Transcript of “Where Do We Go From Here?”
A panel discussion of Augsburg Faculty and Administration
Date: 1968-05-15
Identifier: SC 05.1.4.2013.01.0388
Description: Augsburg administration and faculty wrap up "One Day in May" with a
question/comment and answer session. Augsburg's Pre... Show more
Transcript of “Where Do We Go From Here?”
A panel discussion of Augsburg Faculty and Administration
Date: 1968-05-15
Identifier: SC 05.1.4.2013.01.0388
Description: Augsburg administration and faculty wrap up "One Day in May" with a
question/comment and answer session. Augsburg's President, Oscar Anderson, joined Dr.
Carl Chrislock, Dr. Einar Johnson, Dr. Phillip Quanbeck, Ken Fagerlie, and moderator Dr.
Douglas Ollila to hear and respond to student feedback. The panel was part of a day
focused on speaking and listening to issues of racial injustice, known as "One Day in May,"
1968 May 15.
Duration: 01:08:53
Collection: 13 “One Day in May” sessions were recorded and have been digitized.
They are available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp3IfZjFdUQJMy9uNoEADuy9KPltsIF-9
[the recording cuts in as an unidentified speaker is speaking]
00:00:00
[Douglas Ollila] Where do we go from here? What is our role as a college?
It's been suggested that our curriculum is a little bit irrelevant. Our panel
members are President Oscar Anderson, Einar Johnson, Carl Chrislock,
third, and Phillip Quanbeck, and Ken Fagerlie1.
00:00:46
[Oscar Anderson] I don't know why I have to get these other fellas off the
hook by starting out, but I will try to just say a word. At the end of what has
been, I think, a very, very significant day at Augsburg, I think it's all and
more that we hoped it to be. Some of us have been thinking about this for
a long time. This whole matter of really taking time to listen, and I think
we've had some splendid presentations today. I think we've been talked to
directly, and honestly, forthrightly, and I hope that we've heard what has
been said.
1
Johnson: Professor of Education; Chrislock, Professor of History; Quanbeck, Professor of Religion;
Fagerlie, Vice President of Development
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 1
00:01:39
Now the question that the panel faces is this; where do we go from here? I
would like to submit that it's too soon to say. I don't think we can say, right
at this point, where we are going. I think we've heard too much to really be
able to sort through everything. I know how we feel, and maybe that's
what the last speaker said, we should just move ahead on the basis of
how we feel about it. I'm sure all of us want to move ahead, I think we
want to go someplace, but to sit here and say ‘now, this is what's going to
happen because of this One Day in May,’ I think would be presumptuous.
00:02:21
I know this: that we will have to wrestle with what we have heard today.
We will have to wrestle with it in all humility. First of all, realizing that we're
part of the problem, that we don't have the answers, but that we suspect
there are some areas into which we will have to move, such as the area of
our own curriculum, how to be sure that the people who leave this
institution are really educated, in terms of the whole man, in terms of what
it means, really, to be human. I think it means that we turn also to the
question of our own constituency as a student body, because I think we
are deprived, by virtue of the fact that we do not have the kind of racial mix
that we ought to have at Augsburg. I think it means that we look also in the
direction of action, further ways in which we can be involved.
00:03:29
These are just some of the areas that we're gonna have to wrestle with.
Now I'm not sure how we're gonna go about wrestling with them. I'm not
sure in my mind whether this is something that we wrestle with as a
community constituted mostly of white people, or whether this is
something that we can work out better with our Black brothers, I'm
groping, I don't know. I do know that what we will seek to do will have to
be within the context of what we are, and that is a college. We're not an
industry, we're not a social agency, we're not a segment of government,
we are an educational institution, whether that's good or bad, but that's
what we are. And what we do we will have to do within the context of our
own existence as one educational institution, in this community, seeking to
do what it can with this problem that has been so dramatically placed
before us today.
00:04:44
[Douglas Ollila] How about you fellas responding? We will get them to
respond, believe me, let's invite questions from the audience. Yes.
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 2
00:05:01
[Inaudible question from the audience]
00:06:15
[Oscar Anderson] I appreciate that because I think that's exactly the mood
of this college. That something is going to happen and it's going to happen
soon. I don't want to give the impression that it is going to be put off, but I
didn't want to give the impression that we can stand up here tonight and
say ‘this and this and this is going to be done’ because I think that would
be presumptuous. I think very, very, constructive things will be done,
because it is raining and we're gonna get the umbrella up. There's no
doubt about it, as far as I'm concerned.
00:06:48
[Carl Chrislock] I'd like to respond to this too. I think that I'm in a curricular
area that's very much involved here. I think I can promise, partly as a
result of the stimulus we've gotten today, that History 21 and 22 will be
taught somewhat differently than it has in the past.
