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The SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT
Wednesday, February 28, 1962
Speiman Spotiialit
'poll up
Editor Nelda J. King
Associate Editor Ida Rose McCree
Business Manager .. Patricia Smith
News Department Angela Owen, Editor
Priscilla Rowe, Ann Ashmore, Lessie Jackson, Mary Ray
Emma Joyce White, Yvonne Weatherly, Clara Prioleau.
Feature Department
Lugenia Beasley, Gloria Willis, Joycelyn McKissiek, Diane
Matthews, Josephine Dunbar.
Circulation and Exchange Barbara Martin
Betty Lane
Lay-out Department Bronwen Unthank, Editor
Ann Ashmore
Photographer Emma Joyce White
Typists Gwendolyn lies,
Adye Bel Sampson, Hattie Shannon, Carol Barker, Nancy
Fesson.
Proofreaders Josephine Dunbar,
Patricia Smith, Priscilla Rowe.
Adviser Mrs. Naomi Chivers
The opinions expressed in the SPOTLIGHT are not necessarily those
of the Editors or Staff.
Editorials
A Time For An Awakening
Try this on for size. Are you guilty of complaining about
the students’ power, (or lack of it) in our school government?
Are you also one of the hundred of students who never
attends student government meetings, but who continuosly
criticizes the work of the few loyal workers in this organiza
tion? On what grounds then are your grievances established?
A great number of students here at Spelman are apathetic
toward their roles as citizens of a community which is sup
posedly founded on democratic principles. We complain
about the faults in our government and yet we do not co
operate in measures which will bring about fruitful solu
tions of the problems and dissolution of the faults about
which we are disturbed. It is time for us to recognize our
rights as well as our responsibilities as adult citizens in a
world of complexes. In order to do this the most logical place
to start would be in our own student government, with the
problems which confront it.
The student government is the student body. This does
not mean ten or twenty students, but rather each student
who is a member of the school. You say that we are entitled
to certain rights and that we should be able to express our
desires for the policies used in governing our school. Certain
ly, this is our right as citizens of this democratic society;
and as intelligent citizens we should exercise it to the fullest.
However, it is only through unity of purpose that we can ex
pect to arrive at the goals for which we seek. Some patriots
call it loyalty; others call it simply School Spirit! Take pride
in your school and support its programs! With this type
of strength progress will naturally be achieved.
Today democracy is on the scales with communism. The
communists claim that no real organization or unity of pur
pose exists in our way of life. Is this true? We, who believe
in the democratic principles on which our country was found
ed must endeavor in every way to disprove this assertion in
our political and in our social life. Let us start by uniting
our efforts in making our own student government an effec
tive organ in this, our Spelman Community.
Ida Rose McCree
There Must Be A Better Way
We are now hard at work in a new semester. We are taking
new courses from new teachers, along with some of the
ones we had before. We have settled back into our rountine
of classes, study, and extracurricular activities. Regristra-
tion day now seems far away in the distant past. However,
let us think for a moment about that all important day
when, upon completing first semester examinations, we en
roll in classes for the following semester.
All Spelman students go to Rockefeller Hall early in the
morning and stand in never-ending lines impatiently wait
ing to receive their buff registration cards. Upon receiving
them, they dash over to the Trevor Arnett Library where
they converge with streams of people pouring forth from
Clark, Morehouse, Morris Brown, and Atlanta University.
There they become entangled in the melange of students
already on the scene. They bulldoze their way through the
crowd, and wind their way through the maze of tables,
faculty members, and students, each person bent on ac
complishing her own goals — to find out a grade, consult
an advisor, or sign up for a course. Girls faint, but there
is nowhere to fall so they are pushed along upright by the
crowd until they regain consciousness. (Well, maybe I am
exaggerating a bit.) However, the situation is deplorable.
There must be a better way to carry out the registration
processes. It is simply waiting to be uncovered by some
brilliant mind.
Until last year, many girls barely made their way to Trevor
Arnett, because they had been bruised and battered so
severely in Rockefeller Hall. There were no waiting lines —
impatient or otherwise. There was just one huge surging,
writhing mass of humanity bursting forcibly through the
door of the treasurer’s office as soon as it was opened. I know
that the people who worked there were grateful to have
desks to protect themselves. The prospective registrant had
a number of difficulties to surmount. For example, once
she got into the office and secured her buff card, she
Miss Johnson
From The
Dean's Desk
The years ’60 and ’61 have been
in my opinion the most exciting
years on the college campus lor
quite some time. College students
across the nation became rather
impatient with the snail-like pace
of legal efforts to insure the rights
of dignity and respect to all indi
viduals. Cognizant of the fact that
human dignity would be consider
ably delayed in their generation,
they discovered a creative philos
ophy which demanded protests of
a non-violent nature. This philos
ophy found expression in the sit-
ins, stand-ins, kneel-ins, wade-
ins, etc.
