Brown University : Education On Slavery Issues

Brown University's Committee On Slavery made public it's recommendations to the school's president yesterday. The recommendations included, " The construction of a memorial , starting up a center for slavery studies, increasing efforts to recruit foreigners, particularly from Africa and the West Indies. Also Brown should publicly and persistantly acknowledge it's slave ties paticularly in freshman orientation".

The Committee was formed 3 years ago under the direction of the first black Ivy League School's president, Ruth J. Simmons. She is the great-grandaughter of a slave. She is also a probable example of affirmative action and what can go wrong with affirmative action .

Why is Brown looking backwards on issues that aren't important. Slavery at the time was legal. It doesn't make it morally accepatable but to spend valuable and expensive time on non-critical education issues is a luxury and it's very negative. How do Simpson and the Committee reconcile their preoccupation with 17th century slavery and it's negative connotations with their push for more African and West Indies students to come to America and Brown in particular if America's roots are so bad and cannot be forgotten or erased ?Of course it's better not to ask tough questions to people who got their jobs not based on merit.