00:07:18
[Thunderous applause from the audience that lasts 15 seconds]
00:07:31
[Carl Chrislock] I don't exactly know how to interpret that! [Laughter]
00:07:48
[Carl Chrislock] We have been, in the past few years, trying to give more
emphasis to the role of the Black man in American history, and we're
certainly going to work harder along that line. And I think, too, in our
department, we'll examine other courses--I can say this as a member of
the department, I'm not the chairman--to see if the emphasis is right, if it
doesn't have to be reoriented, but that's one specific suggestion.
00:08:32
[Douglas Ollila] Would you like to respond?
00:08:36
[Audience member] I was going to ask if the Education Department is
going to really delve into what we can do to relate to the inner-city
schools?
00:08:45
[Einar Johnson] Good --
00:08:46
Douglas Ollila] Question has to do with the role of the Education
Department--
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 3
00:08:50
[Einar Johnson] --Good, I wanted a chance to say a couple of things about
it. I'll have to warn you, though, that next year I'll be landing in Paris in the
midst of the riots if they keep on, I’m going on to Sweden where we are
too popular either [some laughter], but the department will be here, and
we have many things to be done. First, let me say that, as a department, I
think we have a very important role to play, and that part is in teacher
education and we should be and will be, I think, involved more with the city
than we have been.
00:09:33
This year, for instance, we are making arrangements for more student
teachers to go to the Minneapolis schools than we have in any year since
I've been here, and we think, and I am firmly convinced, that we have the
kind of student that, if they see the need, will rise to this. I think our
obligation, in part, is to give exposure to the need. I would like to say also
that, with fifty percent of our people going into a teacher education, this
means that this is not only the responsibility of the Education Department.
We tell accrediting agencies that this is a total college commitment, and I
think it's true that the educationists haven't been a hundred percent
successful in preparing teachers as far as their curriculum or the program
is concerned.
00:10:39
I think we're going to increasingly need to solicit the help of every
department in preparing a curriculum which will be more useful, more
beneficial, more pertinent to the situation. We are making some steps in
this direction. I think there are some steps underfoot now for some efforts
in cooperation among colleges and the universities. I feel that the
university and the colleges are wide open to doing some things together
and I would hope we would put our own stamp upon this and our own
influence upon this, and I think we can. By the way, one concrete thing
that has come out of this and one of your very fine speakers today, I
asked him if he would be able to and would be willing to come to talk to
one of our classes in “school in society,” and I think this is the sort of thing
we want to do.
00:11:43
We want to know, more specifically, how we can prepare teachers more
adequately for this situation for Minneapolis. Because after all, here we
are the only college in Minneapolis, and we would like to be relevant to
Minneapolis, and that means we're going to have and we intend to go to
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 4
the community and to other disciplines in trying to develop a more relevant
preparation for teachers. That's our little part of it in teacher education.
00:12:22
[Douglas Ollila] I'll recognize the lady over here, yes.
00:12:26
[Inaudible question from the audience]
00:13:04
[Carl Chrislock] Well I teach one course in the Education Department, this
probably isn't an answer to your question. I don't think I can answer your
question entirely, but in the social studies methods class we're having as a
principal assignment the preparation of units to be fit into standard
courses in the high school curriculum and all of them involving minority
history we're encouraging the people who are members of the class to
secure resource materials from wherever, from the resource centers here
in Minneapolis. We're trying to get them to grips with the problem in that
respect and of course we expect in our social science courses to step up
the emphasis in minority history and minority culture apart from the
professional education courses.
00:14:10
[Einar Johnson] We've made steps already for next year to have the
student teachers who will be going to Minneapolis to be in attendance in
the same class as to which the the Minneapolis teachers will be diddling in
the area of minority history, and I already have a verbal agreement from
Minneapolis that they would be willing to take our students in such thing,
and we would feel that people, at least for these people are going into
Minneapolis, that they would have this exposure. In addition, we would
say that this was a part of our teacher education program. We're making
those very concrete steps. I have now a verbal agreement from
Minneapolis that this will be so.
00:14:43
[Douglas Ollila] Lady over here, please.
00:14:56
[Inaudible question from the audience]
00:15:20
[Douglas Ollila] Would a new teacher qualify to teach in a deprived area?
00:15:29
[Einar Johnson] Well, I think you have to remember that people like myself
are groping in this, and we aren't as conversant with it as we should be.
We'd have to admit our inadequacy. I don't think that teachers as a group,
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 5
and including ours, who come from backgrounds that are different would
be adequately prepared, I don't suppose, really ever. We're trying to make
all possible efforts, no, I think that's an unfair statement I don't think we've
done nearly enough, but I think we I think we should do more to expose
them to what it means to be a teacher in deprived areas. I think that this is
one thing that needs to be more to be done.
00:16:30
I think I would have to rely, in large measure upon, again, what I feel
among our students a fine, dedicated people who as a group, who are
willing and conscientious and dedicated that probably isn't enough and we
can do much more and I think that you're probably aware that there are
some cooperative arrangements now in effect, under the latest
educational Act of Congress which may do some things in this area, I
hope.
00:17:09
[Douglas Ollila] What do you Auggies think here? You're always very
forthright. I'd like to hear from you. I'll recognize the fellow over here.
