Letter and review from Eva S. Tashjian-Brown to Dewey E. Dodds

Letter and review from Eva S. Tashjian-Brown to Dewey E. Dodds

This October 15, 1980 compliance review is from University counsel Eva S. Tashjian-Brown for Dewey E. Dodds, Director of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Region III. The review is in response to Dodds' September 30, 1980 letter to E. Bruce Heilman, President of the University of Richmond. Tashjian-Brown reminds Dodds and his staff to direct all communications regarding the compliance review to the counsel for the University, to protect the University's right to counsel. Tashjian-Brown refers to University counsel Carter Younger's March 31, 1980 letter to Lee Nell which detailed the Affirmative Action Plan of the T. C. Williams School of Law, the Graduate Student Division, and the Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan of the Graduate and Professional Schools. Tashjian-Brown notes that the University must "respectfully disagree" to Dodds's letter which indicated "commitments beyond those specifically stated in the above documents." The compliance review begins with Recruitment of Minority Students. It is stated that the Law School participated again with the CLEO Program, a pre-law program, and that a second year student was paid by the University to serve as a teaching assistant and recruit candidates for the Law School. University administrators and faculty recruited from several historically black colleges and universities, including Virginia State University, Virginia Union University, Hampton Institute, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical, Atlanta University Center, Howard University Graduate & Professional School Fair, Johnson C. Smith University, among others. The Law School also planned to develop an admissions by performance program in the summer of 1981. The University requests the assistance of OCR to secure additional financial aid. Law School officials also began to establish the Oliver Hill Scholarship program. The review states that all application forms and university publications have a non-discrimination statement. The University also plans to develop assurances of non-discriminatory employers for the job placement service offered by the university. The plan addresses specific accommodations "for the handicapped" including parking spaces, ramps and curb cuttings, new Braille indicators, telephone lowering, and a new wing on the Law School with accessibility features. The University plan also features a centralized system for accommodating "the handicapped". This letter is blind carbon copied to Dr. Bruce Heilman, Dr. William Leftwich, and W. Carter Younger.

Letter and review from Eva Tashjian-Brown to Dewey E. Dodds, 15 October 1980, RG 6.2.5 Box 25 Folder 5 “U.S. Government - HEW - Civil Rights "Compliance Review" (April 1979), University Archives, Virginia Baptist Historical Society.

1980-10-15

English

UA6.2.5.25.5-19801015.pdf

Richmond (Va.)