Newspaper Page Text
10
Perspectives
The Maroon Tiger
Sunday, May 19, 2002
Familiar bookstore faces could be a distant memory
They're at it again! Morehouse poised to contract new company, leaving students asking why
Rubani Trimiew and
Jon-Sesrie Goff
Staff Writers
At an institution that
strives to be an example of un
wavering ethical leadership, it
is ironic that many of the val
ues and ethical models that
Morehouse tries to instill in the
minds of its students become
disconnected with the practices
of the college itself.
Recently, college officials
decided to end its ten-year re
lationship with Engineer Book
Company, the community-fo
cused bookstore managing
company, by not renewing its
contract.
Situated between Sale
Hall and the slowly encroach
ing Clark Atlanta campus, the
campus bookstore has been a
place where students can buy
and return overpriced books,
grab a quick snack for those be-
tween-class munchies, and see
the friendly smile of one of the
caring employees.
For years, many students
have complained that the
bookstore's facilities are sub par
for an institution of
Morehouse's caliber, nor does it
house the amenities character
istic of neighboring institutions independent variables. The gen- having a positive impact on the
such as Clark Atlanta Univer- eral problem with the store is students."
According to
Cunningham, the com
pany is locally owned
and operated; she ex-
sity, Spelman College, or Mor
ris Brown College.
Spelman junior Maya
Brooks said, "Our bookstore is
very, very different, in that it's
nicer. Our bookstore looks and
feels like a major retail chain."
Brooks' point sheds light
on the fact that the problems
with Morehouse's bookstore re
sults from space limitations, not
the management itself. The fa
cility and management are two
r
A student sells his book during the book
buy-back period, while another
embraces a bookstore employee.
the facility itself.
Improvement of
the store must be
gin with remodel
ing or relocating
the bookstore; the
first step should
not be a change in
management.
Patricia Cunningham, a
manager at Engineer, said their
company is "devoted to serving
efficiently and effectively, while
pressed her company's interest
"in the success of Morehouse
men," made evident by their
donations to the annual Candle
in the Dark fundraiser, as well
as their desire to "continue to be
on Morehouse's campus."
Her sentiments are rein
forced daily by the bookstore
employees. One employee of
fered her view of the situation:
"We're family. We take care of
students - give them rides to the
airport, ten dollars if they need
it. For the off-campus students
that need a meal, we don't hesi
tate in providing one."
According to Mr. Omari
Young, Director of Auxiliary
Services, the college is courting
the Follet company to replace
Engineer. Follet, a national cor
poration, serves other schools
in the Atlanta Universit Center.
He claimed the change in man
agement has "been two or three
years in the making." Young
added that Follet's company
standard is to "not raid other
companies' employees," which
leaves the current bookstore
staff in limbo.
During Morehouse's race
to be counted among the na
tions' top institutions of higher
learning, changes are inevi
table. But, it is imperative that
we hold steadfast to the prin
ciples and values that led to the
creation and survival of
See BOOKSTORE Page 14
Evaluating the College’s commitment to Black history
Shaun King
Senior Columnist
sking@maroontiger.com
It is often assumed that
Morehouse, an African American
educational institution with an
unparalleled legacy would go
above and beyond set standards to
promote its own history and the
history of Black people, but sadly
this assumption if far from true. J
Indeed, Morehouse College
falls tremendously short on too
many important fronts regarding
the vitality of our history, and these
failures are producing generations
of Morehouse graduates that
hardly know a thing about
Morehouse history specifically and
Black history in general. □ What a
shame!
The mission statement of
Dear Old Morehouse, as well as
neglected boardroom decisions,
demand Black history and culture
to be integral and deliberate
throughout the college. 2
Dr. Alton Hornsby, the leg
endary professor of history, former
chair of the history department,
editor of the Journal of Negro His
tory and an illustrious Morehouse
graduate weighed in on this tre
mendous failure.