00:17:17
[Inaudible question from the audience]
00:17:56
[Douglas Ollila] President Anderson will respond.
00:18:00
[Oscar Anderson] Some of the men at this panel know that, a week or two
ago, know I called a meeting of some of the faculty members and I said
‘now, I think you should be very serious about answering this question:
how can we be sure that no student leaves this institution without an
adequate exposure to minority history? How can we be sure that nobody
gets through this institution without facing the problems of racial bigotry
and prejudice?’ And I think that it's up to the Education Department to see
that no one leaves this institution to teach who hasn't had the exposure in
these areas that we've talked about. Now the things that Dr. Johnson has
said, I think, are going to bear fruit in the area of education. I think that
there are some things that can be done in the area of the religion courses
that will deal specifically with this, and in the sociology courses.
00:18:53
There are courses right now that maybe ought to be put into the general
educational requirements, and others removed, in order to make some of
these things possible, and I realize that this is a dangerous ground for an
administrator to be on, because he's not supposed to tell the faculty what
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 6
to teach or what the curriculum ought to be, but this was the question that
I put, and I got some real good response. This is the kind of thing that is
being grappled with right now.
00:19:20
[Douglas Ollila] I'll recognize the girl here, and you over there next.
00:19:26
[Audience member] The administration, and maybe the faculty [inaudible]
change their courses, but what do you do about people who don't know
what they're doing? What do you do about teachers who have no idea
what it means to change? With all the times that I have to teach this, this
has to be included in sociology, so we don't have time for this, or we can't
give it enough time. Unfortunately, we don't have enough time.
00:19:53
At the same time they’ll sit there and teach them for the fourth time, and
the fifth time, what you probably should have learned when you were in
high school, about the family of languages or something like this. How do
you change people, which is what the last speaker was talking about. How
do we change students who are so cooly aloof and I disagree with the
man from the education department. I don't think Augsburg students are
really dedicated, because we stand up there and look, and we say, ‘now I
look at it objectively’ but none of us look at it emotionally.
00:20:29
[Applause]
00:20:41
[Laughter]
00:20:44
[Philip Quanbeck] Do you really think that's true?
00:20:48
[Audience member] Yes.
00:20:50
[Philip Quanbeck] It occurs to me that we've talked, and that our last
speaker, Mr. Williams,2 talked about institutions, systems, establishments,
and individuals, and of course I think that we have some romantic notions
about what education can do with people. I think that we make some, we
have some ideas about what can be taught people, and how they can be
taught to respond that don't find much correspondence in reality, and so
I'd like to kind of just turn around and pose the question in a different way.
2
The former name of Mahmoud El-Kati.
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 7
00:21:34
Now, most of you are students, and you're here a max--now, I shouldn't
say maximum, one of my friends went to school for seventeen years in
college [laughter]--but let's say you're here ordinarily, for four years, and
sometimes for less. And what's important I think for you, really, is not
simply what the institution does about minority history, it seems to me that,
from what we've heard today, what's important is the sort of attitude that
you bring to those structures within which you live when you leave the
place
00:22:23
[Audience member] Wrong!
00:24:24
[Philip Quanbeck] Yeah, I don't think it's wrong! You talk about established
prejudice. Prejudice is established by institutions, and it's maintained by
individuals and I think that you and I are part of that. I think that the
dictionary description this morning of red, white, yellow, and black was
indicative of that subtle prejudice that, you know, that fills our lives. And I
think that we have to do with this institution and we have to try to work with
the institution, and see that it doesn't perpetuate that, but I think that when
you leave the institution--and you are here for a relatively short time--that
you have responsibilities which aren't simply institutionalized. I think you
have to deal with it.
00:23:22
[Audience member] I have three suggestions. I think that the Department
of Sociology should be informed by minority groups [inaudible] We need a
legal history course. I think in English we should have a literature course
that deals primarily with Black authors, and there should be a required
course that deals with Black authors. I think in the bookstore, we should
have more book by Black authors, and a whole section devoted to Black
authors. And I think last, but not least, we need more Black professors.
00:24:19
[Applause]
00:24:29
[Douglas Ollila] Yes.
00:24:32
[Audience member] Can you repeat the question for the people each
time?
00:24:34
[Douglas Ollila] Thank you. Let's see. Okay I'll recognize you.
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 8
00:24:40
[Audience member] [Inaudible] My question is, are we worried about
[inaudible] Or are we worried about people not getting the exposure that
they need [inaudible] whichever way it goes, not setting up and education
course [inaudible] exposure they need to [inaudible]
00:25:17
[Douglas Ollila] That's a pretty long question to repeat, who would like to --
00:25:26
[Philip Quanbeck] --can’t answer--
00:25:24
[Laughter, followed by a long pause]
00:25:39
[LaJune Johnson] My name is LaJune Johnson, and as a member of the
steering committee for “One Day in May”--who, at the request of the
president, have slaved for almost a month trying to put across a program
that we hope will not end on May 15th, 1968--I'm not gonna stand back
and let these people say that we have to learn after we get out of
Augsburg, because we're not gonna pay twelve hundred dollars a year to
hear the stuff that's not relevant to us as human beings because you go to
college to further your knowledge, not to be whitewashed.
