The Black Student Movement at the Ohio State University
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University African-American Studies Theses Department of African-American Studies 12-2010 The Black Student Movement at the Ohio State University Greer C. Stanford-Randle Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/aas_theses Recommended Citation Stanford-Randle, Greer C., "The Black Student Movement at the Ohio State University." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2010. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/aas_theses/18 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of African-American Studies at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in African-American Studies Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE BLACK STUDENT MOVEMENT AT THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY “Black, Scarlet and Gray” by GREER C. STANFORD-RANDLE Under the Direction of Cora A. Presley ABSTRACT Black/African American alumni from Ohio State University in Columbus, OH are collective subjects in this research. The study has sought to discern and explicate the behaviors, experiences and attitudes of former Black students, now alumni, to effectively privilege their voices and viewpoints, which were previously not included in the scholarship and literature of African American Studies or Higher Education about the historic 1960s and 1970s. Determining how alumni experienced the Black Student Movement at Ohio State during the 1960s and 1970s has been the principal objective. Black students’ experiences and motivations were very different than popular Black Student Movement discourse suggests. Findings indicate Black students’ organized social activist behavior persisted effectively and sufficiently to be considered an example of modern social movements, worthy of respect like other social movements which have helped improve human conditions not only for themselves, but also for others including non-Black students at traditionally white institutions. INDEX WORDS: African American students, Black student movement, Black students at TWIs, Higher education, The Ohio State University THE BLACK STUDENT MOVEMENT AT THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY “Black, Scarlet and Gray” by GREER C. STANFORD-RANDLE A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts In the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2010 Copyright by Greer Charlotte Stanford-Randle 2010 THE BLACK STUDENT MOVEMENT AT THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY “Black, Scarlet and Gray” by GREER C. STANFORD-RANDLE Committee Chair: Cora A. Presley, PhD. Member: Charles E. Jones, PhD. Member: Jonathan Gayles, PhD. Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University December 2010 This manuscript is dedicated to the memory and efforts of my lineage ancestors: Stanfords from Mississippi, Randles from Arkansas, Gaddys from Mississippi. ¡Edile Eegungun Ifatooki! Alase! O! Iba se! O! iv Full opportunity for full development is the unalienable right of all. He who denies it is a tyrant; he who does not demand it is coward; He who is indifferent to it is a slave; he who does not desire it is dead. The earth for all the people! That is the demand! --Eugene V. Debs, 1904 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dr. Karen Banks Bright and Gwendolyn Madonna Jones: Roommates and lifelong friends who “super-supported” me through this process. Soror Jacqueline Jannah Callahan , “Ivy Beyond the Wall” John Sidney Evans Jr., 1968 BSU Spokesperson For Sharing Key Resources, Insights, and Archival Materials. and Dr. Cora Ann Presley, Thesis Chair For compassionately directing this manuscript process while recuperating from surgery. vi ABBREVIATIONS AAAS African American Alumni Society (Ohio State University) AAS African American Studies BALSA Black American Law Students Association BEOG Basic Educational Opportunity Grant BPM Black Power Movement BSM Black Student Movement BSU Black Student Union COINTELPRO Acronym for a series of FBI counterintelligence programs designed to neutralize political dissidents. CORE Congress on Racial Equality CRM Civil Rights Movement CSU Central State University (OH) GLO Greek-letter organization HBCU Historically Black Colleges and Universities NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NDSL National Direct Student Loan OMA Office of Minority Affairs vii OSU The Ohio State University SCLC Southern Christian Leadership Conference SDS Students for a Democratic Society SEOG Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant SNCC Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee TWI/PWI Traditionally White Institution/Predominantly White Institution WUO Weather Underground Organization viii GLOSSARY public “Ivy” A publicly funded university, which seeks the same consideration and status, academically and socially, as the eight northeastern United States universities called “Ivy League” institutions. The eight institutions are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. social activism The inclination and impetus to consciously engage intellectually, socially, ideologically, and collectively with other persons to achieve commonly held values and objectives seen collectively as being for the greater good of the collective organization, and/or organizing and working collectively for the greater good of society at large. Social activism is often narrowly measured as outwardly visible “tactics” such as rallies, public pickets, sit- ins, letter-writing campaigns, speech- making, and organizational meet- ings. However, social activist behaviors include countless subtle demon- strations of social behaviors such as less visible support of organizational objectives through administrative functions and financially through both resource donations and monetary donations, along with facilitating organ- izational goals through the personal networks and other organizational networks which an individual social activists can make available. social movements Despite the differences between them, social movements share some common characteristics that set them apart from other forms of collective behavior. Their definitive features include organization, consciousness, non-institutionalized strategies, and prolonged duration. In contrast to riots, fads, and crowd behavior, social movements commonly exhibit some degree of structure and organization; a consciousness that links social discontent and grievances with a rationale or logic; non-institutional action strategies; and a relatively long duration. 1 1 M. Bahati Kuumba. Gender and Social Movements. (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2001), 4. ix LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: OSU Alumni Survey Data APPENDIX D [Part A] 110 Table 2: OSU Alumni Survey Data APPENDIX D [Part B] 112 Table 3: OSU Alumni Survey Data APPENDIX D [Part C] 117 Figure 4.1 Student protests were justified (Item#2) 118 Figure 4.2 Professors treated students fairly regardless of race (Item#1) 119 Figure 4.3 Black students had reasons to be upset with OSU practices (Item#6) 120 x TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi ABBREVIATIONS vii GLOSSARY viii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ix 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background and Problem Statement 1 1.2 Thesis and Argument 2 1.3 Black Students in Historical OSU Perspective 3 1.4 Purpose of the Study 8 1.5 Significance of the Study 12 1.6 Principal Research Questions 18 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 19 2.1 Published Primary Sources 19 2.2 Published Secondary Sources 34 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 62 3.1 Research Design 62 xi 3.2 Research Questions 65 3.3 Study Population and Sampling 66 3.4 Data Collection Procedures 71 3.5 Data Analysis Criteria 75 4 RESEARCH FINDINGS 78 4.1 Data Analyses from Individual Interviews 78 4.2 Data Analyses from Survey Protocols 107 4.3 Data Analyses from Auxiliary Primary Sources 123 4.4 Summary of Auxiliary Primary Data 130 5 SUMMATION 132 5.1 Study Limitations 132 5.2 Implications 133 5.3 Conclusions 133 5.4 Recommendations 141 BIBLIOGRAPHY 143 APPENDICES 151 xii CHAPTER 1 I. INTRODUCTION Background and Statement of the Problem This study generally situates the 1960s -1970s experiences of African-American students at OSU within the zeitgeist of the 20 th century era of Black American Liberation struggles, and more specific- ally within the Black Student Movement in the United States. The Black Student Movement has been the object of research by sociologists, historians, political scientists, and higher education administra- tors: Orum (1968), Edwards (1970), Thomas (1981), Carson (1981), McAdam (1982); McCormick (1990), Woodyard (1991), Robinson (1997), Fleming (2001) Glasker (2002), Bradley (2003), Fisher (2003), Franklin (2003), Williamson (2003), McGregory and Pulliam (2009), and Rogers (2009).The Black Student Movement has also been researched through and conflated with the Black “Studies” Movement: Nelson (2000), Rojas (2008), and Rooks (2007). The literature suggests that researchers from universities across the nation have looked at the phenomenon known as the “student movement” since its historic notoriety in the 1960s at their own institutions; however, the roles and reactions of Black students in the student movement on traditionally white university campuses has generally not been addressed. On the other hand,, during the first decade of the 21 st century several research projects have