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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.