00:26:18
Now President Anderson will sit in his office and tell me he believes in
Black power, and then he'll come out here and say that ‘we don't know
what to do, we can't decide now, and we don't want to move too fast, and
be peaceful’ and all this kind of stuff. Now we've got to have at least some
positive approaches to the problem. We can't--curriculum can't change
overnight. I think everybody is realistic enough to know, but if the Board of
Education, which has control over most people, can say that, by
September, we will have books by Black people, Black Americans in the
English classes, as required reading, that Malcolm X will have, with
parental permission, that students will have a day off for him, and to
recognize the contributions of all minority groups, for all the schools, in
Minneapolis, and Augsburg's the only four-year liberal arts college in
Minneapolis with fifty percent of its teachers graduating supposed to be
going out to educate, and they're not aware of this?
00:27:28
You can't be doing the function that you're supposed to and another thing,
Mr. Fagerlie is working on the FAME Program.3 Now this is supposed to
get minority students into college, give them an opportunity to be exposed,
3
Financial Aid for Minority Education Program
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 9
and to go through four years of college and also the summer transition
program. The Black students at Augsburg will not support this program if
some changes aren't made in the system here at Augsburg.
00:27:56
[Applause]
00:28:12
[Douglas Ollila] Some very specific proposals have been made, I wonder if
there are any responses to the FAME program and why this isn't
supported, what needs to be changed --
00:28:27
[Audience member] What about Cap and Gown?4
00:28:29
[Douglas Ollila] What about Cap and Gown? Here's a girl over here.
00:28:32
[Mostly inaudible question from the audience] --doesn’t have the quality
that other students have, yet we’re very insistent about the college’s
ambitions. There are many students who are here by the grace of their
[inaudible]
00:29:16
The question has to do with our responsibility for deprived students who
can't meet our admission standards. What --
00:29:23
[Audience member] Don't call them deprived students! [Inaudible]
00:29:30
[Applause]
00:29:38
[Oscar Anderson] I agree with that, I think I made the statement there that
this was one of the deprivations that we were suffering here. I appreciate
very much the comments that LaJune made, and I think that these
comments that have been made by some of the faculty members ought to
be interpreted in terms of the fact that things will be changed when we get
back to school in the fall, in terms of these sociology courses, these
history courses, these education courses, these things are going to be
done. And I certainly didn't want to give the impression that nothing would
happen. I simply wasn't going to be so presumptuous as to stand here and
tell you all the things that I thought ought to happen because I think you
Possibly a reference to an editorial in The Echo (May 8, 1968, page 3) that calls for scrapping the
annual “Cap and Gown” breakfast and donating it’s $2,000 (almost $15,000 in 2020) cost to the FAME
program.
4
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 10
ought to tell us what ought to happen! And that's exactly what's taking
place in this kind of dialogue and that's why I think it's important.
00:30:29
Now let's get down to this question here. I think that the college transition
program that we're trying to institute this summer will make it possible for
us to say to any student, Black student, or otherwise who has not been
able to fulfill the normal admission requirements. ‘Look, you take this
program, and we believe that it is of sufficient depth and integrity that it will
make it possible for you to get into Augsburg College.’ Then there are
students who do not have high school diplomas, and we have said these
people can enroll at Augsburg College, we've made specific arrangements
for that kind of student who wants to pick up his education, who has been
deprived, for some reason or other of his high school diploma.
00:31:20
These things are happening, they're happening in the admission
requirements, they're happening in the various tracks that are set up that
people can utilize so that we can give more people an opportunity to get
an education at Augsburg College. Now I know it isn't enough yet, but it's
a start.
00:31:37
[Douglas Ollila] Kim.
00:31:40
[Audience member] I'd like to suggest that tomorrow morning you call a
meeting in your office [inaudible] people, students who are ready for
change [inaudible] We’re going to have 20 minority students in the fall,
we’d better have it together [inaudible].
00:32:16
[Douglas Ollila] Kim has proposed that President Anderson call a
committee of ten students with LaJune as the chairman.
00:32:31
[Oscar Anderson] I'll be happy to receive such a committee in my office
and, if you want me to set the time right now, I will. I realize that there's
always problems of scheduling, but if you want to make it 9:00 or 9:30, let
me know, and we'll be there to talk it over. I just certainly welcome this
kind of response
00:32:48
[Applause]
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 11
00:32:58
[Audience member] Yes, I’d like to direct this question to Dr. Quanbeck.
Since religion is the only department that is required of every student
[inaudible] I was wondering if [inaudible]
00:33:27
[Applause]
00:33:33
[Douglas Ollila] Can the religion requirements be somewhat altered so that
they will speak more relevantly to the issues today?
00:33:43
[Philip Quanbeck] I'm sure that, within the context of the religion
department requirements, that that can be done, and I'm sure that it can
be done in the introduction to theology course which is offered first year to
all students.
