UMBC Caucus of Black Faculty and Staff
Norman V.A. Reeves, Counselor, and Howard Rawlings, Instructor of Mathematics, co-chairs of the UMBC Caucus of Black Faculty and Staff, were in contact with Dr. Kuhn about ways to further diversify UMBC. The goal of the Caucus was the creation of a truly egalitarian university.” Reeves later served on the Baltimore City Council and Rawlings became a powerful member of the Maryland House of Delegates whose daughter, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, became Mayor of the City of Baltimore in 2010.
Dr. Kuhn wrote a ten-page response to the February 10, 1970 letter from the UMBC Caucus of Black Faculty and Staff, setting out his views and offering advice for pursuing solutions to the problems outlined by Reeves and Rawlings. Your discussions and your statement… refer to appropriate representation of blacks and, obviously, this is a problem which must receive immediate and continuing action.” He said that of the 2,286 students then attending UMBC, 74 students identified as African American. Up to that time UMBC did not recruit any students, instead relying on information supplied to high school guidance counselors and personal appearances by counselors at high school college nights. During the current year,” Kuhn stated, an attempt is being made to develop active recruitment of black students under the able leadership of a black official in administration.”
Members of the Black Caucus of Faculty and Staff pursued their concerns to the State of Maryland Commission on Human Relations, which issued a report that stated: The statistical data presented to the Commission at the time this investigation was initiated, combined with additional statistical data gathered during the investigation, clearly suggest that operational policies and procedures at the University of Maryland Baltimore County are discriminatory, in effect.” The report made specific recommendations, many of which were also recommended by Dr. Kuhn in his March 17 letter.