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ftheniariKintiger.com
November 16 - 22 2011
OPINIONS
OCCUPY SPELMAN
A Customer Service
Rokhaya Fall
StaffWriter
rfall@scmail.spelman.edu
S pelman College has been
ranked the number one
HBCU for a number of
years. Nationwide, Spelman is
ranked 62 in the list of Best
Liberal Arts Colleges. Women
who graduate from my institu
tion are recognized in many
places for their intelligence
and achievements within our
society. Daughters of well-
respected members of soci
ety such as Bill Cosby, Gerald
Levert, Sidney Poitier; Henry
Louis Gates and many more,
are Spelmanites.
For these reasons and many
more, Spelman receives thou
sands of applicants every year
and only the “chosen ones”
make it to Spelman. Despite
this, there are some things
that need fixing. No institution
is perfect and improvements
should always be welcomed,
I was inspired by a meeting
I attended last Friday for the
Toni Cade Bambara Scholars/
Writers/Activists, which gave
a couple of students a plat
form to express their frustra
tions with the college. In our
meeting, we used the Occupy
movement and students were
to complete the following
phrase, “If I were to occupy
Spelman, I would...”
"...occupy Spelman Din
ing and Food Services! There
are not that many dining op
tions; the Alma Upshaw din
ing hall and the Suites serve
the same food-and the Grill is
basically an extension of the
cafeteria with a twist. Sec
ondly, the hours of operation
are unreasonable and do not
fit the needs of all students.
The Grill is open a little later
than 10:30pm, but many stu
dents need to stay up late at
night and work, and are pretty
much doomed and bound to
hunger unless they order food
or have a big snack reserve in
their rooms! Thirdly, the food
is not very tasty! I believe
that as students, it is impera
tive that we consume healthy
and sustainable food for the
nourishment of our bodies
and minds.” -Rugiyatu Kane,
Sophomore, Environmental
Studies major from Senegal,
West Africa.
I, Rokhaya, would occupy
the minds of the students
and change our definitions of
beauty. Many of us have been
programmed to see lighter
skin as beautiful and I find this
to be quite unfortunate. In ad
dition, the slender; light, long
straight haired women are
seen as most beautiful in our
societies. As college students,
we need to be critical thinkers
and analyze these messages
that we are being fed by the
media. I believe beauty is not
something that should be at
tached to skin color or any
other physical appearances, for
that matter
How many times do you
meet a light skin, slender,
sports-playing, nice eyes having
black man who is an air head?
He does not even know the
difference between draught
and drought! I don't know
about you, but intelligence is a
must for me at all times.
I could care less if you are
Boris Kodjoe, Tyrese, or even
Johnny Depp’s twin, if you
are not intelligent it surely
can’t go anywhere. In addi
tion, our society has plenty
of issues with teens dealing
with self-esteem which often
times leads to depression, an
orexia, and even bulimia. Fur
thermore, it creates a lot of
tension between blacks with
different shades of color.
To this I ask, how are we
supposed to achieve anything
if we can't even unite?
For women, we have come
a long way but there are still
a lot of injustices that we face.
How can we ever fight for
our rights if we resent each
other; because we are different
shades of black? Change has to
start with us, women!
So I challenge you, go talk
to .that darker skin woman or
man you have had a crush but
never talked to, because they
were different. Explore new
things, try something different,
because you might discover
someone new and pleasant
even find your “soul mate”
(and I use that term very
loosely)!
Report
Anthony Galloway Jr
Staff Writer
agallowayj r@yahoo.com
A s many of us can recall,
last school year it was
reported that the employees
of Morehouse College would
be going through a series of
workshops and trainings in
customer service through the
assistance of the Ritz-Carlton
hotel chain. I am sure we can
all recall the difficult times
we have experienced working
with administration and cer
tain offices in Gloster Hall.
What I think many students
will have a hard time recall
ing is the improvement of the
customer service. It seems
that there are still several ad
ministrative issues that need
to be dealt with.
During Crown Forum on
Nov. 3, students had the op
portunity to voice their opin
ions directly to the college
President and the executive
leadership of the college.
One student, a senior by
the name of Segun Idowu,
proposed the idea to have a
directory that listed every
Morehouse employees job
title and job description. Stu
dents would then be allowed
to comment on that persons
performance according to
their customer service and
fulfillment of their position.
I think this is a great idea
and a step in the right direc
tion if initiated. It allows stu
dents to address specific staff
and faculty and not generalize
entire offices. It also allows
students the ability to give
specific and detailed accounts
of problematic interactions
that can be addressed more
appropriately.
Issues such as two hour
lunch breaks, not fulfilling
certain aspects of job descrip
tions on certain days or dur
ing certain hours, and not be
ing acknowledged when you
enter an office can be handled
with specialized care.
What is great is that there
is actually a system in place
to allow students to chime in
on their administrative issues.
On the “My Info” tab on Ti-
gernet, there’s a panel labeled
“Customer Service Advocate.”