00:34:02
[Audience member] In terms of one specific suggestion, it seems to me
that rather than letting the head of our Education Department spend its
sabbatical running through Sweden and France, we should send them to
the inner-city schools so they can learn where it’s at.
00:34:14
[Applause]
00:34:21
[Douglas Ollila] A proposal for a change in sabbatical has been made.
[laughter] The change will be instead of Sweden, the inner city. [laughter]
Somebody else had his hand up over here.
00:34:38
[Inaudible question from the audience] I'd like to hear some concrete
changes -- [inaudible]
00:35:17
[Douglas Ollila] What proposals specifically do the members of the panel
have? I think I should remind you that some proposals have already been
made. President Anderson has talked about one already. Do any of the
members of the panel want to respond in terms of specific proposals,
changes, and courses have been talked about. We talked about them for
a long time. What else specifically is proposed?
00:35:52
[Oscar Anderson] Well as I took it, this was the purpose of this meeting,
was not to to superimpose upon this group the changes that a few people
thought ought to be made, but that this was the place for some dialogue to
take place so that we could understand each other, and in that way arrive
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 12
at some solutions. Now we've had some splendid suggestions in the area
of curriculum. We have talked about change in the mix of the student
body. We've talked about changes in the admissions requirements, and
the various tracks that the college sets up. These are specific things that
we think ought to be done. Now I think that the meeting tomorrow will
bring out some further suggestions, and again we're open.
00:36:43
[Inaudible question from the audience]
00:37:18
[Douglas Ollila] What about Negro faculty members, and I'd suspect you'd
want to add to that, resource persons as we had here today.
00:37:32
[Inaudible question from the audience]
00:37:43
[Unidentified speaker, presumably faculty in Chemistry] There is a
tendency and a possibility of being carried away in an event like this.
Remember what you have heard is highly biased in one direction. We are
not all wrong in what is going on here at the moment, and any deficiency
that you have is partly your own. For you have eyes. You can read the
paper, you can see what is going on. You need not necessarily sit in a
course, and have it taught to you. As a matter of fact, your college
education is primarily to get you ready to think and look for yourself, and
that is not limited to your classes. Relative to a colored person,
Africo-American [sic] on the faculty, our chemistry department, two years
ago, made a bona fide offer to a highly qualified person, a Negro. New
PhD, we were turned down, he could make more money in industry. He
had a golden opportunity to come, but he did not take it.
00:38:51
[Inaudible chatter from the audience]
00:38:59
[Unidentified chemistry professor] I'm sorry I don't see who spoke over
here.
00:39:07
[Audience member amid crosstalk] We're getting your bias!
00:39:08
[Another audience member amid crosstalk] Yeah! We always get your
bias, why can't we have some Negro bias?
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 13
00:39:12
[Another audience member amid crosstalk] You're prejudiced in this
manner.
00:39:14
[Unidentified chemistry professor] May I have the honor of carrying on for
a moment here please?
00:39:17
[Inaudible speaking from the audience]
00:39:30
[Unidentified chemistry professor, possibly Courtland Agre] May I have the
floor for a moment, I still have it please. Let us remember now when you
are talking about bringing any person into Augsburg, or any other college,
you have certain requirements. You have had to meet them. Now then, let
us grant that the Africo-Americans [sic] have had many disadvantages in
their homes, in the areas in which they live, let us not minimize that, but by
the same token, how are they going to come and do college work when
they would not do it in high school?
00:40:05
[Inaudible speaking and crosstalk from the audience]
00:40:07
[Philip Quanbeck, speaking under his breath] Oh, come on. Don’t. Don’t.
Come on.
00:40:11
[Unidentified audience member, possibly Courtland Agre] At least we're
getting a little activity here. [laughter] Let us not rush on, let us not rush
on from the viewpoint. We're going to change things radically because
we've heard today. We're going to change things I trust that we shall.
00:40:25
[Mostly inaudible speaking from the audience] You wanted to hold your
chemistry class while this whole thing was going on.
00:40:34
[Unidentified chemistry professor, possibly Courtland Agre] I wonder who
told you that.
00:40:37
[Mostly inaudible speaking from the audience] We know that. We
know.[laughter]
00:40:43
[Unidentified chemistry professor, possibly Courtland Agre] May I--I yield
the floor to those of you who know so much more.
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 14
00:40:49
[Audience member] I’d like to ask President Anderson, was there a memo
sent out to make sure that the classes wouldn’t be held, and was it you, in
a faculty meeting, who added a [inaudible] to hold classes on this day?
