‘Racist Disregard’ Charged in Cancellation of CSUN Classes

Prof. Verne L. Bryant, acting chairman of the Department of Pan-African Studies at Cal State Northridge, charged Friday that administration officials used “racist disregard” in their handling of an alleged grade-buying scheme.

He said campus officials should have come to him with the allegations and consulted him before canceling classes and making the matter public. “I don’t think anyone else would have been treated this way,” said Bryant, who is black. “I think there has been a racist disregard for me as a chairman.”

CSUN spokeswoman Ann Salisbury said university President James W. Cleary “didn’t have time to pause for social niceties to inform the chairman before he took the action. We had to halt it right then and there.”

She said the university told the press quickly because they did not want to appear to be hiding anything.

On Thursday, Cleary took the unusual step of canceling three Pan-African field studies classes after allegations that students were recruited with promises of A grades if they sold $100 worth of raffle tickets for a professor’s nonprofit foundation.

Prof. Eleazu S. Obinna, a 17-year faculty member, and Willie J. Bellamy, a 1985 graduate of the department who began teaching there last year, are under investigation by campus police. Obinna was incorrectly identified in The Times Friday as chairman of the Pan-African studies department. As a member of the department’s faculty, he teaches field courses as well as cultural geography and business classes.

Proceeds from the raffle, which was to have been held on campus, were to benefit the United Crusade Foundation Inc., a Pacoima-based nonprofit group headed by Obinna. Bryant is second vice president of the foundation, but he is not under investigation, campus officials said.

A spokesman for the attorney general said most raffles held in the state are illegal.

Will Seek Meeting

Bryant said he is not concerned that students were asked to sell tickets, but said he does not condone making the sales a course requirement. He said he and the department’s 22 other faculty members will seek a meeting with Cleary over the university’s handling of the incident.

Bryant also said he fears that the incident may permanently harm the department, which he said is one of the strongest in the country in an era when black studies programs are dwindling in strength and number.

Bryant said it could be a major blow to what he called one of the top five black studies programs in the country, which were formed in the early 1970s in response to protests seeking better educational opportunities and larger faculty representation for blacks and other minorities. About 1,800 of CSUN’s 30,000 students are black.

Obinna was teaching on campus Friday but refused to comment.

The United Crusade Foundation was created in 1982 by Obinna to “concern itself with global education, culture, relief and social welfare of all African peoples,” according to documents filed with the secretary of state’s office. Despite its ambitious objectives, however, its accomplishments have been much more modest.

The foundation’s financial statement for 1984, according to reports filed with the Los Angeles Department of Social Services, showed $5,000 raised and spent on expenses and disbursements. United Crusade has operated out of the homes of members of the board of directors, and still has no staff or telephone in its new office.

“We have had no money for hired staff,” said Brenda Travis, secretary-treasurer of the foundation and whose home in Pacoima still contains the group’s business phone. Travis also works as a secretary at CSUN.

Actions Limited

The foundation’s relief actions so far have been limited to occasionally distributing clothing and meals to the homeless. Even these activities have been at least partially funded by donations by board members.

The Department of Social Services said records show the organization held a fund-raising dinner on Sept. 26, 1986, at which $6,000 was collected. However, the dinner cost $6,627. A dinner on Nov. 10, 1985, raised $8,000 but cost $7,879, leaving less than $120 for charitable purposes.

The foundation’s budget for 1983-84, filed with the department, revealed the scope of Obinna’s dreams. Income was estimated at $131,000, with $56,000 alone to come through television and radio solicitation. Disbursements were projected to include $25,000 for a proposed executive director, and $60,500 for hunger relief in Somalia, Ethiopia and Mauritania.

In the end, United Crusade received no revenue from November, 1983, to November, 1984, according to records on file with the secretary of state.