Newspaper Page Text
Vol. XXXIV, No. 2
The Panther
Clark College, Atlanta
March, 1971
Rising costs to blame for college deficit
President Vivian W. Henderson
says that as a result of rising
costs, Clark is facing another def- Charge 1967-1968
icit. Tuition $ 750
Henderson said that the col- Fees 115
lege’s operating deficit for last Room 180
year was $100,000. Board 423
“Clark is raising more money Laundry 38
now than it has in previous
years,’ the president said, “but it Total: $1,506
is not enough to off-set the tre
mendous rise in the cost of ope- ges ^ or tuition, room and board,
rating a college.” The cost of operating the col-
Henderson said that Clark is lege rises faster than our re
trying to minimize last year’s ce ipts of revenue to meet them,
deficit by: Moreover, while we must in-
• increasing tuition. . crease charges to students, it is
• making no expansion in a f ac 't that we are not able to
staff. P ass costs on to students at a
• cutting back the budget. ra t e that will allow us to re
in October Henderson made his ce * ve additional revenue to meet
fifth annual report to the Board higher costs.”
of Trustees and said that some The report called for a charge
sources of the institution’s to students , for 1971-1972 of
money problems were: $2,390. This is a increase from
• Clark’s support of the At- this year’s tuition, which is
lanta Univerity Center. $2,164, or $226. The acompany-
• less than expected funds ing chart details charges made
from corporations, founda- to students.
tions and donors. The Panther told the president
• the college’s wish not to that many students have a'sked
pass higher expenses onto why tuition increases each year,
students in the form of Henderson responded, “It
higher charges. simply costs more to instruct,
Henderson’s report to the and we have to find some way
Trustees said, in part, “It is ne- to pay for the cost of instruction,
cessary that we increase char- Right now, we have to maintain
(proposed
1971-1972)
1968-1969
1969-1970
1970-1971
increase
$ 850
$1,000
$1,100
$1,225
(125)
125
155
192
220
( 28)
189
216
243
270
( 27)
478
530
575
620
( 45)
47
53
54
55
( 1)
$1,689
-1,954
$2,164
$2,390
(226)
the charge
to students at a
level mission,
recently noted that one
where they pay 40 per cent of of the gravest problems facing
the cost of instruction.” black institutions has been fi-
The other 60 per cent of the nancial.
expenses needed for the college The newspaper noted that the
is raised by the president. He report recommended that “the
goes to foundations, corporations federal government triple its
and individual philanthropists support to colleges and univer-
and asks them to support the col- sities founded for blacks.’
lege in its endeavors. Henderson said that it is diffi-
“Every time we increase tui- cult for Clark to take advantage
tion, we have got to raise more of the $20 million the Nixon
money—because we realize that Administration has set aside for
more students aren’t able to low-cost construction loans to
pay,” Henderson said. “Don’t black colleges,
think that we are not fully a'ware “The period of time in which
of this problem. It’s very seri- we have to apply for the use of
ous, but colleges across the coun- the money is too short,” Hen-
try face this problem of having derson said. “We were given
to raise tuition in order to mini- about eight months to apply for
mize the deficit that they have it, and it takes much longer than
in instructional cost.’ that to get the papers prepared
The Atlanta Journal and Con- for Washington. In other words,
stitution reported that the Car- unless you had a program al-
negie Commission on Higher ready on the drawing board it
Education, an academic com- was difficult to take advantage
of this money.”
Many black colleges have not
been able to take advantage of
the money because of a lack
of money. Clark is no exception.
The problem is that the colleges
are required to raise 30 per cent
of the intended cost of construc
tion on their own.
Henderson said it ( will take
“from six to eight months for
the college to raise this amount.
What president Nixon has
proposed as aid > to our colleges
really turns out not to be aid,”
Henderson said. “It is simply
another form of a loan which
would burden us as much or
more than we are at the present
time.”
Henderson said he wasn’t
worried about the problem' of
federal control over the college
if it continued receiving money
from the government.
“When the federal government
tried to introduce a law which
said it would withdraw federal
support from students who en
gaged in various confrontations,
the law was defeated,” he said.
“It was defeated because pres
idents and educators felt that
this was not the way to deal
with the problem. “The federal
Turn to Page 4 — RISING
Old problems exist
in new library
The Georgia Smith Keeney Li
brary, situated in Clark’s new
academic building, now houses
40,350 volumes, but mahy of the
books are beginning to disappear.
According to Mrs. Fannie B.
Barnes, head librarian, “more
volumes are missing from the li
brary now than there were in
the library’s previous location. I
have been told that students are
throwing the books out of the
windows.”
