During the course of a recent two-hour interview, Freidel seemed relaxed--but not at all unaware of the criticism. He admitted at the outset that time had been limited.

"It was hasty preparation," he said. "Obviously, the first time through changes must be made and I'm ready to talk to anybody. Still, it would not have been possible to postpone this course until spring....Given more time, it would not necessarily have been better. Our preparation was adequate. I have no apology for the course as it has existed this fall, even though some changes could be made."

Freidel was asked about the charge that the course seems to some to have a white complexion.

Whites Not Disqualified

"I well understand that they would prefer to have it taught by a black person," he said. "I don't think this means that a white is therefore disqualified, any more than a black would be disqualified from teaching Renaissance history. I would fight to the death any feeling that black professors could teach only black courses....And I've done my best to set up a good reading list. It never occurred to me to check whether the authors were black or white. And if I had it to over again, I wouldn't make that check. I'm not trying to follow aa line."

That, of course, is one of the other criticisms, a feeling among black students that the course should have a black point of view.

"I'm outside the family," Freidel said. "I'm under suspicion of being a white racist and a black racist at the same time. The truth is, I'm not trying to be a racist at all, but to give the best insight I can into a very painful subject....I'm not an activist, I'm a scholar. I wouldn't have agreed to teach this course if I didn't think it would be a scholarly contribution. I'd like to run this as a Harvard course, as a subject for serious study. I'm not interested in just the Afro-Americans, but in all students. It's not my purpose to foster a given line. White students need the course as much as black students."

Not for Freshmen

Then Freidel turned to the charge that his lecturing was too anecdotal: "Well, you know, we accepted all sophomores, juniors and seniors who asked to take the course. We couldn't take everybody else but we let in some black freshmen. It may very well be that my lectures are ill-suited for freshmen and sophomores. I put in anecdotes to illustrate points--students complain if lectures become straight factual presentations. I assumed when I saw their backgrounds--and these are great kids, caught up in a great movement -- that these students already knew about Nat Turner and John Brown. But I was assuming too much knowledge on their part. Now I'm trying to give lectures that have more emphasis on fundamentals.

"I've been guilty of giving too high-powered lectures. I goofed, that's all. I've been aiming at juniors and seniors. these freshmen are very bright but they haven't grasped what the anecdotes are about. It's gone over the heads of some of them, that's all."

Needless to say, not all students express disenchantment with the new course offering. Three-fourths of the 250 students enrolled in Soc Sci 5 are white; and some of them seem more disenchanted by the critics than by the course.

"Some of the criticism has been unauthorized and unconstructive," says Roger Brooks, '71. "My impression is that some of them think the more noise they make, the more they will be able to accomplish in trying to make the professor see it their way....Professor Freidel is really feeling his way through. But I've been enjoying the course. I've learned a lot, especially during the sections."

"The course has been good therapy," says Hamilton Hadden, '71: "I realize I'm a prejudiced person. Maybe by understanding the cultural biases of society I'll understand myself better. The course is no great solution in itself. But if you're interested in current problems and solutions, you'll find them there."

Faculty Optimistic

The faculty as a whole remains generally optimistic about the progress of the course. Liberal faculty members who supported the course from the beginning feel that it is getting by the rough spots; the "conservative establishment," skeptical from the outset, has had its skepticism reinforced.