Time Versus Tension
This article describes the march on the president's home March 27, 1969. This and other articles may be found in the University Archives.Citation for this article is: "Time Versus Tension" The East Carolinian, March 27, 1969.
One hundred-fifty or more blacks and whites left the front porch of President Jenkins last night, after pressing a yes-or-no answer to "Do you support the demands or not?" Jenkins would obviously rather have qualified the answer, but expectant faces and pressuring voices got an affirmation. The shuffle of feet on pavement muffled what sounded like an "...in part" at the end.
SOULS opened up their regular meeting last night with a sizable contingent of white guests in support of their demands. Several questions were raised and dispensed with in further clarification of the demands. Someone asked what has been done, and the evening's activities took shape.
Many blacks have expressed ill-will over progress on the demands, remembering last year's "requests" and the ineffective Race Relations Board. SOULS leaders suggested a walk to the house of the man who should know what's been done or what can be done.
Consequently, President Jenkins answered his doorbell to find a lawn full of faces, though hardly with surprise since the police pulled up at the same time. SOULS president Johnny Williams greeted Jenkins and opened the evenings dialogue with an elboration on the last question of the meeting.
Jenkins mainly listed several things his study committees were hoping to do, i.e., the first two supervisory positions opened will be given to black maintenance workers (now employed only as laborers), and a proposed Faculty Senate committee "to take care of any rudeness on the part of the faculty."
Also mentioned was the search for more black athletes and two black professors Jenkins says have been contracted.
Comments from the blacks seemed to indicated they were hearing nothing new, as the demand for "concrete evidence" echoed stronger each time. Every instance of talk about "legal channels" or "the machinery" invoked cries for a stronger guiding hand by the president.
Jenkins claimed to have no dictatorial powers, as an employee of the state and a worker under the direction of the Board of Trustees. Frequently unanswered questions of "what powers do you have?" netted the impression, as one black student put it, that "he's done what little he intends to."
However two promises were made- a convocation on the demands will be held "soon" by Jenkins, and he will arrange for black leaders to speak at the next Board of Trustees meeting. Since the next meeting is not scheduled until May, Jenkins agreed that it was within his power to request and emegency session.
Taking her cue from talk of the Board of Trustees and Robert Morgan, one black co-ed asked, "If as president of this university, you cannot meet the demands of so small a group of students, how as governor do you intend to meet them?"
The meeting that had begun with most of Jenkins' visitors off his wide gracious front porch progressed with the circle closing tighter around the front door. Normal traffic was enough to make hearing hard, but the influx of campus policemen, state troopers, and at least one SBI agent made things a bit more tense. One black student tersely thanked Jenkins for "your confidence in us."
Things drew to a peak and a close as the demand for an answer to " do you support our cause?" grew more committed. Handshakes and thank-you's were exchanged, while the question of time vs. tension still hung thick in the air. No one could answer it.