00:41:02
[Unidentified chemistry professor, possibly Courtland Agre] The faculty
meeting is a closed event, it is not to be published. Now, whoever told you
that I did anything in a faculty meeting spoke where it did not belong
00:41:11
[Mostly inaudible response from the audience] But whether he spoke or
[inaudible] [crosstalk and shouting from the audience]
00:41:16
[Oscar Anderson] I'd just like to say that the memo, which was sent out,
was in order to clarify the understanding of the administration and the
faculty, as to the character of this day. And I hope that
00:41:32
[Inaudible question from the audience]
00:41:35
[Oscar Anderson] No. I had no overtures from Dr. Agre with respect to
keeping laboratories open. [Inaudible] whatsoever now the Dean may, I
don't know because the Dean isn't here to answer for that. I'd like to say
this: that I wish we could have more Afro-American professors. And I know
that these people are in very, very short supply, now if we could get--we
have candidates applying from many quarters, and I'm sure that this is one
area in which we would like to make some significant advances.
00:42:06
And I think one of the professors that's made a great contribution here at
Augsburg is Mrs. Howard. I think this has been a start, and we'd like to
move further. Now, I would like to venture one suggestion, and that is that
we consider using some of these people who have made such splendid
presentations today as adjunct professors at Augsburg College so that we
could call on them.
00:42:28,
[Applause]
00:42:36
[Oscar Anderson] See this is one of the wonderful things about being in
this community. We've got these people who are willing and believe me
they were very willing to come today and I am amazed at their response,
the willingness to be here, and I think they would be willing to also help us
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 15
in our courses as adjunct members of our faculty. I really believe that
that's a real possibility.
00:42:57
[Philip Quanbeck] I believe Ken Bailey5 has been asked to respond.
00:43:05
[Kenneth Bailey] I would like to clarify one matter, if I may please. It is
perfectly true that there were some faculty who were concerned about the
fact that on the 8th of May, and the 15th of May, and the 30th and 31st of
May, all in the same month, that class periods and laboratories would be
missed, which would mean to them that substantial parts of the material of
the courses being taught would be missed by the students.
00:43:51
Now, there was no organized group in the faculty meeting which
requested permission to hold laboratories on this day or on Registration
Day. There were a few individuals who asked permission to leave
laboratories open, on a voluntary basis, on one or the other of these days,
and in virtually every instance, the decision by the faculty and myself was
to leave laboratories open on Registration Day in preference to this day,
the One Day in May. I will have you understand that the faculty, as a
whole, was thoroughly in favor of holding this day, and you should not cast
aspersions against people who were as thoroughly in favor of this
occasion as anyone that I know.
00:44:48
[Applause]
00:45:01
[Douglas Ollila] All right we're going to have to close very quickly, but I
think there should be time for one more question.
00:45:10
[Mostly inaudible question from the audience] I have a personal interest in
community relation centers, since it falls under student government, we
attempted to set it up this year, but it has to be recognized that the work of
a student [inaudible] can't possibly affect any kind of change for [inaudible]
participation [inaudible]. We've got a community research center
[inaudible] I think it’s time we had a community participation center.
00:46:05
[Unidentified panelist] Amen.
00:46:05
[Applause]
5
Kenneth Bailey, President of Academic Affairs.
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 16
00:46:15
[Kenneth Bailey] I would like to add one last comment if I may please. I
think there has been some serious misunderstanding of things that have
been said by the members of the panel tonight, particularly, the comments
made by Dr. Quanbeck. Let me be as clear as I know how to be. You may
be sure that the college will do everything it possibly can to be sure that,
as an institution, we do not perpetuate racism. But let me say this one
other thing: that regardless of what the institution may do, the final key to
the problem is you and me. We are the ones who will determine the
impact that any program the college can devise will have upon us as
citizens, and it is perfectly true that you come to the colleges as the kind of
people you are, you leave the institution as the kind of people that you are,
and that is where the proof of the pudding lies.
00:47:41
The kind of people you are when you come, while you're here, and when
you leave, and this is all that Dr. Quanbeck was saying, is that the college
can do what it can, but in spite of that, it is just as possible for a person to
go through a course in Black history and be totally unaffected by it, as it is
possible for a person to sit through a year's course in religion and be
totally unaffected by it. Now your willingness to be affected by the things
that happen like a day like today is your responsibility and not the
institution's.
00:48:21
We do have a responsibility, yes, but so do you, and so do I as an
individual, and as individuals, it is up to us to see to it that we live up to the
opportunity that we have now.
00:48:37
[Applause]
00:49:03
[Douglas Olliila] I think that, on that very fine note, we can conclude
00:49:09
[Several members of the audience say “No!”]
00:49:14
[Douglas Ollila] Why don't we let those who want to leave leave and spend
a few minutes yet together. [laughter] Nobody wants to leave.
00:49:27
[Inaudible member of the audience] Mr. moderator, can we also put it this
way, that let those who must leave, leave.
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 17
00:49:33
[Douglas Ollila] Let those who must leave, leave. And some must, of
course, obviously.
00:49:41
[Inaudible question from the audience, and the microphone cuts out for a
moment]
00:50:11
[Unidentified panelist] Indeed.
00:50:13
[Philip Quanbeck] I'd like to suggest that--at noon we did, there was this
worship.
