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The Panther
February, 1970
THE
PANTHER
Clark College — Atlanta, Georgia 30314
Editor
Lillian Andrews
Associate Editor
Barbara Boone
Reporter
Carla Bryce
Faculty Adviser .
Alan Buss el
The Panther is published by students of Clark College. Letters to the
editors are welcome but must be signed (names will be withheld on request).
Math brings on the blues
at Clark College
The Panther heeds attack
The Panther has come come under repeated attack from students who were not
pleased with its first 69-70 edition. The editors’ policy has been especially de
nounced because most criticizers are under the impression that their items will not
be printed unless the staff has the same opinion as the writer. This is not the case.
The wording of the policy was somewhat harsh but was only meant to be specific
and not clandestine. Any student’s opinion that will help bring about change or will
stimulate interest in the college’s worthwhile endeavors will receive ample space
in the paper—on the editorial page. The item will only be edited as far as sentence
structure goes and will not contain words that the editor feels are vile.
Although students have been very generous with concern as to the continuous
publication of The Panther, the same type of concern has not been shown as far
as the actual gathering of news items. Many students have been extended personal
invitations to work on the paper but have refused to give the time. At the present
time, the real staff consists of three people out of an enrollment of 1,079 students
as of the second semester. Those of you who wish a longer paper should think
of this in terms of the time it takes three people to put together a short paper as
against a longer paper put together by as many as a dozen needed people. Some
of you have voiced a willingness to work with the paper but you have yet to
pass in a word of the material that was your responsibility to get. It is somewhat
hard for three people to put together a paper that will entice such a large body
of various personalities. This editor has found that waiting for help from others is
like waiting for a human to give birth to a stone. However, the “staff” is trying
harder to present The Panther from the view point of the entire student body.
The greeks are to be especially commended for their understanding of the
elimination of the greek reports, although the same cannot be said of the gossip
column worshipers. Gossip is not constructive and the paper intends to be. A gossip
column would give the paper more readers but will give it a shadow of foolishness.
You as the majority should not be pleased with letting such a small staff
represent you. In fact, you should be displeased enough to want to do something
about it, and your something should have results
Rumor has it that Clark’s very own
math department inspired the writing
of the most popular song titles on the
charts today. Songs such as: “Some
body Please,” “How can I tell my mom
and dad?”. . . “Here I go again,” . . .
“Gonna Keep on trying till I win,” . . .
“Release me” and others are believed
to have had their beginning here on the
campus.
Student sentiments about the math
department and its ineffectiveness can
easily be expressed, and generally is,
in vivid four-lettered words. One stu
dent said, “The department expects the
students to grasp the theorems and
principles as a math student would—
and that’s not right.” All the students
questioned had basically the same
opinion of the department.
The concensus of the department
was that the high student failure rate
was due to factors other than mathe
matical material and the effectiveness
of the teachers. The department was
asked why did they think the student
failure rate was so high? Their answers
were: unlimited cuts, unwillingness of
the student to apply himself, no out
side study of lecture material, non-
attendance of tutorial sessions and the
disinterest of students in securing their
own books. The department also re
garded the cheating average of the class
as second to none.
The department provided docu
ments and statements written by per
sons outside the school. The docu
ments and statements were mostly be
stowing honors upon the department
and some were for honors received
by math students that came out of the
department. Other documents de
scribed the course now being taught to
Business and Economics Dept, lacks effective staffing
Many students are facing the dilem
ma that others before them have al
ready faced in the Business and Eco
nomics Department at Clark. The de
partment is lacking in many areas—
worst of all, the staffing is very bad.
Presently there are about 192 majors
in the department and at one time or
another they have voiced complaints
about the ineffectiveness of the de
partment’s teachers. Besides being un
derstaffed, the department has on its
faculty people who cannot relate to the
students they teach. Students are flunk
ing and/or barely passing under people
who should not be in classroom teach
ing positions.
When interviewed about the depart
ment’s problems, James Hefner, chair
man of the Business and Economics
department at Clark had this to say:
“The problem is that the administra
tion has not seen fit to spend time in
getting better faculty members in the
department. This department needs at
least two PhDs but does not have
them. This year marks the first time
that the department has had a chair
man in 15 years and not an acting
chairman. An acting chairman cannot
set policies for his staff to follow; he
can only suggest. The administration
seems not to be conscious of the prob
lem that exist here.”
Questioned further, Hefner said,
“Clark does not bid for its teachers as
effectively as it could. Faculty members
sometimes get their positions at Clark
by contacting the college instead of
vice versa.”
