Word: hatchett
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Hester's dismissal of John F. Hatchett, 37, as director of N.Y.U.'s new Martin Luther King Jr. Afro-American Student Center, touched off student turbulence at the nation's second-largest private university (total enrollment: 41,130). Until now the school has been relatively calm, largely because of Hester's willingness to engage in tireless talks with students, anticipate their grievances and move to head them...
Guidance and Culture. Ironically, the Hatchett affair was largely the result of Hester's moving too hastily on a student request. He had set up the Afro-American Center as a response to black-student feelings after King's murder. It was to be a place where black students could meet informally to get guidance on nonacademic problems and discuss black history and culture. Negro students had proposed Hatchett as director, and N.Y.U. approved without adequate checking...
...administration's claim that Hatchett's statements on public figures disqualify him from holding his job at NYU (which was, in effect, to become a non-academic dean of black students) is both impolitic and indefensible...
...Martin Luther King Center was instituted by NYU in the aftermath of Rev. King's assassination last April. The move was an imaginative and innovative one, and seemed to indicate a willingness to take certain risks on the part of the NYU administration. But the Hatchett ouster has shown that when faced by an atmosphere of racial tension and strong pressure from outside the university, NYU lacked the conviction to follow through with its project. President Hester could hardly have expected any other student reaction to his retreat than the one which developed...
...administration could not seriously believe that Mr. Hatchett's views on Shanker and the candidates will impede his managing a cultural and social center for blacks students at NYU, Hester's statement in this regard is disturbingly reminiscent of the arguments of right-wing legislators who view radical anti-war professors as "unfit" to hold university positions. There can be little doubt that the NYU action was influenced less by any dispassionate appraisal of Hatchett and his responsibilities than by the racially charged circumstances under which Hatchett's statement was made, and the public pressure on NYU which that atmosphere...