Newspaper Page Text
MAY 1969
PANTHER
Page 3
STUD ENTS EDITORIALS ADMINISTRA TION EDITORIALS STUDENTS EDITORIALS ADMINISTRA'.
Take A Look At Pfeiffer Hall
Grapevine My
Impressions of Clark
BY MRS. ALBENIA HARDEMAN
‘CO-ED LIFE’
DIRECTOR, PFEIFFER HALL
The latter part of September 1968, the residents of Pfeiffer met
and elected officers for the dormitory. The president of the Senate
is male and the chairman of the House Council is female. Men and
women are the officers of both the Senate and the House Council.
We have two facilitators who are men.
The House Council members met and setup a few rules and regu
lations which they felt were needed in order to operate the dormi
tory smoothly. These were carried to the residents, discussed, and
adopted.
Today, in institutions of higher learning, there is much discussion
about co-ed residence halls. Many schools have built or are plan
ning to build such units. Co-ed units tend to be developed in any
of three ways: a) large living centers with separate buildings for
men and women, as at Southern Illinois University; b) a large
building with separate wings for women and men as planned at the
University of Louisville, or in a few cases; c) large halls with
separate floors for men and women as at the University of Californ
ia, and at Clark College-Pfeiffer Hall! Co-ed housing is new to
the larger campus, where traditionally, as resicence halls were
built, men and women lived in different areas of the campus, their
residence hall governments were different and separate, and ar
tificial social activities had to be developed in order to get the men
and women acquainted.
To evaluate co-ed halls, one must consider the basic objectives
of residence halls and their contributions to campus life. Halls
not only provide a place to sleep, but they provide a stimulating
environment for the student’s major goal of satisfactory aca
demic achievement, and at the same time, opportunities for leader
ship development through the benefits o co-curricular activites.
A student spends 50-60% of his time studying in his room, does
65 to 70% of his time in his living center.
In view of the goals of residence halls and in view of practi-
can and efficient operation, co-ed halls have many advantages for
students, for the college, and for those responsible for hall ac
tivities. One major problem is solved by combining men’s and
women’s halls, and that is - it allows for most effective use of
space.
One question posed to those working with the co-ed, concerns
the effect of such living on the students’ grades. Do students play
more in a co-ed center? Are there distractions from study? Is
there more time spent socializing? As in any living unit, the
greatest problems arise among the freshmen. For those who come
to school for a ‘social-life’, too much time can be spent in the
common lounge or recreation room. Designated areas must be
set up, students and staff must work towards the establishment
of patterns of study hours and leisure time. Time and energy are
saved for those students who want to study together when they meet
in a study area set up in the living unit. We do have a corner set
up in the lower lounge for language conversations and mathema
tics students to study out-loud together, and even for those to play
cards.
Advantages for social education and social activities are quite
easy to see too. Both men and women are aware of dress; women
more readily leave off hair curlers. Formal exchange parties
are not necessary, for men and women mix and get to know one-
another in the daily associations. There is a great advantage in
providing a social outlet for the ‘bookworm’ or the shy student
who may refuse to attend a planned social event, by participation
in cultural and scholastic activities of the hall, by getting to know
the opposite sex in a natural, informal way, a fuller social life is
made possible for men and women. General social behavior pat
terns appear to be better in the co-ed living center. Men have a
better understanding of the women’s ‘closing hours’when involved
in the living center problems.
The problems of ‘necking’ and lounge behavior may increase in
a co-ed center, but it becomes the problem of the House Coun
cil to adjust the situations.
It was thought that women would lose their opportunity of lead
ership in combining the men and women into one unit, but not so
in Pfeiffer Hall this year - we have men and women serving as
officers of both, the Senate and the House Council.
The members of the House Council felt that there should be some
time for quietness, so they set 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. - Monday
through Thursday - for the quiet hours. We felt that it would have
worked better in the other dormitories if they too had set such a
program. The residents continued to come in and out - some loud,
and some with the idea that co-ed meant to come in and our re
gardless.
In all, all of Pfeiffer is a live dormitory with resident closeness
like that of a big family.
Many plans are set up for a better operation for the next year,
with all concerned working together to make it a most perfect
center.
WHATEVER YOU DO,
DON'T LET THE
JONESES GET YOU
DOWN!
ITS BEEN SAID THAT:
BY CINDY STILLGESS
_ A certain sophomore girl
had spring-fever all winter long.
All the fellows know who she is.
- Two certain seniors were
attacked by two certain ‘you-
know-whats’ in BRAWLEY Hall
recently.
- Guess what girl is desper
ately in love with the baseball
team?
-Guess what freshman girl
with dyed hair needs to quiet
down?
- Guess what sophomore girl
is over whelmingly crazy about
R.K.? She thinks it’s love.
* * *
NOTE: Cindy Stillgess is a Junior from Urbana, Ohio who is ma
joring in Political Science. She is presently at Clark on the ex
change prograrn from Depauw University, Indiana.
Being black at a white school for two and a half years has really
given me a great appreciation of this semester at Clark. I have
enjoyed, immensely, being here among my brothers and sisters.
