Newspaper Page Text
October 19, 1990
Clark Atlanta University Panther
Page 5
Dr. Durley Bids CAU A Fond Farewell
PANTHER: What will you do now?
DR. DURLEY: I will concentrate on community
development. 1 am the chair of the Interagency
3 Council and 1 sit on several neighborhood boards. To
feed myself, I will probably have to do something, but
I believe that when you are doing good things, God
will bless you.
* PANTHER: You place a lot of importance on
i helping others. Do you see many college students
involved in community service?
DR. DURLEY: Not enough. There seems to be a
definite lack of values in our young people today. They
find it easy to lie, steal, cheat — the worst part is that
they find nothing wrong with ‘getting over’.
PANTHER: How else can students benefit from
community involvement and service?
DR. DURLEY: We have students that come every
Sunday to help feed the hungry at Providence. For
many students, working with the disadvantaged is a
rude awakening. It is something that our students
must see, they must be aware of it. One young lady,
after helping with the homeless, broke down in tears.
She said, ‘How long have my people been living like
this?’ It is not that the students are snooty, but most of
them have been raised in comfortable environments
and they just don’t know that these kinds of conditions
exist? Once they experience this, they experience a
whole new kind of attitude change. These students are
more attuned.
Dr. and Mrs. GERALD DURLEY
Dr. Gerald L. Durley, 49, is the director of
Community Relations for Clark Atlanta University.
He also serves as the pastor for Providence Missionary
Baptist Church (located behind the V. W. Henderson
Center), and is the Executive Director of the Head
Start Program for Fulton and Douglas counties. Dr.
Durley has had vast experience in the field of
education and counseling. He has been at CA U since
1984 as Dean of Students, Director of the Counseling
Department and Assistant to the President. Prior to
coming to CA U, Dr. Durley was president of Global
Perspectives of Washington, D.C. He is a learned
man. He recieved an undergraduate degree in
Psychology from Tennessee State University, a
masters degree in Community Mental Health from
Northern Illinois University, a doctorate degree in
Urban Education and Psychology from the University
of Massachusetts and a Masters of Divinity Degree
from Howard University. He served in the U.S. Peace
Corps for two years in Nigeria, West Africa. For years,
Dr. Durley has worked “...to improve the conditions
and circumstances which impede people from
achieving their maximum, self-realized potential. "It is
this desire that has prompted him to resign as Director
of Community Relations at CAU. Dr. Durley was
interviewed by the CAU Panther editor-in-chief
Paulette V. Walker.
PANTHER: After six years of service to CA U, you
have resigned. Why?
DR. DURLEY: I had to make a change in my
lifestyle. When I was in Washington, I had a nice job,
big house, two Mercedes, swimming pool — I was
rolling. 1 was touring the states and motivating college
students, but then after a while I said, ‘What’s this?’
After I received my Masters of Divinity degree from
Howard, I began to understand that action spoke
louder than words. Sure I was speaking on Black
college campuses and exciting students — but
everybody talks. I felt it was time for me to change my
lifestyle and work directly with the students. I came to
Clark and did this..After six years, I feel that I have
made a difference and felt it was time to help in
another dimension. In September, I decided to change
my lifestyle to work more directly with the people in
the community. Most people who have gotten as many
degrees don’t have the time — don’t make the time —
to do things designed to help others.
PANTHER: Do you see many faculty and staff
members working in the community?
DR. DURLEY: There are some faculty members
who work in the community. These members have said
that their teaching has improved as a result because
they are more sensitive'“to the students in the
classroom. More members of the administrative staff
need to become more involved. Then they might better
understand why a student gets so upset when they find
that their financial aid isn’t straightened out.
PANTHER: Is there an answer for college students?
