1981_10 The Daily Collegian October 1981

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OCTOBER    tffl
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(FREEDOM)
(AND)
(UNITY)
HURVNA UMOJA
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WHERE DID YOU ATTEND COLLEGE ?
I went to Alameda Junior College in the
Bay Area. In 1973 I transfered to CSUF
35 an EOP student.
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WHAT WAS YOUR MAJOR?
I majored in Criminology and for two
years I worked as a Probation Officer
Trainee. But really I was a Probation
Officer because the man I trained under
just dumped his cases on me. I became
disillusioned because everything was
mandated by the court. I felt helpless in
this field. I saw minorities being victimized by the system. Some were illiterate,
some were financially disabled and could
not afford an attorney to property defend
them. Not all of them were guilty.
WERE YOU INVOLVED IN ORGANIZATIONS ON CAMPUS? DID THIS
BENEFIT YOU IN ANY WAY?
In 1975 I oledsed Phi Beta Sigma, 75-761
chaired and co-chaired Black History
Week. Now it(Black History) is recognized for an entire month. In 76-77 I
became president of Phi Beta Sigma.
Educationally the fraternity was a
support group. Everyone was a college
student trying hard to make it. We
realized the need in the Black
community, for more educated Black
men. Men who are dedicated and
committed to help with community
problems, and provide encouragement
to keep pushing.
WHAT WERE YOUR INTENTIONS
AFTER GRADUATING FROM COLLEGE?
I believe in the old tradition which is,
"get a good paying job, get married, buy
a home and raise a family".
HOW DID YOU END UP WORKING AT
CSUF?
I always admired EOP because it helped
me through school. Robert Hernandez
. was my counselor and now he's my
supervisor. I also admired Ernie Shelton
but he does not know this. Ernie made
himself visible and sensitive to the needs
of the Black students. Anyway In 79 a
position in EOP became available. I
applied, but I was not hired. Then later
that year the same position was open. I
applied, and was hired.
•1
WHAT POSIT ION DO YOU HOLD NOW
IN THE EOP OFFICE, AND WHAT
ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES?
My title Is Eop Counselor, and my
responsibilities are: (1) to provide
personal and academic counseling to the
students. (2) to provide financial aide
advisement (3) to coordinate Peer
Advisors which consist of students
assisting students.(4)l also coordinate
the recreation activities in EOP. We
have intramural activities, an annual
EOP picnic and variety show which
display the excellent talents of the
students.
WHAT IS THE MAJOR PROBLEM IN
RECRUITING BLACK STUDENTS?
First of all the support system for Black
role models is low. We have ten Black
faculty on campus and as for
as th staff is concerned I realty don't
know how many Black students we have.
I feel there should be more Black studies
dasses offered for the students,
freshmen, in particular, have an interest
in these dasses. Lets look at the fact
that we are located in the Central San
Joquin Valley.   Here the percentage of
California State University     Fresno
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WALTER ROBINSON
Blacks in CSUF service is small. But still stay in the dorms for two and a half
the university is not at the same level of .weeks, attend dassed such as Basic
service area. I feel we get a fare share of Skill,Punctuation, and Cultural courses,
students from Northern and Southern Students   who   attend   the   Summer
California.  Back to your question about Institute nde^t three units of college
recruiting.       The   prima/y   area   for credit.    Students are exposed to the
recruiting Blacks is between Stockton college  system.      Whereas,   students
and   Bakersfield.      There   are   small coming for the first time do not know
pockets of Black communities located in exactly what to expect.   I feel that the
these areas. We also concentrate on the students  first  semester  is   the   most
Urban high school and churches (which crucial, it can build you up or tear you
are  viable   institutions   in   the  Black down.
community). If anybody can organize,
the Black church can.
WHAT PROGRAMS ARE OFFERED
THROUGH EOP THAT WILL ASSIST
THE STUDENTS IN THEIR ACADEMIC
STUDIES?
NOW THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS
CUTTING BACK ON FINANCIAL
FUNDS, HOW IS THIS EFFECTING
THE EOP PROGRAM AND ITS
STUDENTS?