Having access to all of the schools in the A. U. Center has given
me the chance to attend various lectures and programs given in
pursuance of black awareness. I have attended them and have found
them all to be fascinating. I could never have imagined Le Roi
Jones at Depauw University “tellin’ ’em like it is.!”
CLASSES
The classes here, I have found to be, on the average, are about
1/2 the size of the classes I have attended at Depauw. They are
also much more informal, and needless to say, for the most part,
consists mostly of black students.
- What freshman girl took off
her engagement ring to mess
with a dish-washer? Hint: Suite
30 knows who.
- B.A., is it true that blondes
have more fun?
- Guess who recently lost a
false tooth while talking to a
quite handsome upper-class
man?
- Would you believe that Jean
and Joe are two of the nicest
couples the world has ever
known? It’s really true!!
- Rumor has it that at the last
Pan-Hellenic Council meeting
it was decided that the pledgees
of Alpha Phi Omega will not
be considered for pledgeship
in any of the already established
Greek Fraternities here on
campus.
Clark College, one of the six
schools in Atlanta°s predomi
nantly Negro Atlanta Universi
ty educational complex, has been
awarded a $126,445 grant froom
the Ford Foundation to finance
a project to improve the campus
newspaper.
All four-year degree granting
black colleges in the nation, the
great majority of whichh
great majority of which are in
the south, have been invited to
participate in the Clark College
project.
Campus newspapers and staffs
will receive up to 20 days of con
sulting service from professional
journalists on nearby newspapers
or fa cull
or faculty members at nearby
schools.
Among newspapers cooper
ating are the New Orleans States-
Item, the Charlotte Observer, the
Nashville Tennessean, and the
Houston Post.
However, what I consider to be of the greatest difference be
tween the two schools is that here a black person can actually
enjoy a social life, while at Depauw it is hard to find a place to
party - while the white fraternities and sororities control nearly
everything. With all the cards stacked against us, we Afro-Ameri
can Depauwites still manage to party frequently, and have a good
time.
SOCIAL LIFE
Clark is far ahead of Depauw as far as social regulations are
concerned. All women have curfew hours at Depauw, and probably
they always will have, as long as Depauw exists. After all, DPU
is supposed to be a‘seedbed of Middle-class Morality and the Pro
testant Ethic. ’
Since there are so few of us there (18 black undergrads) all-tolled,
we have to stick together. When we decided that we wanted to try
and initiate changes there regarding the university’s treatment
of black students, we stood united and watched as the white ad
ministration quaked; for example, when we demanded the enroll
ment of more black students and certain special privileges for us
on campus. For the most part, we have and are achieving our
goals because we work together as a group.
Therefore, the most disappointing thing that I have found about
Clark (and the whole A. U. Center as well) is that nobody seems
to be interested in the actual direction toward which the black
community here and in this country is moving. When I say interest
ed - I mean actively interested. Except for a select few, no-one is
actively doing enough, if anything. I came here primed to be with
“my people” and I found that most Clarkites are dismally apathe
tic about group solidarity. This seems totally ironic to me because
I had thought the feeling of black solidarity would of necessity
have to be stronger here where there is a greater concentration of
blacks.
I cannot help but think about the great mass of power that would
result if the students in the entire center would consolidate in
terms of achieving black goals in the city of Atlanta, if not here on
the campuses.
GREEKDOM
One of the most damaging factors against acquiring a sense of
solidarity here is the Greek system. I understand that Stokely said
it before me, but it is still a very real problem. It is completely
unfeasible for a divided community to divide themselves even fur
ther by attacking superficial differences between Greeks and other
Greeks, an likewise, Greeks and non-Greeks.
I have watched the white Greek system at Depauw in its exclusion
policies and the superior attitudes emitted by certain fraternities
and sororities there. It makes me sick to my heart to see a car
bon copy of a very obvious white system working here to divide us
even further. Greekdom is not relevant to black solidarity.
When I first arrived on campus, I was introduced to Mr. So-
and-So, and afterwards told that he was a Kappa. Of course it
meant nothing to me until Ihadbeen here long enough to know that
Kappas are supposed to be different from Ques, Alphas, Sigmas,
etc. I have the same animosity towards' sororities. What differ
ence does it make in the final analysis whether one is an AKA,
a Delta, Zeta, or a Sigma Gamma Rho. What is important is that
we are all black.
I was shocked and dismayed even further when I first realized
that certain fraternities require that pledgees be “branded” after
crossing the sands, with a Greek letter. How ridiculous it seems
to me to maime, ones-self for an organization which radiates im
maturity. It is irrelevant to go through the grueling process of
pledging when there are so many other things for us blacks to
be concerned with.
In closing, I realize my indictment against Greeks is basically
useless, but I do believe that more thought and action should be
given so that we can become a more cohesive people; and that
GREEKDOM AND APATHY must be overcome if we are to exist
as a solid community.
THIS IS THE FINAL EDITION OF THE
CLA RK COLLEGE
PANTHE R NEWS.
SEE YOU ALL AGAIN NEXT SEMESTER!!