Such non-violent protests from
committed students not only arous
ed the moral conscience of our
nation and world but also clearly
indicated a kind of maturity in
action and thought which had not
been accorded many college stu
dents. These students indicated
their willingness lo suffer and en
dure deplorable jail situations in
remote areas of the South in spite
of obvious emotional and physical
dangers.
As a result of student dedication
to the cause of freedom and dig
nity which was buttressed by su
perior legal defense, desegregation
has begun to take place in lunch
rooms, terminal stations, and the
aters in many parts of the south
land. Needless to state, this is no
mere victory. For, human relations
and understanding are advanced
by scores of years.
Commendable indeed, have
been the effects of the student
movement. More important than
the privilege of sitting down at
lunch counters is the fact that
people of darker hues are begin
ning to be accorded more humane
respect from their brothers. Sig
nificantly, the concomittant ad
vance begun in human under
standing and acceptance is indeed
notable.
Also worthy of note is the fact
that standards are beginning to
assert themselves more as a force
to be reckoned with in decisions
and policies relative to interna
tional crises and issues. For, apace
with the acquisition of designated
rights, our nation became increas
ingly aware of its latent creativity
and untapped labor force. Doors
It was easy as falling off a log!
ZJ-ebruaru
Wonlk O/WontL
The name February is derived
from the Latin word meaning to
purify, for February was the
month in which the Romans were
purified for the festivals of the
following months.
February was not included as a
month when the first Roman cal
endar was made. It was added lat
er by Numa, who made it the
twelfth month of the year. About
450 B. C. it was placed after Jan
uary as the second month.
Every month has a popular be
lief. The popular belief of the
month of February is that df
to opportunities perviously closed
to Negro students were opened in
many areas of more desirable em
ployment.
It is evident that equal opportu
nities of employment will become
increasingly more abundant; there
fore, Negro students must be pre
pared. The criterion for job se
lection will be demonstrated abil
ity rather than exclusion because
of skin pigmentation.
In view of this, may I suggest
that much of the same devotion,
exuberance, enthusiasm, etc.,
shown in the deep commitment
to the student movement be ex
tended into the academic sphere.
Wise indeed will be the student
who will ardently prepare to avail
herself of the innumerable oppor
tunities no longer denied.
In as much as activities related
to the student movement have
subsided, to a degree, now a
widespread campaign for prepa
ration should be next in order.
The college matriculation still re
mains as one of the most exciti-
ing and challenging experiences
known.
could hardly get out again and another struggle ensued.
When she was finally ejected from the crowd, and could
limp, battered an disheveled, into the freshness of the air
outside, she had hardly enough strength to continue the
ordeal.
But lo! last year some genius, some bright star in the
administrative cosmos, came up with the idea to call out
the students’ names in alphabetical order and pass out the
cards in that manner. This radical alteration in the registra
tion processes has proved to be a great boon to all involved.
Its originator most assuredly deserves a medal. In any case,
this bit of ingenuity proves that improvements can be made,
for in one stroke a situation which had existed for many,
many years was alleviated. Now that we see what can be
done with a little cerebral effort, let us all put on our think
ing caps and devise a solution to the Trevor Arnett perplex
ity.
Ground Hog Day. On the second
day of February, the groundhog is
supposed to come out of its bur
row and look for his shadow. If
the sun is shining and he can see
his -shadow, the ground hog is
said to go back to sleep again,
and winter is not over. If he can
not see his shadow, he begins his
activities. Only superstitious peo
ple believe in this story.
A popular occasion in February
is Saint Valentine’s Day. The cus
tom of exchanging missives of af
fection- and love is believed to
have been handed down from the
Roman Festival of the Lupercalia.
At the festival, the names of
young women were placed into a
box -and drawn out by men as
chances directed. In other places,
Saint Valentine’s Day was cele
brated by -maids and bachelors
throwing billets with their names
on them into a receptacle and
drawing there from by chance
the name of someone of the op
posite sex wh-o- became the “val
entine” or chosen companion for
that year.
Famous People Born in February
Men of Literature
7 Charles Dickens, 1812
Sinclair Lewis, 1885
8 Jules Verne, 1828
26 Victor Hugo, 1802
27 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
1807
American Presidents
9 William Henry Harrison,
12 Abraham Lincoln, 1809
22 George Washington, 1732
1773
Musicians and Composers
1 Victo-r Herbert, 1859
2 Jascha Heifetz, 1901
3 Felix Mendelssohn - Barthol-
dy, 1809
27 Marion Anderson, 1908
23 George Frederick Handel, 1685
Other Famous Men
4 Charles A. Lindberg, 1902
11 Thomas A. Edison, 1847
12 Charles Darwin, 1809
15 Galileo, 1564
23 William E. B. DuBois, 1868
The Special Flower of February
is Primrose
The Gem for February is Ame
thyst
An Old February Saying:
Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November,
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February alone,
Which hath but twenty-eight, in
fine,
Till leap year gives it twenty-
nine.
— Emma Joyce White