Arizona sun., 1961-07-06
Recruiting OF Negro J
College Graduates By
American Industry.

HIiCtItOs suuuSu
The recruitment of Negro col
lege graduates by American in.
dustry was the theme of recent
! meeting sponsored by NUL's Com:
merce and Industry Council. I'm
der the Leagues auspices over Sc
corporate executives and a dOzer
university representatives met al
| the Harvard Club in New York
City to explore ways that larger
numbers of corporations could tar
the Negro manpower potential now
enrolled in colleges and universi-
ties.
An estimated 10000 Negro
young people presently attend in
stitutions of higher learning; ap.
proximately 10000 of this number
attend the so-called Negro colleges,
The university representatives in
cluded college placement directors
from state universities-such. as
Michigan State and Pennsylvania
State as well as placement direct
ors and presidents of predominant.
ly Negro colleges in the South.
College presidents in attendance
were: DR.. Rufus Atwood of Ken
lucky State College; DR.. Jerome
and. DR.. Samuel Proctor, of North
Carolina A & T College.
| Corporate executives attending
| included Albert F. Waters, vice
president, General Foods Corpora
tion, and co-chairman of Null Com
merce and Industry Council; Carl
H. Hageman, vice president, Union
Carbide Corporation and Robert
w. Young, vice president, F. w.
Woolworth & Co. Among the ma.
jor corporations represented in ad-
dition to the above were: General
Electric Corporation. Western
Electric Corporation, Columbia
Broadcasting Company, Radio
Corporation of America, S0cOny
Mobil Oil Company, Pitney Bowes
Inc, and Time, Life and Fortune
Most of the corporate representa-
tives were college relations direct
ors, personnel directors and man.
ayers of executive development
programs.
The meeting was formally titled
a Manpower Utilization Confer
ence. After an opening session at
which Henry Steeger, null presi-
dent; Lester B. Granger, null
executive director; and Whitney
M. Young, Jr., null executive di'
Irector-elect, extended words OF
welcome, the meeting broke up In
to two workshop sessions. Work
shop l was devoted to the Tech
nical and Scientific Occupations.
Donald Cook, Radio Corporation of
America, served as chairman. DR..
Proctor of North Carolina A. & T.
and w. H. Smell, Western Electric
Corporation, presented the univer-
sity and the corporate viewpoints
of the recruitment of Negro gra-
duates in the technical fields.
Workshop II, devoted to the Nom
Technical Business and Commerce
Occupations, was chaired by
James A. Folz, General Foods
Corporation. DR.. Holland of Hamp-
ton and Michael Chamberlin, r.
H. Macy Co. spoke for the cor
porate and college points of view.
A lunch followed the two work
shops at which brief summaries
of the two workshops were pre-
sented. (These two summaries are
featured in Urban League FOCUS
this issue.)
In his opening remarks Confer
ence chairman Waters noted that
the meeting was "the first time
so large a group Of corporation
and educational representatives
have convened to consider recruit
ment of college trained Negroes
on national basis.
while a number of important
companies have extended employ
ment in business relating to the
training and capacities of Negro
graduates, the vast majority of
companies have ignored this
source of capable manpower.
Mr.. Waters pointed out that
the U. S. Civil Service Commis-
sion and other federal agencies
have already initiated a broad
scale program designed to at
tract qualified Negro young peo-
pie to responsible positions, and
emphasized the Importance of a
comparable program on the part
of business and industry.
'Our meeting is against a severe
backdrop," Mr.. Waters conclud-
ed, (which silhouettes even more
sharply its Importance. Interna-
ti0nally, the United States is in
the midst of a cold war race for
strength. We cannot afford to
waste any of our human resources.
America, too, bears a response
bility for providing technical as
sistance to the developing ma.
tions of Africa. Here, qualified
American Negro technicians both
here and overseas can play uni
que role of service"
The Manpower Utilization Con-
ference was organized and cOOr-
dinated by Julius A. Thomas, null
director of industrial relations.