Newspaper Page Text
1898 THE ORGAN OF STUDENT EXPRESSION 1978
Volume 80 No. 6
Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA
December 7, 1978
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Dr. Howard Thurman
Theologian, Clergyman, and
Philosopher, Howard Thurman,
delivered a special convocation
address at Morehouse College,
while celebrating his 78th birthday,
to an audience of over 2,000 stu
dents, faculty, and visitors, includ
ing Dr. Benjamin E. Mays,
Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr.,
and Mrs. Coretta Scott King. At
one time, Life Magazine referred
to this well-known man as one of
the 12 greatest Preachers of our
times.
In his introduction of Dr. Thur
man, Dr. Hugh M. Gloster, presi
dent of Morehouse College,
emphasized that Howard Thur
man not only has authored 18
books and spoken on every conti
nent, and is the subject of a moving
film entitled “The Life and
Thought of Howard Thurman,”
but, more importantly, he said,
“To Him, the commandment,
Love thy neighbor as thyself is not
an abstract principle, but a way of
life.”
the grounds of my autonomy.
There can be no fulfillment, if I
have no sense of self, no sense of
Me.”
In closing, Dr. Thurman
charged the audience to “Be True
to Your Truth”. It does not matter
how much light there is in your sky,
the only light you see really, is the
light that falls on your path. In
your quest for fulfillment, you
must walk by the light that falls on
your path because it is your
responsibility — nobody exactly
like you, has ever lived before or
will ever live after you.” That will
lead you to the source of all life,
therefore, you can not expect life to
make any exceptions in your case.”
On Friday evening, Dr. Thur
man ended his visit to Morehouse
with an informal session with stu
dents in the lounge of Thurman
Hall. A large turn-out of students
indicated that Howard Thurman is
one of the most revered and
respected men in the ministerial
profession.
Dr. Thurman spoke with the
convocation audience on what he
termed one of the basic quests of
the human spirit, the Quest for-
Fulfillment or perhaps, The Quest
for Meaning. As he referred to a
line from the Unknown Soldier,
“We died, but you who live must
do a harder thing than dying is, for
you must think and ghosts shall
drive you on,” he said. “Perhaps
the most fundamentally searching
question that has to be raised in the
search for fulfillment and the reach
of the mind and the spirit for the
fulfillment of that which is implicit
in the very essence and structure of
one’s being and personality, is the
urgency to have a sense of your
own self - a private, intimate, per
sonal and complete feel for the
answer that you give to yourself
when you ask yourself‘Who Am I’?
I must experience my own identity
— I must experience my own ‘Me-
ness’. I must lay claim to the
grounds of my own being, so that
all of life stands at attention before
More about Howard Thurman Page 4
Question of the Month Page 7
28 Students Elected to Who’s Who Page 8
Dr. Hugh Gloster
Gloster Guest At SGA
Face The Campus Forum
by Donald C. Tyler
The Morehouse S.G. A. held the
first in a series of its “Face the
Campus Forums” on Monday,
November 13. Several questions
were asked of Morehouse Presi
dent Hugh Gloster, who was the
guest of the Forum. The following
is a pharaphrased text of the
Forum.
Question: Last year there was
90% failure rate in remedial math
and a 35% failure rate in remedial
reading. Could the problem of
these failures lie in the structure of
these programs?
Pres. Gloster: Not necessarily, the
problem could be that Morehouse
has failed to recruit student with
potential.
Question: Each year More
house admits more student but
Mystic
Speaks
Howard Thurman
At Morehouse
roughly the same amount graduate
each year. Why is it that More
house seems to be striving for
quantity rather than quality?
Pres. Gloster: On the deadline
date of July 16 Morehouse hadn’t
received enough student payments,
but rather than excluding those
who did not meet the deadline,
Morehouse accepted them. As a
result when school opened, More
house had a large surplus of stu
dents and a shortage of housing.
This problem can hardly be
avoided by colleges that have stu
dent payment of fees on an instal
lment arrangement.
Question: A certain chemistry
class began the semester with 45
students, now of those 45 only 9
remain. All of the 37 who had to
drop the course rather than fail it,
were not allowed to enter different
sections. Other courses taught by
the instructor of this course have
had similar statistics. Why can an
instructor who constantly flunks
so many students continue to teach
at Morehouse?
Pres. Gloster: I hadn’t realize the
seriousness of this problem but “I
cannot stand up here and defend
anything like that.” The Academic
Dean and Chemistry Department
Chairman have already been told
to standandize the approaches to
general chemistry so that students
coming from different sections will
have covered the same material.
Question: Why has the Student
Government Association been
operating with a budget of $11,000
for several years? Why hasn’t the
budget increased with student
enrollment?
Pres. Gloster: I don’t know the
details of the allocation of the
budget but I can say that it’s diffi
cult to use the student activity fee
as a yardstick for determining the
S.G.A’s budget because of the stu
dent default rate on payment of
57%. Another budgetary problem
at Morehouse is the high rate of the
theft.
Question: What steps are being
taken to build the proposed
dormitory?
Pres. Gloster: The price of a dor
mitory the size of Hubert Hall
continued on page 2