September 6, 1996

Ms. Claudette Sislow
Recruiter, University of New Orleans
Lakefront Campus
New Orleans, La. 70148

Dear Ms. Sislow,

On Saturday I read the article in the Times-Picayune regarding Dr. Miller and his letter to the editor of Gambit in support of the theory of African-American mental inferiority due to brain size. Needless to say I was disturbed by the letter and article. Even more disheartening was the response of the University of New Orleans' Chancellor, Dr. O'Brien. According to Chancellor O'Brien, Dr. Miller can write about his views, and identify himself as a UNO professor under the masquerade of 'academic freedom."

Professor Miller would not have felt comfortable letting the New Orleans community know of his racist views if he did not have support on the UNO campus. One can assume that many instructors at UNO accept this theory as fact and embrace it as they evaluate the academic work of hundreds of young African-Americans who are matriculating on your campus.

Due to the Chancellor's lack of action in regards to this matter, I feel that UNO des not have an academic environment which will be nurturing to our young women. The treatment or young African-American students on your campus cannot be judged as fair and forthright because there is no way to determine which of the teachers espouse to the same racist view as Dr. Miller.

Until our school administration feels that the Universiy of New Orleans is a university where all students are treated equally and not given grades based on brain size, we withdraw our invitation to UNO for Xavier Prep's College Day. We also will not list UNO as a choice for our students for College Campus Visit Day. There is much work we must do to get our young women ready for the type of society in which we live in and the discussion of this article on our campus has helped us to make strides in teaching them about the reality of racism in 1996.

Respectfully yours,

Ann D. Zanders,
President

Alverez Peychaud,
Principal

cc: Mr. David Shroyer

    Mrs. Louis Paradis