THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER: CASE STUDY OF AN INSTITUTION'S RESPONSE TO THE PRESENCE OF BLACK STUDENTS, 1970-1980

The research focus on black students at predominantly white colleges and universities has been primarily aimed at examining how black students negotiate the predominantly white college milieu. While this research preoccupation has been helpful in understanding the issues that confront black students on predominantly white campuses and their patterns of adaptation, the focus is limited. In fact, the black student at the white college broadly represents a dual syndrome of adaptation--that of student adapting to the institution and the institution adapting to the student. A broader and richer understanding, therefore, of the black student at the predominantly white college and university must necessarily give serious consideration to institutional responses and patterns of adjustment aimed at accommodating the presence of black students not historically included in the institution's life and functions. It is within this larger framework that the experiences of black students in predominantly white institutions of higher education can be understood more completely. Consequently, it is the examination of one particular institution's response (The College of Wooster) to the increased presence of black students that is the specific focus of this thesis.;The theoretical orientation which guides this investigation draws critically upon the literature of modern system theory and the politics of institutional change and begins with an understanding of the university as a dynamic, open system.;The Case-Study Method--a qualitative research design--was used to examine the response patterns of The College of Wooster to increased enrollments of black students during the years, 1969-1980.;In 1973, the College established an interdepartmental program in Black Studies and in 1979 established the Office of Black Student Affairs. The findings suggest that while both structures continue to assist in implementing the institution's commitment, both structures are only partially institutionalized and continue to occupy tenuous positions within the institution. Further, the findings suggest The College of Wooster went through a period of social commitment to the education of black students (1964-1969); that conflict played an important role in institutional responsiveness and that currently the College is reaffirming the nature of that early commitment under very different circumstances, most notably declining black student enrollment, fiscal constraints and increasing black student attrition.