Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Page 4 The SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT Wednesday, February 28, 1962 These Events Shape Our Destiny 1. The Algeria Conflict This seven year old warring drama seems to be entering Act Three with a climax in view as DeGaulle optimistically predicts a settlement. Will Raoul Salon, the Secret Army leader, accept the cease fire proffered by DeGaulle - or will he increase his violent efforts to unseat DeGaulle and keep Algeria under French con trol? The outcome of this conflict will influence other protectorates seeking to become sovereign and independent states. 2. Francis G. Powers Francis Powers comes home and is spirited away from a barrage of questions. Within the outcome of this two year old incident are involved new policy shaping atti tudes towards secret missions, es pionage and international intrigue. 3. India All eyes turn to India as her 210 voting millions go to the polls to express their faith in Prime Minister Nehru’s disciple, Menon. How will the world’s largest de mocracy, so near to Russia, fare under the leadership of this 64 year old intellectual who despises the West, and is a passionate foe of colonialism. 4. The Phillipines A political hou^ecleaning under President Diasdado Nacupagal promises to correct the naion’s three biggest problems of corrup tion, unemployment, and poverty. 5. Cuba Oastro, the OAS “bad iboy,” has been ousted and the economical pinch applied as a punitive meas ure. What of the Cubans and the growing wave of hatred? Mary Ray 18 Spelman Students Join Nationwide Demonstration In Washington Peace Group preparing to depart from Spelman. On Thursday, February 15, a chartered Greyhound bus took thirty-three Atlanta students and four adults to Washington, D. C., to join an estimated 6000 students from all over the country in a peace demonstration. The demon stration, sponsored by peace or ganizations such as the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Student Peace Union, and Turn Toward Peace lasted from 9 A.M. Febru ary 16 until February 17 at 6 P.M. A picket line was maintained in front of the White House all day February 16, through the night, and until noon on February 17. During the picketing, small groups of students visited Senators Con gressmen, foreign embassies, and White House and State Depart ment officials. On Saturday af ternoon, the entire group of stu dents walked three-abreast across the Potomac River to Arlington cemetery, filing in silence past the tomb of the unknown soldier. The Atlanta delegation was the only group from the South, and one of the first southern groups ever to participate in a national peace demonstration. The Atlanta busload included eighteen from Spelman (Barbara Adams, Dam- aris Allen, Dorcas Boit, Rosemary Braxton, Aingred Dunston, Oecile Ganpatsingh, Barbara Martin, Lo is Peters Marily Poles, Neena Shelton, Patricia Smith, Roberta Peace Group in Wahington Spelman As Seen By Students Our African I am very happy to have this opportunity to be able to say something in the Sjelman Spot light. I am greatly indebted to almost everybody at Spelman and some friends outside for the friendship and kindness that has been ex tended to me from everyone. In spite of the occasional homesick ness, the early breakfast and some American customs, I must say that many friends have helped me to get adjusted fairly quickly. You will excuse me at this moment because I must especially thank my roommate for her patience with me. You cannot know a per son too well until you have lived with her under roof, nearer still one room! I know what she goes through living with me, but she is so patient and understanding — Thank you roomate. So far I have liked Spelman’s environment very much but the weather, I must confess, to a per son coming from an almost ever warm country, has been real cruel and harsh sometimes. I find it quite strenuous to move about with my big coat over my shoul ders. I am not a very tall person (5 feet, 2 inches) and I am afraid that under this pressure I may have lost some inches by the time I go back home. However, this is nature and we cannot blame any one. When Spring comes I shall enjoy it as much as I have dislik ed winter. I used to feel homesick much more than I do not, but I remember I got a letter from my brother early last semester and this is what he said to me — •“Do you still feel homesick? You can go on doing so since it is not an infectious disease” — I do not feel so bad now since I have four years to be homesick. I am not going to try to com pare the American educational system with the British, but I would like to point out a few dif ferences I have noted. Under the British system most of the general work is done during your high school education so that when you go to college you are ready for your field of concentration. For the most part of the four or five years you stay in college, you do most of the work that has to do with your major subject. This is not so here. As I understand it here you start concentrating fully on your major in your fourth year. Another point is that under the British system the students almost always do essay work and can in one way or other, but not always, get around a difficult question by a convincing argu ment. Whereais here most always questions are objective and either you know the answer or you do not, period. While I am on this point, I would like to mention one more aspect of education. You all have become familiar with the word cheating. I was very aston ished when I first came here to see that students were cheating. Nevertheless, I have observed the situation very well, I think, and frankly I do not blame the stu dents now because it is the grade which is the “great director”. It determines whoi will go to New York for a conference, who will have a Merrill Scholarship, who will go on the exchange program, who will be on the honor roll. Why then should not these stu dents get their grades the easiest and quickest way? So much for this. Socially I have liked Spel man. There is always something to do — a party, a movie, a dance, an interesting lecture, et cetera. I found American dancing or steps a bit baffling in the beginning, but I am getting into the rhythm now. I was afraid to begin the Twist in case I upset my insides but my “teacher” started me off slowly and I am picking it up gradually as I am doing with the other steps. Let me tell you something which surprised me and after this I will be through. I was almost struck dumb when I first