1970 Utonian

Page 62

62 Grover Thompson, a Utahn and an officer of ASUU. takes a different stand" onihe Black students and the University of Utah. He feels that "Blacks are no more a clique than any others." Percentage wise, Blacks are doing very well. Many are involved and becoming more so in all areas. A few are involved in ASUU committees. Most of the Black students who returned from last year are responsible for Black Students'Union. Of the sixty-five Blacks at the University, approximately thirty are involved in campus activities. Many come from Chicago and some from California. More are starting to come to the University from the Salt Lake City area. Grover believes that in the near future, "We will be more involved, as will other minorities." Paula Patterson is an English major from Chicago. This is her second year on scholarship at the University of Utah. The University needs Paula to help fill their quota of Black students, and Paula needs the University to prove her point. "To overthrow the system you first have to be part of it." A total Balck Revolution is the only way for Paula. She sees integ-gration as compromise: The cream that weakens the coffee. "Like, man, we are different." For Paula, there is no love lost over Utahns. "People here try too hard." She doens't like being patronized. She doesn't like being called Negro. Paula is Black. Even though the Black minority seems to dominate the scene, it still doens't overshadow the Chicano (Spanish-American) and Amerindian student minorities on campus. Spanish-Americans are Utah's major minority group. Some like to be called Chicano, some Spanish-Americans, others Mexican-Americans, and still others don't know what they want to be called. On campus they formed a group and called it Brown Students. "Christians by the Grace of God, Gentlemen thanks to our Spanish Decent Noble Lords from our Indian Ancestry; Mexicans by Pride and Tradition; and Americans by Destiny. Thus we are the Mexican Americans. - University of Mexico "Our issue is not so dramatic as the Black's. Association makes us much stronger as a pressure group. There are students and others who want a change now, and I sympathize with them, but it is basically bad to try to force issues without facts." "Blacks may have a separate color and dress, but the Black doesn't stand for anything but skin color!" "If we can't accomplish our goals by talking, we can get someone to do it another way." At home they speak a different language than they do in public. This makes the transition from private life to public life difficult and often awkard. "Your average student, he has difficulty with his studies. . . because he is used to speaking Spanish at home." The University provides four scholarships at present for Spanish-American students and helps another seventeen students through with tuition waivers. Still it is not enough. There is little motiviation from home to go to school and even less money. At a university of twenty-three thousand students, only 69 are Spanish-American.