too much of one really, because it conjures up images of the old Jim Crow days, with separate bathrooms, segregated movie houses and seats in the back of the bus. Nevertheless not much thought is required to suggest what is really implicit in the phrase. J "Unequal" means, quite simply, that few, if any of the country's major institutions - its corporations its governments, its churches and universities - exercise" their powers on behalf of the black poor. It is exercised by default if not by intention, on behalf of the whrte and affluent majority. lie ana It would be nice to imagine that the country's colleges col-leges and universities, with their brand new urban studTes departments and their search for black "talent " are in the process of .aligning themselves with the ghettoes but nothing could be further from the truth. Like any owng institution a university thrives on money, and ghetSes arf not where the money is to be found. The universities ai as locked into the "white Establishment as IBM. Can this be changed? Not likely, but students cngt to make the effort. The campaign of Sen. Eugene McCartt, indicated that students can make a difference politic though it's true that the comparison between getting the vote for McCarthy and attempting to realign the imbalance im-balance of the country is obviously a distant one. Nevertheless, students should work for such are ment, because hardly anyone else is doing it, and beca it could be the country's last chance. Students, therefore, should organize now to put gl increased pressure on their school administrations board of trustees, and they should encourage facuJ j bers and alumni groups to do the same. They sn0? P to have their schools cut off research aid to any insuw , whether public or private, that will not support massi programs to the ghettoes. The Starting Point They should demand that university officials with all their powers on behalf of ghetto dwellers i flicts with governments, whether local, state or n At public universities in particular, they should encu important members of the faculty to give notice w leave unless state legislatures move to implement programs of social improvement. There are a great many other goals that ffro-work ffro-work for, but these can be worked out at indw au puses. It's not difficult to discover the many which universities contribute to racism in .nSe this The difficult part will be devising strategies to cnais situation. Tr foUt"" The murder of Martin Luther King, Jr7 close on the announcement that negotiations m for ing in Vietnam, provide an excellent starting P students to begin fighting racism in meaningful ytter fight should have begun in earnest long ago, but to begin now than not at all. |