EOP Trailblazer, Dr. Joseph White
In 1962, Dr. Joseph White began his tenure as a CSULB professor for the Psychology department. He was the second African-American professor at CSULB. Dr. White noticed that there was a very small number of African-American and Latino students on campus, considering that it was located relatively close to Compton and South Central LA.
Dr. White met with the Dean of Students who issued him funding along with 75 special admissions slots to outreach to minority students. Dr. White became the first EOP Director in the entire CSU system, turning the 75 special admit spots and funding into a program that provided services for 200 student that first year.
In May of 1968, Dr. White worked with other colleges in the CSU system and with representatives in state legislature, like Willie Brown, to bring about the passage of the Harmer Bill SB 1072, the bill that established the funding for EOP Programs in the state of California.
By 1968, Dr. White worked at San Francisco State University as the Dean of Undergraduate Studies. By this time, EOP programs where established at other CSU campuses. At San Francisco State, Dr. White witnessed “a historic period of unrest” because students wanted to see the establishment of Black Studies and Chicano Latino Studies Departments. Dr. White was supportive of the students and the Third World Strike at SFSU. The first ethnic studies department was established at SFSU. Dr. White worked with many other CSU campuses assisting them with organizing their own Black Studies Departments on their campus.
In addition to Dr. White’s activism on campus, he is also referred to as the “Father of Black Psychology”. Dr. White wrote books and several articles about psychology from the African-American perceptive; again changing the way our society views minority groups in America. While several events in history and several trailblazers and activist during this time fought hard against unsurmountable opposition to open the doors of access to higher education for minority groups, Dr. Joseph White’s vision was the seed that started Educational Opportunity Program.
Dr. White’s vision for the future of EOP, stated in the book Educating The Excluded, was for pre-college programs connected to underrepresented youth to work with EOP to increase access to low-income first-generation students. A pipeline of programming and services for children as early as kindergarten to show the potential for college.
Dr. White’s legacy continues to be vibrant across all 23 CSU campuses 50 years later. EOP at CSULB is proud to be the first program in the CSU system, and will continue to support the legacy inherited to us by Dr. White.