This application makes stu
dents aware of their rights and
responsibilities, allows them
to view practices for best re
sults and to give a detailed re
port on their issues and view
feedback.
It would seem that every
thing is in place for improve
ment. What were quiet and
angry murmurs of adminis
trative injustices can now be
audible criticisms and ideas
: ' i p-sQ 1 ! \ j
for progress. So why does it
seem that nothing is being
done?
I would say that the student
body is partially to blame.
Morehouse students love to
complain but not do anything
about it. It is quite often I hear
students talk about fixable is
sues and yet complacency sets
in and they sum it up with
a defeated “welcome to the
‘House.”
I also notice the inability
for anonymity when submit
ting service reports on the
Tigernet application. I believe
that students are discouraged
from using it due to fears of
negative repercussions and
interactions with the office
personnel they may implicate.
I for one am unsure of how
to remedy this issue. How do
you get students to care more
about the quality of their edu
cation and institution, and
care enough to be moved to
action? How do you motivate
students to act in spite of fear
and hesitancies?
What I do know is that if
the men of Morehouse don’t
revive the activist spirit that
once thrived in the AUC and
if administration is not pro
active about ensuring quality
customer service then student
and employee morale will
continue to fade ending up
with just more and more fu
ture alum that do not care and
do not give back.
“Sir, Remove Your Hat: Social Justice, Equal Rights, and You”
James A. Williams
Associate Opinions Editor
james.willi@yahoo.com
I t is probably common
knowledge that I am a bit of
a rebel.
My life, as I am sure the lives
of many men of Morehouse,
has been a constant exercise
in challenging the status quo.
Growing up, I was never the
kid that simply “did as told.”
I always wanted to know why.
My mother, perhaps realizing
that simply telling me, “Be
cause I said so,” was not go
ing to work, began to get in
the habit of explaining why
certain things were necessary.
When there was no logical
reasoning behind a directive,
it frustrated me.
As I matured into my teen
age years, my curiosity of
“why” grew into a complete
and utter disdain for arbi
trary rules and restrictions.
And so this is why when I am
casually sitting in a common
area, hoody hugged around
my body and fitted hat sitting
snuggly atop my head, and
I am told, “Sir, remove your
hat,” I often become most no
ticeably annoyed.
Remove my hat for what
reason? How is it that me
wearing my headgear, is phys
ically harming you? Is it going
to pain you if I choose not to?
And what about the girl from
Spelman that just strolled
in here wearing her baseball
cap? Should she not have to
also remove her hat simply
because she is female? Where
is the equality in that?
It is something I have never
understood.
When asking people why
removing my hat is necessary,
they usually tell me because it
is school policy, citing that it
is improper for a man to wear
his hat indoors. My question is
always, “Improper for whom?
And who is the authoritative
figure on what is and what is
not proper?” They typically
tell me that society dictates
what is and is not proper—
—failing to recall that soci
ety also says as a young black
man in the United States of
America coming from the
neighborhood I call home, I
should either be dead, with
child, or in jail.
Not college.
And so in attending an in
stitution that uses a revolu
tionary such as Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. as the pro
verbial “bedrock” of its entire
being, it is baffling to me why
the use of the “status quo” as
justification for any rule is at
all acceptable.
During the Colonial era of
this country, it was the status
quo to have a reserve of ser
vants who you could buy and
sell for the purpose of making
a dollar. You could beat them.
You could kill them. They
were property.
Today, we call this slavery.
Prior to the Civil Rights
era, it was the “status quo” to
have everything “separate,
but equal.” It was improper
for a black man to do much
of anything. Can you imag
ine being told to step off the
sidewalk to allow your white
“equals” to pass? To be told
where you could and could
not eat because of the color of
your skin? To be told it is “im
proper” for you to receive an
education?
These are the times our
Morehouse greats, Dr. Ben
jamin E. Mays and Dr. King
lived in. Imagine where we
would be today if they simply
embraced the status quo and
designated it as improper for
us to be educated; to be a lib
erated and socially conscience
people, simply because soci
ety said it was improper to do
so?
It is a fine line between en
forcing a rule and perpetuat
ing an ideology.
None of this is to say some
rules are not necessary. In
order for society to contin
ue to function in a way that
“streamlines” the action we
know as “living,” it is impor
tant for there to be some rules
in place to facilitate order. But
for those rules that have no
real value, no real benefit to
society, what is their purpose?
And so, when I am asked to
remove my hat, I usually do
so. Frustrated by the directive,
but even more frustrated by
the idea of partaking in some
laborious discussion of “ap
propriateness,” I usually de
cide the battle is not worth the
war: me graduating on time.
But I can’t help, but wonder:
what if Dr. Mays, Dr. King,
Malcolm X, Fannie Lou Ham
er, Rosa Parks, Bayard Rustin
and President Barack Obama
all felt equality was not worth
the battle.
Would the “status quo” then
be an appropriate stick by
which we measure our lives?
Simply said: It is more than
a hat.
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