went to Sisters Chapel and saw that we could hold conversations as much as if we were outside. It was pathetic as it still is to see that it makes noi difference to us what we do wherever we are! Anyhow that first time I waited to hear some one caution us to remind us that we were in the House of Prayer but no voice came. The following day it was the same. Days passed into weeks and weeks into months and like some other things I knew, that “of course! That’s just the way I thought it would be.” More next time. Constance Nab wire Faculty members and students, I would like to express my thanks and appreciation for the warm welcome I received when I came to Spelman. All of the strange ness I had anticipated was soon dispelled and replaced with friendliness, warmth, and under standing. A cheery “Hello” from a faculty member would often dispel homesickness; a smile of tolerance and understanding when I poured forth in my strangely accented English gave me en couragement; and advice about getting adjusted to the American life has been most helpful. The students have made me one of them - I am a Spelmanite - with our common bonds of inter ests and friendship growing stronger day by day. All around me are associates with whom to share every experience: my dormi tory sisters, my “hall mates” and most of all my roommate who is, indeed, somehow like a sister. This welcome, this warmth, the friendly concern, this Spelman spirit will always be guiding me wherever I go - a part of me. Thanks again to everyone!! Esta Tulyomurugyendo Bezhura AN EXCHANGE STUDENT (Continued from pg. 3) pressed and a bit taken aback at first with your small student activated classes. However, in time I became adjusted to your approach and rather liked it. In fact, I even resigned myself to making student reports, but I do not relish the thought! Seriously though, I should like to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to my Spelman instructors. In my literature and music courses, I found both challenge and satis faction; through Dr. Boggs and Mrs. Jordan, I discovered new pleasure and meaning in these favorite areas. I took away with me a deeper appreciation, a broad ened knowledge, and a more pro found love that will always re mind me of Spelman and its ex cellent professors. Humorous situations, deriving from various courses, certainly livened my stay. I found that I had to learn the definition of such words as “Boss” and “Heavy.” In fact, I was most insulted and went on a three day starvation diet, before I realized that being referred to as “heavy” should not be taken literally Outside of my friends, and the warmth and acceptance which per meated the air, one of my out standing recollections will be your many rules and regulations. I im agine that I broke more rules in two days here than in two years at Wesleyan and I must admit that I shall not regret returning to my university’s relatively free code of behavior! I could not miss this opportun ity to salute my room-ma'te; she is a dear. I am most indebted and grateful to her and to all of you who did so much to make my stay a pleasant one. I shall always treasure my Spelman experiences and have with me something last ing and enduring —a warm feel ing of friendship. Chapel will always stay with me personally as one of the most moving and rewarding experi ences on campus. Coming from a school that has no chapel per se, only meeting once a week in a converted room, I deeply appre- Peace Smith, Betty Stevens, Leronia Stokes, Phyllis Umstead, Alice Walker, Lillie Walker, and Joyce White), together with Staughton Lynd of the History Department; five from Morehouse, plus Doris Steinmetz, wife of Harry Stein- metz of the Psychology Depart ment; one student from Clark, one from I.T.C., and one from Atlanta University; an Emory student and a recent graduate from Agnes Scott; five high-schoolers, includ ing Howard Zinn’s daughter My- la; and Vdnceht and Rosemary Harding of the Mennonite Cen tral Committee. The purpose of the demonstra tion was to ask the government not to resume nuclear testing in the atmosphere, and not to pur sue its present plans for defense shelters; and more generally, to indicate to the President and his aides that thousands of students across the nation fervently sup port a “peace race” and new Am erican initiatives for peace. The signs carried by the pickets bore such slogans as: “Civil Defense Is No Defense”; “Every Test Kills”; “We Condemn Both Soviet and U. S. Testing”; “Neither Dead Nor Red, But Alive And Free” (Pres ident Kennedy); and, “I’d Rather Be.” The Atlanta bus was made pos sible by contributions totaling (Coninued on page 6) ciated your lovely building and traditional hymns. Believe it or not, I anticipated chapel! Some of my most treasured memories, ranging from weekly assemblies to your never to be forgotten Christmas Concert (take it from me, I attenled all hree perform ances!, are intertwined with this, my favorite Spelman site. One thing I came to realize, and would hope that I could help others to realize, is that when I read that so many Negroes tested an integrated lunch counter — that a Negro was refused serv ice, I do not see an abstract, im personal concept anymore, but an individual, a person much like myself. I realize the “who” and “what” that lies behind that small article, and I am no longer merely an objective sympathizer. From my sojourn among you, I have gathered new hope and confidence. When people meet people as individuals, old hates and prejudices do not matter; they tend to disappear, and that, I believe, is the only hope of solu tion, not only for the race prob lem, but for the world. In closing I should like to quote Mattiwilda Dobbs, indisputably your most illustrative alumni of the last half century. I feel that I also can say with Miss Dobbs that, “Spelman gave me something invaluable which has helped me in my personal life, and this is an assurance which enables me to feel at home with peoples of all races and cultures.” I shall never forget Spelman, my wonderful experiences here, and above all my wonderful friends. As you read this letter, I am far away immersed in the busy life of a Washington seminar stu dent, living and studying the many diverse areas of our federal government. I want you to know that my thoughts frequently stray to Spelman with its most cherish ed friends and memories; I eager ly anticipate the time when I shall be able to return to Atlanta and pay all of you a visit. Unitl that happy “hello,” I remain most sin cerely yours, Mary Katberyn Humm