DR. DURLEY: First of all, students must seek
creative ways to integrate themselves with the
community in which they go to school. At one time, we
gained through giving and this theory has to become
an instrinsic part of the individual. Students must find
that local church, the boys or girls club and just ask
the question, ‘What is it that I can do?’ Students who
do these things are well rounded; they are better
students in the classroom because they raise deeper
questions. The things they learn in class begin to make
more sense. Finally, students must learn to combine
their book learning with value judgments. They must
be able to see the importance and integrity in taking
that lower-paying job if it positively impacts the lives
of many. They must take a look at the types of
decision-making skills they have learned. They must
develop some kind of integrity, some kind of decency,
some kind of moral system has to be incorporated
while they are here.
PANTHER: Clark has been severely criticized by
the media, parents and students. Where do you see
CA U headed in the 90s?
DR. DURLEY: A lot of the criticism is premhture
and misplaced. When Jerry Glanville came in as head
coach for the Falcons, the first thing that the media
said was, ‘It’s going to take him three to five years to
begin to build and put a team together.’ And so it is
with CAU. With an entity this large, the first two to
three years is going to take people knowing who to
work with and how to work with them; who goes
downfield, who is the blocker, who are the linebackers
and who is the quarterback. Once the players have
been identified, then the playbook has to be put
together. That’s what CAU is doing — getting the long
and short range goals together. Some students smirk
when the hear the term ‘first-class university.’ I say to
them, just look back at Harvard when it started in
1687. It wasn’t until after 1776 that they began to build
a reputation and then it wasn’t until the late 1800s that
it’s alumni started sending back money — that’s a total
of 200 to 300 years. Clark is only 100-something years
old. We’ve only just begun.
PANTHER: Next month, the Atlanta University
Center is celebrating it’s 30th anniversary of the Civil
Rights Movement involvement. Students were very
active back then — socially and politically. Do you see
a big difference in the students today?
DR. DURLEY: Students are more apathetic today.
There were apathetic students in the 60s. but the
difference is we had clearly defined causes that we
could address. For instance, we couldn’t ride the bus at
the Greyhound station downtown, so we went
downtown and rallied. We also had newly formed
organziations that like the SCLC, and although the
NAACP wasn’t new, they both were very active, they
gave us guidance. Today the causes are different but
yet they are the same. The students’ cause today is not
how much they can have in life, but improving the
quality of their lives, and this goes back to my earlier
statement: improving the quality of life for others.
PANTHER: Your generation found causes with the
guidance of Civil Rights organizations; where can the
twenty-something generation find their causes?
DR. DURLEY: A mind that has been trained at a
university has a certain responsibility. When they read
the issues in the paper, they should read beyond the
issue. There they will find their causes. Once you have
been blessed with financial resources, academic
resources, degrees... you can go out and battle the
Chamber of Commerce, City Hall, the Supreme
Court. That’s the level of activism that is needed today.
Students need to pay more attention to the quality of
life, quality of neighborhoods, quality of the kinds of
politicians you put into office, the quality of spiritual
leaders in the pulpits. Therein lies the causes for
students today.
PANTHER: Some students wear the symbols of
Africa around their neck and they wear African prints
— isn’t that a form of activism?
DR. DURLEY: Recently, I spoke with a group of
students at Wilberforce University. Many were
wearing necklaces in the shape of Africa. I told them,
‘Take those symbols of Africa from around your necks
because you are putting something on the outside and
not on the inside.’ If you look at the African culture,
they emphasize caring for their senior citizens, their
children, their handicapped ... they have a communal
kind of living. That is Africa — not wearing a symbol,
a hairstyle or an earring in your nose.
PANTHER: What did you find most enjoyable at
CAU?
DR. DURLEY: I enjoyed the open access to the
students, even those I have had to put out of school.
Many of them have come back after maturing and
started over. I loved the openness and the honesty with
individuals and groups of students.
PANTHER: The class of '91 is preparing to
graduate. What words of wisdom or advice can you
give them?
DR. DURLEY: As you leave your foundation,
always remember your launching pad. As you move
forward, always be a representative of yourself first.
This, again, goes back to quality of life. Do the best
you can and send some back to CAU. This is very
important! As you have drawn from the well of CAU,
you must then put something back.