"I don't think the College is,
presently, doing nearly enough to
fufill these parts of our mission,"
Hornsby said. "The recommenda
tions to accomplish this, which
were made back in 1990-1992,
would have gone a long way to
wards these ends, but they have
been only partially implemented."
The results of this surprising
neglect are many, but Morehouse
exposes its sub-par support for
Black history and culture
with four key deficiencies.
1. Morehouse does
not have a universally re
quired course, or series or
courses on Black history
and culture. TAs Spelman
has its required "African
Diaspora and the World"
course, Morehouse should
institute similar courses re
quired of all freshmen. 2
Some have even suggested
a required course on
Morehouse history. 2 None
theless, this initial step must
be taken.
Regarding the cur
riculum, Dr. Willis Sheftall,
the Vice President of Aca
demic Affairs said, "A clean-slate
review of the College's general
studies requirement has just gotten
underway with the organizational
meeting of the Core Curriculum
Task Force which was held on
April 16th. □ I fully expect a signifi
cant amount of the Task Force's re
view to focus on the African/ Afri
can American content of our cur
riculum. This will be the first com
prehensive review of the core cur
riculum in a number of years."
2. Morehouse should be
ashamed that it has no archives
that house the relics and historical
artifacts that document our his
tory. : Because of this grat absence,
thousands of priceless pieces of
Morehouse memorabilia have been
lost, stolen, deliberately destroyed,
[Morehouse's] failures are
producing generations of
Morehouse graduates that
hardly know a thing about
Morehouse history specifically
and Black history in general
thrown away, and disintegrated
because of poor handling, 2
Whereas most colleges are able to
constantly acquire newfound his
torical artifacts, Morehouse can
not. j Furthermcw, the few things
that have been salvaged are in ter-
serious celebrations of Black His
tory Month and the Martin Luther
King holiday. □ Febmary after Feb
ruary one would be much more
likely to find the top scholars, ac
tivists, and lecturers on issues rel
evant to Black people at Emory, -
Agnes Scott, or even
Georgia State than
they would at
Morehouse. Even our
own famed graduates
frequent campuses
other than our own
through Black His
tory Month.
This same sad
situation happens ev
ery King holiday. .2 Be
sides the musical cel
ebration and a few
small-scale commu
nity service events
that are put on,
Morehouse com
pletely closes down
on the day that cel
ebrates our greatest graduate. □ Our
school should lead the nation with
the quality of our annual King cel
ebration. As a matter of fact, so
many people that assume we do
lead in this area arrive on our cam
pus every year only to find out the
best celebrations with the best folk
rible shape and are being inappro
priately stored. □ □ Not one college in are elsewhere,
the country with the caliber and 4. The campus of
history purported by Morehouse Morehouse College grossly under
lacks archives. □ acknowledged for its own histori-
3. Morehouse does not ad- cal value. ^Although some dialogue
equately support the symbolic, yet exists about the greatness of
Graves Hall and all of the great
graduates that stayed there, no de
scriptive plaques or markers clarify
this for students or visitors, j Con
sequently much of what is said
about the history of the building is
guesswork. 2 Buildings like Robert
Hall, Hope Hall and especially Sale
Hall are known to be old and im
portant, but few people know that
Dr. Mays spoke in Sale Hall over
1000 times, that W.E.B. DuBois and
Martin Luther King spoke there
often, that John Hope had his of
fices there, or that Muhammad Ali
trained in Archer Hall when he was
preparing to make his famed come
back. 2 Informative plaques should
be displayed throughout the
campus.
With many students
(and now graduates) that
don't know the school song,
the year the school was
founded, the year Dr. King
graduated, that Dr. Mays is
not a Morehouse graduate and
other basic facts on the history
of the college, Morehouse
must make changes!2 When
students do not know a thing
about African history, when
slavery started, when it
ended, cannot identify Marcus
Garvey from Booker T. Wash
ington, Morehouse must make
changes. 2 It is going to take
the push of students, faculty,
staff, graduates, college sup
porters, and others for these
changes to happen.