Speaker calls for changes in access to higher education

Students, faculty and interested observers gathered in the School of Education Auditorium to hear legal and educational expert Dr. Elias Blake speak on issues facing public universities and diversity to a crowd of several dozen people.\nIntroduced by friend and visiting IU professor Alvin Chambliss, Blake received a warm welcome from his audience. His message was greeted with similar attitudes. \n"I brought him here ... because at the end of the day, I think it helps Indiana University," Chambliss said. \nBlake launched into a lecture about the alarming discrepancies between white and black students across the country, especially at the secondary and postsecondary educational level. He presented information that illustrated the gap between white and black graduates with bachelor's, graduate and professional school degrees during the past 60 years. In addition, he provided state-by-state comparisons of Michigan, Indiana and Mississippi. \nChambliss said he believed Blake's presence at IU served more than just a ceremonial purpose. He said Blake was willing to talk about issues others have tried to avoid.\n"He is going to put the numbers out there today," he said. "And once people see the numbers ... they will respond." \nBoth men were adamant in clarifying that the problem of educational access affects more people than just minorities.\n"This issue of access to Indiana University is not just (one for) blacks and minorities," Chambliss said. "Once (people) see what's going on, I think we can win this struggle."\nBlake earned a doctorate from the University of Illinois and has spent much of his career involved in academia. He served as president of Clark Atlanta University and spent time as chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Black Higher Education.\nHe also worked in an advisory role with the NAACP and headed the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, according to an IU press release. \nBlake said he is not unsupportive of legislation like the No Child Left Behind Act, widely criticized as ineffective. However, he said he believes it needs to alter its scope.\n"If the No Child Left Behind Act had focused on the gaps (between white and minority test scores and graduation rates) rather than just meeting a minimum standard, that would have been a powerful, churning device," Blake said. \nBlake received feedback from students and faculty after the lecture. He said he was pleased by what he heard, though he was quick to point out change requires more than just talk. \n"I think that they recognized that something is going to have to be done differently. I think that's the thing which pleases me the most," Blake said. "But it's very hard to think about how you begin to tackle in a cooperative way ... the problem of low and poor preparation of minority and low-income students and the differential way in which the public schools deal with that." \nBlake said he walked away from the evening with a positive outlook on the future. He said he believes the kind of reaction he saw could foster change, provided the commitment he saw translated into action. \n"If (the University) is truly committed to seeing some long-term change in these patterns ... and that they don't give up, then I think there can be real change," he said.