Students who have spent any time
at all in business courses are quick to
advise others against taking anything in
the department at Clark. When asked
the reason for this, a Clark junior re
plied, “If you pass teacher X, it will
be because you cheated, cheezed. or
because he wanted you to. However,
you won’t learn a damn thing.” He
went on, “I found out kind of late that
I should have taken all my courses in
business on some other campus. The
teachers on everybody’s campus except
Clark's are heavy and their heavyness
benefits their students because the
teachers take an interest in whether
their students are learning or not. A
teacher at Brown even allots part of his
free time for off-campus study sessions.
Around here you have to catch these
people when you can. Also I feel that
the part-time teachers should be on a
no-time basis. People that are so caught
up in affairs elsewhere don't have time
to be a teacher. They don’t give a
damn who passes or who doesn’t, or
if anyone does for that matter!”
When asked if he felt that govern
ment funds would help the situation in
his department in the way that they
have Clark's science departments,
Hefner said, “In the first place the
department has always been very un
derstaffed. This one of the few years
that teachers have not been teaching
five or six courses by themselves. We
are still understaffed, but not as much
as wc have been. The Henderson ad
ministration has given the department
as much as it has some of the other
departments. But everybody likes to
further scientific knowledge. I wish
there were government grants available
for this business department. Maybe
in the future there will be. But to get
better teachers, the college must offer
more and better pay: the college has to
get in the mainstream and become
competitive.”
The Business and Economics de
partment needs revamping and an al
most entire restaffing. Students pay
too much money to have to take
courses from people whose educational
capabilities are questionable. Students
should not be the victims of non-teach
ing instructors. They should not be
crippled by some new teacher's first
efforts in a classroom. The main objec
tive of students under these pressures is
to pass, not necessarily to learn. This
kind of situation has also stimulated
some of the cheating in which so many
students engage.
Lately much emphasis has been
placed on black people getting into
business. Clark will do much to hinder
its own if the wrong being done to its
future black managers, accountants,
economists and salesmen is not cor
rected.
in-coming freshmen as remedial —
documents provided by the State of
Georgia equate the course to that pres
ently being taught seventh graders. The
math department should also be cited
for being the only department in the
school to have met the requirements
set by the state accrediting committee.
The math department does enjoy
certain academic credits that other
Clark departments have failed to ac
quire—and the department can take
a bow for the quality of math students
they have turned out. Also granted the
department is their sincerity for the
better interest of the student, in meet
ing the requirements of the institution
and the State of Georgia. But, if on the
other hand, Clark students aren’t being
stimulated by the present teaching
method it may not be the most efficient
method for Clark.
The administration—not the depart
ment or the students—is burdened
with the responsibility of carefully
examining the situation unbiasedly,
without pressure from either side, and
effecting a workable plan for the good
of Clark College. In other words, if
the student is in default, do not lower
Clark standards to accommodate them
they could only be hurt by such an act.
If the department is failing the students
by using standards and methods that
do not work best for this institution,
modification of the present method
might be a solution. However, if modi
fication of the method does not bring
about the desired results, then con
sideration of a different and more suit
able method should be employed be
fore too much money is invested and
too many students sacrificed.
Clark’s reputation could suffer from
the lowering of standards as well as
from detrimental records reflecting the
high failure rate of its student popula
tion. It is for the administration to take
command and follow through.
Clark first, foremost and forever
should guide the minds of those who
govern, teach and attend the North
Star of the A.U. Center.
Volumes missing from Clark
The Panther has learned that Clark
has several missing volumes of black
history from its poorly organized
library. The volumes represent a very
well documented historical background
of the black man in America. The
author is a black former slave.
The Panther has reason to believe
that the library staff does not know
the books are gone even though they
have been for several months.
The missing reference material em
phasizes the need for organization in'
the library.
The black answer
Students involved in changes
by 3Js
The answer to our dead school is
SIC-students involved in change.
We, the students of Clark College,
walk around our campus saying “Clark
is dead,” It’s nothing. But Clark is no
more than what we make it. If we do
not have any place to go it is not the
college’s problem, it is ours, for we—
the students—must bring on a social
change.
You say that there is nothing to do
at night. The “rec” is open from seven
to ten but very few people go. You
want beer and wine to be sold on
campus. You must let the school know
that you want beer sold, not just one
or two people, the masses must show
that they want beer sold. Movies on
Sunday? You must make it known in
the masses that you want movies on
Sundays. You want co-visitation privi
leges on Sunday in your dorms? You
must write a proposal saying that you
want this with two-thirds of the resi
dents of the dorms signing it.
Black people of Clark, your main
purpose for coming to Clark is to
get a good education. Are you? Just
think of the many nights that you
haven’t studied, or the assignments that
you didn’t turn in. You say you are
“getting over”, but the people on
Hunter Street are “getting over.”
The days of a college student are
full of “changes." A black student has
(Continued on page 3)