Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

THE ORGAN OF STUDENT EXPRESSION Number 2 Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia November Edition, 1967 THE EDITORSPEAKS BIOGRAPHY OF HUGH MORRIS GLOSTER The higher its type, the more rare ly a thing succeeds. You higher men here, have you not all fail ed? Be of good cheer, what does it matter? How much is still pos sible! Learn to laugh at yourself as one must laugh! Nietzsche Walter K. Dancy Editor In its striving towards excellence as an educa tional enterprise Morehouse College needs to take inventory and not be blinded by recent success— there is unfinished business. (1) There seems to be no sensible reason why a senior slated to graduate in June has to wait the day before to find, to his surprise, that he had too many chapel cuts in his freshman year. That, gent lemen, is absurd—but it happens. It needs to stop happening. Here are a few suggestions for remedy. When a Morehouse student applies for graduation he should receive a "balance sheet", that is, a letter signed by the Dean which explicitly states what the student must do to meet graduation re quirements. In this letter should be included the number of hours lost from chapel cuts. If this is done, there will be no confusion in a student's mind as to whether he will graduate. It would also save him and his parents needless anxiety and money spent on graduation rituals and totems. Speedy attention should be given to this unfinish ed business. (2) We need to boost the band. Again, there seems to be no reason in the realm of sense why the Morehouse Marching Tigers should sound like pussycats in Herndon Stadium. The volume was so low that even the Alphas and Kappas couldn't dance. This is not the band's fault. The men in the band do the best they can with the resources they have. So if there are Morehouse men who have musical talent, they should join the band. HUGH MORRIS GLOSTER, who became the seventh president of More house College on July 1, 1967, has been professionally active as administrator, teacher, writer, USO wartime executive, and American representative in educa tional and technical programs in foreign countries. Immediately prior to his selection as administrative head of the Atlanta institution, he had served as Dean of Faculty and Chairman of the Communications Center at Hampton In stitute in Virginia. Trained at LeMoyne College (A.A.), at Morehouse College (B.A.), at Atlan ta University (M.A.), and at New York University (Ph.D.), Dr. Gloster is known on both sides of the Atlantic. Apart from the recognition he has receiv ed for his numerous scholarly articles on American life and literature and for his two books, Dr. Gloster has held visiting professorships in English at Hirosh ima University in Japan, at the University of Warsaw, Poland, at the Experi mental College of the Virgin Islands, at Kwukoni College at Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika, and at the University of Cracow, Poland. He is founder, former president, and life member of the College Language Association, which granted him its Distinguished Achievement Award in 1958, and also as Advisory Editor of "The College Language Associa tion Journal." In addition, he is a member of the American Association of Higher Education, the Board of Directors of the Southern Fellowship Fund, and a trustee of Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and the United Negro College Fund. Listed in Who's Who i_n America. Who Knows . . . and What. Who's Who in American Education. Who's Who in the South and Southwest, and the Directory of American Scholars. Dr. Gloster is marriedto the form er Beulah Harold of Portsmouth, Virginia. He is the father of two married daughters and a four—year—old son, Hugh, Jr. FOUR NEGRO EDUCATORS ANSWER JENCKS AND RIESMAN IN HARVARD EDUCATIONAL REVIEW Hugh Morris Gloster Four distinguished Negro educators responded to the highly controversial Jencks—Riesman article on "The American Negro College" in the recent summer issue of the Harvard Educational Review. In their responses Dr. Hugh M. Gloster, president of Morehouse College, Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, president emeritus of Morehouse, Dr. Albert W. Dent, president of Dillard University, and Dr. Stephen J. Wright, president of the United Negro College Fund, refuted the charge of Harvard sociologists Christopher Jencks and David Riesman (Harvard Educational Review, Winter, 1967) that Negro colleges are "academic disaster areas" and have no future of significance. Describing the Jencks—Riesman article as "irresponsible scholarship," unscholarly," unscientific," and downright dishonest, the four educators attacked its manner and its matter. Dr. Gloster asked where Jencks and Riesman obtained the information that Meharry and Howard "rank among the worst (medical schools) in the nation." The Morehouse president also corrected the Jencks— Riesman inference that Tuskegee aspires to do no more "than just serve poor local boys" by indicating that the overwhelming majority of Tuskegee students come from other communities in the United States and abroad. (3) A long, tedious and tiring ritual which takes place at Morehouse College twice in nine months is a cold sweat. Yes, this is one man's description of REGISTRATION. We need to get out of this rut and use our heads. It is truly amazing that with all these brains at a Phi Beta Kappa college there is no improvement in registration. Is it laziness or sense less worship of tradition? Better and more efficient registration has greater appeal for students than a dry bank. "This is the way we've always done it." We know that. We also know that it is inapprop- iateand too, too long. Enough said. This unfinished business is still pending. "In this article,” declared Dr. Gloster, "we have an axample of a study classified as research but prepared like a debater's argument and filled with racial assumptions, unsupported allegations and sweeping generaliza tions." In short, observed Dr. Gloster, if the Jencks—Riesman article itself "is an example of meritorious work in this field, American sociological scholarship is likewise an 'academic disaster area.' In commenting on the seeming satisfaction of Jencks and Riesman with predominantly white universities. Dr. Gloster added: "It might interest Jencks and Riesman to know that some Negro students-after observing nonteaching professors, diverted graduate students, and stimulant=obsessed undergraduate students-feel that the large universities are also 'academic disaster areas.'" According to Dr. Wright, "the article ... is replete with judgments, speculations, impressions, a good many errors, and loaded words and phrases which are not adequately defined." continued on page 9