Office of Academic Affairs-- Medgar Evers College

MEDGAR EVERS COLLEGE LIVES UP TO ITS TRADITION

Medgar Evers College lives up to its tradition during the inauguration of the American Democracy Project on September 22, 2003, where Kevin Kappallo, the representative of the New York Times made a presentation. Discussions during the event reflected the spirit of the founding fathers of the college. The college was born out of community activism and named after Medgar Evers, a well known civil rights activist who was killed by assassin’s bullet. It appeared, on this day, the spirit of Medgar Evers was brought to life. Faculty and staff engaged each other on the issue of democracy, civic responsibility, and effective citizenship. The question of what constitutes civic responsibility and service to the community was the focal point of the dialogue.

The meeting was big and a grand success. Faculty, staff and students turned out in large numbers. Our guest, Kevin Kappallo noted that in other colleges where he had spoken, only about three to five faculty attended. As a result, they sat in a small table, unlike at Medgar Evers College where the Norman and Mariam B. Johnson Lecture Hall was parked to capacity. According to Kappallo, the heavy attendance at Medgar Evers College inauguration shows high level of enthusiasm and commitment to achieving the goals of the democracy project.

Dr. Augustine Okereke, the Coordinator of the American Democracy Project introduced the proceedings. He used the story of the sacrificial fowl to buttress the idea of participatory democracy. The animal kingdom called a meeting to discuss the incessant killings of their members by the human race. As is always the case, the fowl had a reason to excuse himself from the meeting. On this day, he had a very important engagement, and asked the rabbit to tell the meeting that he will abide by any decision of the assembly. At the meeting, all the animals decided to sacrifice one of their own to the human race. The question becomes ‘who will they sacrifice’? The meeting agreed to offer the fowl as a sacrifice. Unfortunately, the fowl was not present to speak his mind. Since he has already agreed to abide by any decision arrived at the meeting, he was given away as ransom to the human race. The story, Dr. Okereke explained underlines the need for participatory democracy.

In his speech, the Provost, Dr. Dr. Charlotte Phoenix stressed the importance of participatory democracy. He noted the sense of apathy and disinterest in political participation among the youths in the country, more especially the Brooklyn community. Referring to Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone, the Provost laments the fact that our community is threatened by the erosion of relationships, networks and interactions, what Putnam calls social capital. Human interaction creates social capital, which is fostered by clubs, organizations and other forms of interaction. It is therefore the responsibility of the faculty and staff, the Provost continues, to create an environment that will encourage human interaction among our students. Such environment will promote volunteerism, selfless service, and concern for the greater good. He charged the faculty to introduce activities which will inculcate in our students the spirit of civic mindedness and responsibility. These activities will ultimately result in introducing courses that promote civic engagement, either as freshman or capstone courses, in the curriculum. Our College, the Provost says, is in a unique position to build social capital in the community. Finally, the Provost introduced our guest from The New York Times who spoke on partnering efforts between the AASCU and The Times in the realization of the American Democracy Project goals.

Mr. Kevin Kappallo of the New York Times noted the enthusiasm of faculty and staff of Medgar Evers College, and commended them for coming out in large numbers to this very first meeting. He enlightened attendees on The New York Times resources available to faculty for use in the classroom. Mr. Kappallo shared with faculty the educational projects developed by The Times that may be of use to them. The New York Times will use its resources to link participating institutions together through the web. He announced that free copies of The Times will be sent to faculty and students who are interested in using it as a teaching tool.

Faculty and Staff reacted to Kappallo’s presentation. Some expressed skepticism about the role The Times will play in the project. The newspaper, they noted, has not been representing the views of minorities on most occasions. It has also failed to cover the activities of minorities. Some noted that The Times infrequently contains articles about the Caribbean region, yet our student body has a significant Caribbean American population. Faculty and staff are also of the opinion that we need to determine what teaching resources factually present the evolution of American Democracy and the role of African Americans in the evolution of that democracy. It is also the view of some faculty that The Times did not promote or celebrate the protests and struggles of Black and Puerto Rican masses to attend the City University in the first place and instead, focused its energy on publicizing the voices of the faculty and administrators who called Blacks and Puerto Ricans unintelligible and a burden to this city. Of further concern to the faculty and staff present is the quote by Thomas Jefferson used by AASCU to introduce the project summary. Jefferson was a slaveholder who had a Black girl child mistress with whom, DNA has proven, he conceived children, most of whom he later sold - according to scholars of American history. This underlies the need for sensitivity in selecting teaching resources about the subject of democracy. Others see the benefits of The Times as a teaching tool. They pointed to the benefits students will derive from reading and discussing the literature, science, economics, etc. features of The Times. Faculty and staff also suggested that we identify existing structures in the college, which have been organizing activities that speak to civic engagement and participation in the community. These structures are unique and should be emulated by other AASCU members.

Mr. Kappallo replied that the role of The Times in this project is to disseminate information on the activities of the American Democracy Project and provide a resourceful tool for teaching and learning. He enjoined faculty, staff, and students to use the medium of The Times to express whatever views they have. The Democracy Project is designed to achieve this objective, among others.

Some faculty and staff also expressed concern about the adopted book for this project; Educating Citizens by Anne Colby et al. According to them, the book is too conservative, does not speak to Medgar Evers College population and the community we represent. They suggested including other texts that will address the needs of our community.

The Provost thanked Mr. Kevin Kappallo for making out time to attend and for his insightful information. He promised the faculty that their views will be taken into consideration in moving the agenda forward.

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