Kilson has made Guinier's appointment to the search committee a point of controversy. Kilson insists that the appointment is "extraordinary and unfortunate" in that it disregards the intent of the Faculty legislation creating the committee.
The Search Committee is not the first to search for new Afro Faculty. During 1970-71, the Standing Committee on Afro-American Studies, chaired by Richard A. Musgrave, Burbank Professor of Political Economy, met several times to consider a list of candidates for a tenured position in the Department. When the Standing Committee failed to approve the Afro executive board's nominee an impasse was reached. The Committee voted to discontinue its search in April 1971.
The current search committee has divided itself into two groups. One group is looking for specialists in the social sciences and the other for specialists in the humanities. Kiely said that he expected at least one tenured Faculty member to be hired from each group.
Guinier's place on the committee not withstanding, it is Rosovsky and not Guinier who holds the key to the Afro Department's fate. If Rosovsky's posture in 1969 is any indication, the Department's structure will begin to look more and more like that of older academic departments at Harvard.
As for Guinier, much uncertainty remains about his position at Harvard. He is clearly not the most popular man with the Faculty, and he will probably not be able to retain the chairmanship of Afro Department very much longer. Whether Guinier will want to remain at Harvard after a new chairman is named remains a subject for speculation.
And the speculation already has begun. Kiely said that the search committee was looking for a new Afro chairman because Guinier "planned to retire in the next year or two." When told that Guinier's office denied that the Afro chairman had any plans to retire in the near future, Kiely explained that he assumed Guinier