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• 1 2017-04-13T22:38:29-07:00 Part 2: Institutional Responses 20 plain 2017-04-30T19:10:34-07:00

  Evident from student commentary within the University of Puget Sound Newspaper, The Trail, courses on campus expand to include new content such as “Black Literature” and “African American Culture.” In a letter from faculty member Robert Bock, a Puget Sound professor acknowledges his concern towards the “equal treatment of Black students on campus,” and suggests that faculty have a responsibility to include elements of “Black Subculture” within their course content [A&SC 38].

  “Expanding Opportunities” from The Negro and Higher Education Journal was another response from the larger college community concerning an accessible curriculum for black students on campus. The journal creates a space for university's to share strategies and approaches to education that are intended to expand opportunities for black students in higher education [A&SC 39]. The pamphlet was originally created in 1964, 4 years prior to the BSU letter. This suggests that Puget Sound may have been delayed in their establishment of a Black Studies program compared to other institutions. The specific program reform discussed in the issue following BSU's letter to the President includes increased grants for black university's, the development of new academic programs at colleges through the expansion of Urban studies departments, better recruitment methods for high school students, and the assistance of private foundations such as Ford and Rockefeller foundations in improving student resources on campuses [A&SC 39]. These educational reform methods demonstrate that Puget Sound was a part of a larger national conversation concerning education for black students on college campuses [A&SC 39].

  In 1969, the federal government (surprisingly) pushed back against Puget Sound's efforts to improve Black Studies programing on campus. The Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare write, “It has come to [their] attention that many colleges and universities are initiating special programs for Negro and other minority group students...[these actions] are a violation of compliance requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964”  [A&SC 15]. The quotation suggests that housing and academic programs were perceived as “segregation on the basis of race” at the time UPS students were initiating more resources for black students on campus, such as the formation of the Black Studies Department [A&SC 15].

  This letter demonstrates one of the challenges that Puget Sound faced while initiating a Black Studies program within the jurisdiction of federal law. It is apparent from the response of Puget Sound faculty, students, and partner institutions that students were beginning to challenge the pedagogy of a college education and academic curriculum on college campuses. Although the African American Studies department at Puget Sound as we know it today is not directly a result of these efforts from 1968 striving to improve education opportunities and student life for black students on campus, this case study demonstrates how moments of activism and action pushed the university towards conversations that called for more long-term change and empowerment within black communities on campus.