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before refused to vote anything at all in connection with the
trial,
and it was expectable that the banner of "institutional neutrality"
would prevent anything but the mildest statement of concern. Rec–
ognition of the strike could, it seemed, probably come only in the
form of agreement not to penalize students for it. It was known that
there would be some resolutions censuring it. So when a left-liberal
group planned a resolution calling attention to the urgency of the
issues raised by the trial and recommending that a week be devoted
to analysis and proposals for action - with suspension of classes or
not, as individuals saw fit - we thought it would be too "radical" to
pass. We hadn't known there would be a Black faculty resolution.
This was more militant, and was presented as nonnegotiable. It
stipulated that "normal functions" be "suspended" without time limit,
and included a
quid pro quo
with the New Haven community on
land taking, a fund to support the defendants and other points. Presi–
dent Brewster, after his famous "skepticism" statement - a moving
and humane statement which assured
him
a position of moral lead–
ership in the following week - suggested change of "normal func–
tions ... be suspended" to "normal expectations ... be modified."
The Black faculty accepted the change and also the addition of the
nonviolence, noncoercion clause from our resolution. Our move for a
time limit to the strike was not acceptable to the Blacks and was
voted down. Then the Black faculty resolution was passed over–
whelmingly.
I was pleased that the faculty had acted, that it had corporately
made a firm commitment of concern, that it had responded to the
students and showed that it understood the situation. But I was
perplexed and bothered because I didn't really feel that it
had
un–
derstood - at least, not all of those who had voted for the resolution.
The right, which had been extremely vocal in some seven hours of
meeting following a minor building occupation in the fall, had been
almost totally silent. So, indeed, had most of the center, generally
in control. Evidently, everyone had been engaged in a new and un–
charted contest, a contest which no one could handle within the
parliamentary forms. The "reality" of the meeting - the reality of
the Black faculty's nonnegotiable position and the coerced position
they were in by their dual identity as Blacks and as Yale professors–
was simply not subject to the usual processes of parliamentary debate
and compromise. The situation in the room was really determined
