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Black Students Meet Mansfield

In what officers say will be its last such effort, the Black Students' Association (BSA) met with Professor Harvey C. Mansfield '53 yesterday to discuss his statements linking grade inflation at Harvard to the influx of black students in the 1970s.

BSA President Aaliyah N. Williams '02 said she was satisfied with the results of the almost two-hour long meeting, held in the Adams Upper Common Room.

"He clarified his point of view, which was that his main issue was with white professors and white guilt," Williams said. "He needs to communicate that more, that his issue is with the professors and not with us."

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BSA Treasurer Brandon A. Gayle '03, who worked on coordinating BSA's various responses to Mansfield's comments, said he was also satisfied with the discussion.

"Our main point in having this meeting was to give BSA members an opportunity to confront him," Gayle said.

Williams and Gayle opened the meeting with three questions of their own, and then took questions from audience members for Mansfield.

Besides grade inflation, affirmative action was also discussed at last night's meeting, BSA members said.

Mansfield is a long-time critic of affirmative action.

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