Word: pattersons
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...Patterson agrees with Ferguson's assessment of the committee's goals, and adds that it will also be examining the department's curriculum, its teaching and its faculty quality in an effort to "bring the department in line with other Harvard departments." He notes that perhaps the most important task of the committee is to convince the Harvard community, especially its students, of the intellectual legitimacy of Afro-American Studies. "Students are acutely conscious of the fact that the study now has relatively little status, and have a right to be concerned," he notes...
...does Patterson mince words about the current problems of the department. "If a student leaves this University with a degree in Afro-American Studies, it should carry the same weight as any other degree at Harvard--and I suspect it doesn't now," he notes...
...despite such frank assessments of the department's troubles, Rosovsky, Ferguson and Patterson say they understand what is hanging on the committee's work. "People have already watched what we're doing here and it's easy for other institutions to say, 'If Harvard can't do it, we can't,'" Rosovsky says. Ferguson agrees. "What happens here will influence other programs all over the country--a failure might very well have the effect of stunting and stifling efforts that were so painfully commenced," he notes...
...legitimacy and intellectual excitement of Afro-American Studies, and want to make sure other Harvard community members think so, too. Although efforts to help Afro-Am have a long history of failure, they remain confident. "This really is a last ditch effort--if this doesn't work, nothing will," Patterson says. Rosovsky and the rest of the committee are laying cautious odds that it will, but this year should prove a crucial test of that optimism
...committee members are C. Clyde Ferguson, professor of Law (chairman); David H. Donald, Warren Professor of American History; Richard Freeman, professor of Economics; Orlando Patterson, professor of Sociology; and Southern...