00:50:22
[Inaudible response from the audience]
00:50:24
[Philip Quanbeck] Well I don't know where you were--
00:50:29
[Inaudible response from the audience]
00:50:31
[Philip Quanbeck] Well that's, you know, what we did was pray,
[stammers] but you see here we are in this predicament and, you know,
religionists, people interested in religion and theology and interested in
being Christian like I, we've said far too often, you know, that if you've got
that peace you know real down in your in your heart, well then that's
alright and you see what we should like to insist is the correspondence
between the affirmation and the action, and I guess that I should not like to
imply by our earlier comments that society is, you know, atomized and
individualized.
00:51:34
I should like to agree with those who say that that we have systematized,
established prejudice. I'm certain that that's the case. And in order to
disengage that prejudice, we have to deal with the system and with the
establishment, but nobody--or I should say not nobody, but--we will not be
engaged to participate in that disengagement, if we if we do not will it, you
see. And so I would guess that in the first place there the group did gather
for worship, we did gather for prayer, and in the second place there is the
social and individual relationship between which there must be
correspondence.
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 18
00:52:31
[Audience member] I don’t think, personally, that Augsburg College has
been a Christian College until May 15th, 1968. I think that, until this day,
Augsburg has been an old-fashioned Norwegian college. [Applause and
laughter]
00:52:43
[Unidentified panelist] Thank you.
00:52:51
[Douglas Ollila] ‘Augsburg, until this day, has not been a Christian college’
was the comment.
00:52:59
[Audience member, mostly inaudible] I think we've been praying ever
since our country was founded [inaudible].
00:53:11
[Another audience member, mostly inaudible] Well since Augsburg is
affiliated with the church [inaudible], well obviously our graduates
[inaudible].
00:53:31
[Douglas Ollila] What will Augsburg graduates do for the church? He's
suggesting a difference between the institutionalized church and the kind
of thing that's taught at Augsburg.
00:53:47
[Mostly inaudible response from the audience disputing the recap]
00:54:04
[Douglas Ollila] What do you do with the church at large, what do you do
with local congregations if your attitudes are different?
00:50:16
[Oscar Anderson] Well I guess that's why we're in business, in order to get
people infiltrated into these congregations so that there can be some
change, and that's why we had the Day because I think this is a basic
expression of our Christian concern. And it was a great risk because a lot
of people are offended by this kind of thing, but so be it! This has got to
happen in order for us to really be consistent. Now, I think I ought to say,
and I don't know much about it, but some very concrete steps are being
taken in our own American Lutheran Church, and remember this: that only
fifty-six or three percent of our student body come from that particular
segment of Lutheranism, so I think we have to be very careful here, but
the Project Summer Hope, which is now being instituted in the
congregations of this particular group is intended as a crash program to do
exactly what we've done today.
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 19
00:55:12
Now, whether this is carried out a hundred percent in all congregations, I
have no way of knowing because I'm not in those circles, but I can say
that Project Summer Hope is intended to give the kind of exposure and to
give the kind of unsettling that such a day ought to give. An establishment
that is all too complacent and which needs the kind of students that we
believe Augsburg can produce and send back into all of the areas of the
establishment and do the kind of job that ought to be done in this area.
00:55:45
[Unidentified panelist] The local congregation is not merely a brick wall
and to take no responsibility for it is cynical.
00:55:54
[Inaudible response from the audience]
00:56:19
[Douglas Ollila] She has made the suggestion that Augsburg students
make some recommendations which can be sent to local congregations,
some recommendations on the basis of the kind of experience we had
here today as a response. This is a specific kind of suggestion, what do
you want to speak to? Mrs. Karens.
00:56:44
[Inaudible response from the Audience]
00:57:24
[Douglas Ollila] Faculty exchange programs with southern universities and
colleges has been suggested. Do we have faculty interchange at
Augsburg? Not at this point, it's very good suggestion.
00:57:42
[Mostly inaudible response from the audience] exactly What religion, no
matter What you call it, What your religion is, your personal views and
attitudes. do What you do with other people. You talk about what maybe
Bishop Pike says or Tillich says, or something like this, which is fine, and
which I think [inaudible], but that's my opinion, but we don't talk about what
do I believe, what do we as thirty or forty students [inaudible] what do we
actually believe. What do we do with it, what do we practice, and how
must we change or can we change it, or will we change it?
00:58:57
[continue, mostly inaudible, statement from the audience] and that's where
it should be [inaudible] everybody has to take it.
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 20
00:59:04
[Douglas Ollila] Freshman religion ought to deal with one's own personal
affirmations and attitudes
00:59:11
[Philip Quanbeck] Why don't you respond?
00:59:13
[Douglas Ollila] Well I think that all of us in freshman English, I don't know
what happens at St. Olaf, or religion, I teach English too, so. I think that
most of us do expect a student to learn how to think theologically and to
learn how to think theologically means that you have to read some of the
theologians. You have to know what, well Bishop Pike is old hat, but you
have to know what Tillich thinks and you have to know at Bonhoeffer says
and what others have contributed and I really don't think that one can
really come to a definitive conclusion about what I think or what I would
like to think now or how I would like to restructure my theology until I have
examined some of these theologians.