Students are finding that awards are not
availible, and money has been cut back
We have a program called Survival Skills drastically. There are a lot of students
and the dasses that are offered are: (1) that are not recieving a full level of
Speech 10T,this dass assists the financial aide. They had to make a lot of
students in note taking, reading effect- concessions to make sure everyone
ivty, term papers, and how to prepare for redeved some type of funds. Thislsiust
finals. This dass helps prepare students the tip of the iceberg. It will get worst,
to become successful college students. When I was going to school we recteved
(2) Blade Studies 15 focuses on writing    $1*X> * s-wnester whereas now students
are receiving this ammount for the entire
year. Financial Aide is a primary
support system for minority students.
It's like this, no money, no education.
courses that address issues that concern This is creating a problem. Students are
the minority student. We also have the begining to look towards other things
Summer Institute.   Students come and   besides higher education. This is bad for
and the specific problems mat
students have. (3) La Raza Studies deals
with die problems of the Chicano
students. I feel these are three excellent
Black Genius Omltfed
Black Book Review
Sadat's Death:
Palestinian Perspective
Uhuru s Readers
Page 3
Page 2
Page 2
Page 4
the Black community.    There aren
enough blacks going to college as it is.
feel Black people have unique need*
They come from unique backgrounds
No other segment of American peopk
has had the experiences that Blacks havi
had. We need people who are sensitive
to the Black experience, not people whe
put down Blacks because they can't pay
their way through college.
BESIDES YOUR JOB IN EOP ARE YOU
INVOLVED IN ANY OTHER PROGRAMS ON CAMPUS?
Well I serve on several committies. I am
member of the Black Faculty and Staff
Association, I serve on the Outreach
Coordinating Coundl. Also, I am an
advisor to two student organizations. Phi
Beta Sigma, and the Pan African Union,
which is the umbrella organization to all
Black organizations on campus.
WHAT IS THE PAN AFRICAN UNION?
Pan African means all Africans. The
union is a union of all African people
This was established by Dr. W.E.B.
Dubois, in the early 1900's to bring
together global unity among all Black
people. A lot of people don't want to
identify with the African aspect of their
blackness. There is only one native
American and that's the Indian. Blacks
were brought forcefully from Africa,and
most other groups came as immigrants.
There is no way we can deny being of
African descent. We can look at
ourselves through the mirror and see the
likeness we share with Africans. We
have gone through being called colored,
negro, Afro-Americans, Black, and now
it's coming back to the point that we *v*s
Africans. We are like displaced people
in a sense. Pan Africanism is not
physically going back to Africa.but
identifying Africa as the mother land.
Other races identify with their countries.
Italians identify with Italy; Mexicans
identify with Mexico; Chinese identify
with china. That's basically what Pan
Africanism is about. What the Union is
about is bringing together people with
African descent who attend the
university. We serve as a support group
for each other. Also we are an
Instrument in bringing key Black figures
to the campus. We are a small minority
group, but we do have a forceful voice,
particularly this year. We have four
Blade senators in the senate this year.
We have potentially more input than we
have had in the history of the university.
Three of the four senators are officers in
the pan African Union.
DO YOU FEEL BEING INVOLVED IS
SOME TYPE OF ACTIVITY WILL HELP
YOU IN YOUR COLLEGE CAREER?
Being involved, whether It is college or
in the community helps a person. Most
people think college is just making A's
and B's, but it is not. The student learns
to interact with all races and they are hit
with all kinds of stimuli. One must be
able to deal with this. Being involved In
your college community prepares you to
become a responsible community
member. You learn the value U
becoming organized; you team the
significance of on-going fund-raisers;
and most of all, you can better lean, how
to yourself in the many situations you
may encounter in life.
The road to education seems long ar.d
complex, but just knowing that Waiter
Robinson conquered this obstacle, which
is now considered a victorious goal for
him, should give all students a positive
attitude and the incentive to keep
pushing so we also can bt victors of our
goals.
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