Harvard Professor, Black Economic Experts Ask for Changes in Administration Policies

A Harvard professor was among a group of 24 Black economists, businessmen and educators who met this week with President Reagan to present a list of policy initiatives they call their "agenda for Black progress."

Professor of Public Policy Glenn C. Loury called the meeting, held on the birthday of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., "worthwhile."

The session took place just one day before the National Urban League released its annual survey. "The State of Black America," which criticizes Reagan's policy toward Blacks as "callous."

Members of the League have charged that Reagan's meeting Tuesday with the Council for a Black Economic Agenda was "an attempt to circumvent the leadership that has historically spoken for Blacks," The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Yet Council Chairman Robert L. Woodson told The Crimson yesterday that "it is folly to talk of circumventing anyone."

"It's a myth that there is just one voice to be heard among Blacks--whites don't have one, and neither do we," Woodson added.

Despite the controversy, Loury, whose "fresh ideas and thoughtful essays" on Black policy led Woodson to invite him to take part in the historic meeting, said the initiatives were discussed at a "philosophical level as well as at a political level."

"President Reagan made a commitment to follow up on our initiatives, to see that they don't fall through the cracks," Loury said after Reagan announced he would appoint a White House official to take charge of the requests.

Woodson hailed the meeting as the beginning of a "strategic alliance between President Reagan and Black America."

Loury said the council asked the President and meeting chairman Edwin R. Meese III for policy changes, including the promotion of private ownership of public housing, funding to enable poor Black children to attend private schools, and a reform in the foster care system, making it easier for low income persons to adopt children in public charge.

Woodson said he and the three-week-old council requested the meeting because they were "concerned about the lack of progress" in policies toward low-income Blacks. "We saw a failure in traditional solutions like welfare," he explained.

The Times reported that Reagan Administration officials have said privately in recent weeks that the President needs to "reach outside established black leadership channels in an effort to appeal to blacks who might be more supportive of the President."