01:00:02
It seems to me that that's a prerequisite, however--
01:00:07
[Audience member]-- you talk about what you do and we don't talk about
that!
01:00:12
[Douglas Ollila] What we do?
01:00:13
[Audience member] What we do!
01:00:14
[Douglas Ollila] Well I think, well I haven't quite finished with what I started,
okay. In most or many of the freshmen religion courses each student is
expected to write a concluding statement on what conclusions he has
reached. Now we try to think--we don't stack your conclusions for you,
perhaps we do, we're not completely objective--nevertheless, your
conclusions ought to be your own and what conclusions you reach
theologically are intimately related to the kinds of things that you do. Well,
what about what you do? Well, in many of our courses we provide
textbooks which are specifically concerned with some of the relevant
concerns in society. I should think that secular [inaudible] is about what I
ought to be doing and what you ought to be doing.
01:01:15
It seems to me that we do this. I hope we accomplish this objective
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 21
01:01:20
[Mostly inaudible response from the audience]
01:01:29
[Douglas Ollila] Education ought not to be merely courses, but
involvement if we're going to talk about the inner city and its problems, we
ought to be involved in the structures of the inner city. Anybody want to
respond? Phil?
01:01:49
[Philip Quanbeck] You know the teaching of religion, or the teaching of
any course in which you know values come to some sort of expression is
not, I think, a simple job and the teaching of religion courses in in a society
which has become more and more, becoming more and more pluralistic.
01:02:12
That doesn't make it more easy. I think that there is a sense in which, in
our courses, for example, take for example the Introduction to Theology,
we seek to address some of the problems which actually exist. For
example in reading Harvey Cox's book The Secular City, that he really
talks about some of the problems. Now, there isn't just one problem. There
are really many problems, and I think that the course seeks to introduce
some of those problems. Some years ago in an honors section in a course
called Basic Bible we used to read as a matter of course in connection
with the prophets, Lillian Smith's, Killers of the Dream which was an
attempt to introduce the the particular problem in relation to an
understanding of religion, but I think that it's not an uncomplicated problem
01:02:23
[Douglas Ollila] I don't believe you've asked a question yet.
01:03:30
[Inaudible question from the audience]
01:04:08
[Douglas Ollila] We really ought to try to get faculty members,
Afro-American faculty members. We ought to make a real attempt to this
as you suggested.
01:04:22
[Philip Quanbeck] Yeah I suppose that there isn't a self-respecting
university or college in the country that isn't looking for qualified Negro
faculty members. Now, I think that's true, and I suppose that the number of
available competent faculty members, Negro and white, is not unlimited.
01:04:54
[Douglas Ollila] Yes, right here.
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 22
01:04:56
[Inaudible response from the audience]
01:05:09
[Applause]
01:05:22
[Douglas Ollila] Thank you. [laughter] Should we agree on, should we
agree on two more questions? [the audience responds with “No.”] We will
make it three [laughter] over here. I'll recognize the fellow here.
01:05:42
[Mostly inaudible question from the audience] It seems to me that we keep
going around and around [inaudible] things on again and it gets right back
to the basic things of What we as a community, a Christian community
especially , are going to do about it. You know, we can sit here and throw
questions out which [inaudible] all the students at Augsburg [Inaudible]
Unless we do something concrete you're just gonna let it slide, and One
Day in May won’t mean a thing.
01:06:11
[Douglas Ollila] We have committed ourselves to something very concrete
here this evening I think. I really believe we have.
01:06:19
[Inaudible response from the audience]
01:06:44
[Douglas Ollila] She affirmed the excellence of the experience today.
[laughter] One more question. Right back there.
01:06:57
[Inaudible response from the audience]
01:07:14
[Douglas Ollila] I didn't hear all of the question--It had to do with why this
hasn't taken place before.
01:07:19
[Inaudible response from the audience with crosstalk]
01:07:40
[Douglas Ollila] All right. It's been suggested that--[laughter in the
audience]it’s been suggested that we try this again.
01:07:51
[Unidentified panelist] Betty, Betty back there.
00:07:51
[Douglas Ollila] Betty?
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 23
01:07:52
[Betty McCoy, speaking from the audience] I think we should have more
[inaudible] anytime that something goes wrong here, you have somebody
[inaudible] so why not have Black people coming and talking about
different things. Maybe once a week, you know, better than just putting
one day aside and talk about it and revel over it over it again, how about
what plan to do [Inaudible] Why not just do something? I mean,
everybody's tired of of the same old bag. ‘We're gonna do this, we're
gonna try this.’ Time is out for trying, it's time to act and unless Augsburg
acts now, you ain't gonna have no Black students!
01:08:38
[Douglas Ollila] Thank You Betty.
01:08:41
[Applause]
01:08:49
[Douglas Ollila] Thank you for your splendid response this evening.
“Where Do We Go From Here?” panel discussion (transcript), page 24
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