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Page 2 The Panther November 3, 1978 Clark Provides Real World For Students By A. Lineve Wead Co-Editor “My principal sent me to college ... I did not even want to go. My grandmother filled out the application and I signed it,” our newly inaugurated president admitted. As Dr. Elias Blake. Jr. uttered those words, it took me back a few years to when I came to Clark. If students attending Clark really listened to Blake’s inauguration address, we should have felt something deep down inside. We can identify with our president from Brunswick. Ga., we can relate to his lifestyle, and we can look up to him and see a future for ourselves. These qualities of our leader at Clark cannot be found at any other institution other than black schools How many students get the chance to complain verbally to their college president about conditions at school? Not manv at white schools. Can we call our instructors at home and find that personalized attention waiting on the other end of the line? Many times, yes. Yes, we can laugh, and joke about situations that many of us have lived, because we are a family, and easily identifiable; yes, we can relate to one another’s experience. Some will argue that in the “real world” we will have to work more with whites, and therefore, black education is restrictive. It is only restrictive for those who make it that way. Our educators at Clark make us aware of the world facing us and better preoare us to work effectively. Graduates will argue they did not learn anything from Clark. It is up to us as students to make more use of our resources, and seek answers to questions that are not found in the classroom alone. Nothing comes easy, but most things are worth working for. Thank you Blake for making me realize once again that I made the right decision by choosing a black school. Dr. Elias Blake, Jr. is applauded after investiture by E.L. Simon, chairman, Board of Trustees, Clark College, (Photo by Jerome Gwinn) The PANTHER is published twice monthly by the students at Clark College. Editors Suleiman Abdul-Azeez Ann L. Wead News Editor Marcia Jones Feature Editor Denise Green Sports Editor Charles Anderson Photography Editor ... .Tyraun Patterson Business Manager Jack Jenkins Faculty Advisors Denise Johnson Osker Spicer All articles, poetry, photographs and other con tributions to the newspaper may be dropped off at our of fices in Thayer Hall. Address all correspondence to: PANTHER Newspaper, Box 154 Clark College, Atlanta, Ga. 30314. Guest Editorial: Fuller Encourages Black Writers By Suleiman Abdul-Azeez PANTHER Co-Editor The editor-publisher of a national magazine of black thought said there is no separation between the writer and the world in which he lives. Hoyt W. Fuller, editor- publisher of First World, was delivering the keynote address at the first annual Writers Conference sponsored by the Southern Collective of African-American Writers (SCAAW) in Atlanta. He spoke at the opening session held at the Neighborhood Arts Center Oct. 20. The three-day conference had as its theme, “Developing the Writer: Maximizing Resources.” “Don’t be swayed by the universality argument which encourages that black people not be focused upon,” Fuller advised his audience of 150. Fuller also said black people themselves are primarily to blame for not achieving their drive toward autonomy in their literature. He said during the 50’s and 60’s when black literature was experiencing a renaissance, a substantial number of highly influential black leaders did not wholly embrace black artistry. Some leaders even criticized Black Renaissance writings. The noted black editor as sured the audience, “the black aesthetic does exist.” He said Europeans have said aes thetics are neutral and universal, that the beautiful, graceful and tasteful retain their quality everywhere. “If the dimensions are universal, then Europeans have not believed in them,” Fuller said. “They have always projected Africans as ugly, lazy and graceless.” According to Fuller, however, there is a white, European aesthetic; and if there is a white aesthetic, then there has to be a black aes thetic, “for our sense of what is beautiful, graceful, etc. does not agree with theirs.” Fuller advised black writers to write to expose the black condition; read to gain in formation about who they are; and research to find out where they fit in the world. A native Atlantan, Fuller was educated in the public schools of Detroit, Mich., where he also received a B.A. degree in literature and journalism from Wayne State University. Besides his editorial functions he has taught courses in writing and Afro-American literature and conducted seminars at Colum bia College (Chicago) and the U. of Wisconsin (Madison), In diana U. (Bloomington), Northwestern and Wayne State U. Georgia Colleges Possible Black Face Merger By Michael Cottman The Georgia State Board of Regents has developed a tentative five year desegregation proposal, that will force three of Georgia’s historically black colleges into a struggle to preserve their black heritage. In March of 1973, U.S. District Court Judge Wilbur Owens, ordered the Georgia Board of Regents to desegregate three traditionally Black colleges in order to upgrade the academic standards of the colleges. The three schools selected for the plan were, Savannah State, Albany State, and Fort Valley State College. The proposal reads as follows: “Black Savannah State College would receive major campus landscape improvements, and a heavy emphasis would be placed on undergraduate business administration programs. New education programs would also be included in the package. Black Savannah State would then be united with predominantly white Armstrong State College. Black Albany State will receive state and federal funds, which would be used to renovate the college, and to enhance the college academically. At the close of the 1981-82 school year, Albany State is expected to attract a 25 to 30 percent White enrollment. Failure to reach this mark, will result in the merger of predominantly black Albany State with predominantly white Albany Junior College, under the supervision of a black president, and two white vice-presidents. *Black Fort Valley State will also be alloted state funding which will be used for the development of landscape and to im prove their agricultural programs. The proposal would then call for the merger of black Fort Valley State with predominantly white Macon Junior College. Predictions for the project’s major landscape developments, for all three Black colleges could reach an estimated high of $50 million. The proposal to merge whites into Black colleges is again another attempt by whites to destroy our Black institutions. This desegregation proposal must be stopped before it starts. Allow ing whites to infiltrate our Black colleges will deprive us of the right to fully identify with our Black heritage. “Blacks are asked to accept white values, and give up their own black identity,” says Dr. Donnie Belamy, Fort Valley’s Social Science Division Chairman. “When we lose touch with our heritage, we lose touch with ourselves and our self identity.” Students must be aware of this problem, and be prepared to take a stand on the issue. If you are not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. “Race is a definite factor in this proposal,” says Fort Valley’s president, Cleveland W. Pettigrew. “As blacks we must develop our knowledge, strengthen ourselves, and make a committment to save our black institutions.” It is indeed obvious, that whites are attempting to stagnate the progression of blacks, by tactfully trying to penetrate our Black colleges. We as black students need black institutions for the further development of black awareness. Without black colleges there would no longer be a link between black heritage and self idenity. “The key question here is this,” says Atlanta Regent Elridge McMillan, “How does a state system in which all institutions already desegregated, move forward to achieve a greater degree of racial balance. Federal government says you’re got to achieve that greater degree of racial balance while still maintaining the historically black institutions.” It is time for Black students to realize that this proposal of merger effects us all in the long run. What kind of impact will this have on younger blacks who are now considering attending black state schools. “This is indeed a serious attempt to overthrow our black institutions,” says Floyd Donald, Clark’s SGA . president. “The merger of whites into black colleges will deny blacks the opportunity to obtain leadership roles.” This highly controversial issue has succeeded in capturing the attention of many interested black around the state, who feel a need to participate in the move to save our black institutions. If black students are not concerned enough to support this issue, this may eventually lead to the downfall of black colleges.