Student Support and the Formation of the African American Cultural Center

     In the week following the Quail Roost conference, seven of the nine white students who attended the conference wrote a letter to Dean Banks Talley expressing their support of the Society of Afro-American Culture’s (SAAC) proposed African American cultural center. Also published in the Technician, the letter stated, “It is our feeling that SAAC should be given control of the entire first floor of the Print Shop for the purpose of having office space and developing a cultural center.” While many students supported the letter, others criticized the white students for not thoroughly discussing with the student body the reasons for their support. In a February 13, 1974 letter to the editor senior David V. Brooks stated, “Apparently the participants of the conference at Quail Roost were made privy to some information relating to the SAAC’s ‘pressing’ need for the entire first floor of the Print Shop. If so, they certainly failed to pass such information along to the student body.”

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