Mrs. Barnes said the library is
trying to solve that problem.
The library now has a check
out station students must pass
through before leaving the li
brary. The station was set up to
prevent books from being taken
out of the library illegally.
“The system is working to the
extent that if we didn’t have it,
we would lose more books than
we have already lost,” Mrs.
Barnes said. “Since students also
aren’t returning the books they
Spelman has ivorks
of black artist
The works of Benny Andrews,
black al-tist of New York City,
are on display in the John D.
Rockefeller Jr. Fine Arts build
ing on Spelman’s campus.
The exhibit is being presented
by the Coordinated Art program
of the Atlanta University Center.
The exhibit will be on display
until March 26.
check out, we have started charg
ing them for overdue books.”
Georgia Smith Keeney has
more books than any other un
dergraduate college in the At
lanta University Center (AUC).
Morehouse has no library but its
Turn to Page 3) — LIBRARY
Planned Parenthood
offers counseling
The Planned Parenthood Asso
ciation of Atlanta has opened a
youth clinic which offers family
planning information, contracept
ives, infertility and abortion
counseling and referral.
“Services of the clinic are free
for those who cannot go to a
private doctor,” said Mrs. Julian
D. Freeman, executive director
of the association.
The Clinic is located at 118 Ma
rietta Street.
Fewer Clark teachers
to return next fall
Clark’s financial problems
will reduce the number of in
structors the college has return
ing next year, says President
Vivian W. Henderson.
“I’d rather not say at this time
who or how many instructors
will be leaving,” Henderson said.
“We are still working on the
list, and all of the instructors
Clark plans 3 new buildings
Three building plans will be
presented to Clark’s Board of
Trustees in April, says President
Vivian W. Henderson.
According to Henderson, the
plans, in order of priority, call
for a gymnasium, a communica
tions building and a dormitory.
The president said Clark needs
to a’dd more buildings.
“Clark has no place for in
struction in health and physical
education, and we need a gym
nasium,” Henderson said. “I
don’t like to call it a gym be
cause it will really be a Health
a.hd Physical Education Center
with a gymnasium, swimming
pool, bowling alley, handball
courts and classrooms. It will be
situated on Clark’s athletic field.”
Clark’s athletic field is located
on Fair Street across from the
University Plaza Apartments.
Henderson said Clark needs
dormitories to keep pace with
enrollment.
“The problem is we must de
cide if we want to increase our
enrollment with a 50-50 balance*
of campus and off-campus stu
dents,” he said.
The president said he doesn’t
know where the dormitory and
communications buildings will be
but says Mildred Street is one of
the sites being considered.
“It will take at least $6 million
to construct the buildings,” Hen
derson said, “ahd that’s not easy
to raise. I have to develop a pro
gram whereby we can get the
money well layed out before we
actually start breaking ground
for the buildings.
“It is very difficult to raise
money for builldings. We have
to have a' very carefully develop
ed plan, and then we will take
our plan to foundations, corpor
ations and individual philanthro
pists to iask them to support us
in raising money for the build
ings.
“If we are lucky with raising
money for the Health and Phys
ical Education Center, we could
begin on it in two months or
maybe two years after its ap
proval,” the president said. “It
all depends on how soon we can
raise the money.”
Henderson staid there are sev
eral possible financial sources for
the buildings:
• Health and Physical Educa
tion Center: government pro-
grains, the Methodist Church
and private donors.
• Dormitory: Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
• Communications Building:
the college will plan a major ca
pital campaign.
Edward C. Miller, architect of
Clark’s new academic building,
is drawing preliminary plans for
the buildings, Henderson said.
Asked if he thought the Trus
tees would approve the building
plans, Henderson said, “We nev
er know what the Trustees will
say. All we can do is make the
arguments; they know we need
them.”
have not been notified.”
Henderson did say that 10
faculty positions vacated by res
ignations or retirements would
not be replaced. He said the va
cant positions “will not affect
Clark’s curriculum.”
The president gave several
reasons for instructors leaving
the college, including “the cost
of the college’s operations out
running the amount of money
coming in.”
“Some instructors came to
Clark as replacements for in
structors who were on leaves of
absence. Some of those on leaves
will be returning next year. In
the past we would have kept the
replacement instructors on our
faculty, but we won’t be able
to do it this year,” he said.
Henderson said this was the
first time since he came to
Clark that the college has had
to let some of its instructors go
because of financial problems.
The president came to Clark
in September, 1965.
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students may contact Fran Par
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