The Politics of Presidential Appointment. Sheldon Hackney

black nationalism, and especially denouncing his anti-Semitism, but asserting the overriding interest the University had in remaining an open forum for debate and for the expression of ideas.[2] There was no other issue during my tenure as president of Penn on which I got more mail from outraged alumni than the appearance of Louis Farrakhan. “I believe in free speech,” ran the logic of the typical letter, “but Farrakhan’s brand of hate doesn’t merit protection.”

      On the evening of the speech, I had a regularly scheduled dinner meeting of the senior officers at my house. We went through our discussions of long-range plans, while across campus a potential disaster impended. We had taken elaborate security precautions, and we had the cooperation and participation of the Philadelphia police, but such events are unpredictable. In conversation with the Jewish student groups, we had reached agreement about how the counter-demonstration was to occur. They wished to minimize the chance for violence, but they also wanted to make their presence and disapproval known. The uncontrollable factors had most to do with off-campus folks, and with things that might happen spontaneously inside the hall.

      I remember what a huge relief it was to get the call from the student-life official in charge that night. We were still sitting around the dinner table talking about seemingly safe and distant resource allocations. The report was that the event had gone off with a minimum of problems and that the area around the auditorium was now clear. There had been a huge amount of tension in the auditorium and outside, but there had been no incident that might constitute a violation of University rules. I thanked the community in a public letter the next day, saying that as difficult as the event was in every way, it was the University at its best.

      So, yes, we had problems with race relations, and we had them because we had worked hard and very successfully to attract a diverse student body.[3] I admired what the military, the army in particular, had been able to do to include members of racial minorities on a basis of equality. Even there, after years of effort, there are differential rates of advancement for blacks, Latinos, and whites, and there are large disparities in the way the members of those groups perceive their treatment.[4]