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Show Special lounge setaside toadvance 'black culture' A lounge and office area has been set aside for what Residence Halls Director Bruce Zenger describes as "a black cultural center" for use by black students at the University. Located in the "F" wing of Ballif Hall, the area will include an office with typewriters, desks and chairs and a lounge area outside. Mr. Zenger said it will be similar to the existing residence halls program center. He said the facility is designed to give black students a place to publish a newsletter. It will be where black students meet and build identity among their fellow blacks. The original impetus for the center came from John Wagner, an instructor at Chicago's CAM (Christian Action Ministry) Academy who visited the University in January. He discussed the idea with administrators and also with the six CAM Academy graduates who are currently attending the University. (CAM Academy is a high school located in the Chicago ghetto which offers a second chance at education to high school dropouts.) CAM student Bill Bey said black students requested the special lounge because "we want something of our own-a place where we can play our kind of music and do our kind of thing." He said the newsletter the students plan to publish would tell what black students are doing here, and would be sent to black students and black student unions on other campuses. "We decided we needed something to build unity among blacks on campus," Bey added. "As blacks our goal is to divide and separate and finally to integrate." Meanwhile, Franklin McKean, director of admissions and a member of the CAM Committee, said "These students are six 'among 16,000 and we felt there was a need for them to have a place where they could remain black and perpetuate their black identity." Steve Gunn, ASUU president, said establishment of the lounge does not constitute any special privilege, but is "perfectly consistant with the original purposes and procedures set up when the CAM program started. "We realized before the CAM students came here that they would need help in certain areas," he said. "They're in a completely foreign environment. They came from backgrounds that didn't prepare them for the University or for Salt Lake society. They need a place where they can be alone and be themselves." Bay said, "We're trying not to be absorbed into the Salt Lake City atmosphere." Mr. Zenger indicated the lounge is part of a continuing effort to "feel out what would be beneficial in helping the races on this campus understand each other." |
