Concern with equity and the ramifications of the 1972 desegregation orders
Woods explains that "equity" was her biggest concern during her first two terms on the UNC Board of Governors. In particular, Woods focuses on the impact of the 1972 desegregation orders on Indian schools and for Indian students. According to Woods, desegregation plans structured the system towards African American and white students, with little regard to other minority students. Woods discusses the pitfalls of this approach and describes how she was working with the Board of Governors to find viable solutions.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Ruth Dial Woods, June 12, 1992. Interview L-0078. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- ANNE MITCHELL COE:
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So what have been the biggest issues that you've been
concerned with since you've been on the Board?
- RUTH DIAL WOODS:
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What else? Equity. I've been concerned about equity.
I've been concerned about the dismal reports about some of
the black institutions and questioning whether or not the commitment of
resources have been put there adequately for the institutions to address
their problems. Trying, I guess, to get folks in their decision making
to recognize that there's a big wide land area east of Wake
County, that the state doesn't start at Wake County and end
in the Research Triangle and the Triad, that there is vast territory out
there that is entirely different than the Triangle. Still the issue that
has not been addressed in my estimation is the state service in terms of
providing equitable assistance to Indian kids who want to go to college
as they do with Minority President's grants, that has not
been addressed. The University system has done nothing in those terms,
because the only help that Indian students get is something that we had
to go lobby the legislature for, the American Indian Student Legislative
Grant which is not comparable to Minority President's Grants,
you know, in terms of money. As far as I'm concerned the
university system has done nothing in terms of compensation.
That's not anything the university went after,
that's something we went after and Senator Parnell introduced
it but gave the university responsibility for administering it. I
don't get bought and sold when you tell me this is what
we're doing for Indians because the commitment was shown to
me what was done with a consent degree, and I'd really like
to see that challenged in the courts.
- ANNE MITCHELL COE:
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Could you explain again what that says and when did it . . .
- RUTH DIAL WOODS:
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In 1970 or 1972, that was the deseg order. It was around 1972.
- ANNE MITCHELL COE:
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And that has been bad for Indians?
- RUTH DIAL WOODS:
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Well, it certainly hasn't helped them. Why
shouldn't they be entitled? The other thing it did was that
it robbed us in that classification. Pembroke State University was an
Indian normal school, the first four year college for the education of
Indians in the country. The first in the country, but they classified it
a white institution. So now Pembroke has the largest minority student
enrollment, blacks and Indians, but it has the lowest amount of money
for black students because it has the large minority enrollment. But, an
Indian wants to go to Fayetteville, they're not white,
can't get minority presence. Wants to come to Chapel Hill, is
not black, so they can't get minority presence.
- LAURA MOORE:
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I see. So the system is structured for black/white.
- RUTH DIAL WOODS:
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So you count us when you want to count us and how you want to count us
and however it suits your little mission.
- ANNE MITCHELL COE:
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I see what you're saying.
- RUTH DIAL WOODS:
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We're those others. We're not anybody.
We're just somebody you number. And then you have these fools
that come around and call us racial isolants or social isolants or
something.
