Newspaper Page Text
VOL. XXIV, NO. 4
SPELMAN COLLEGE, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
April 11, 1963
STUDENT-FACULTY CONFAB
snccru«,
The “Students in Activities”
night was held Wednesday April
10, and featured folk dances from
around the world. At this same
time, Mrs. Milldcent Jordan, a
prominent alumna, and one of
our faculty members, along with
Emilie Winston, President of the
SSGA, supervised the reporting
of gifts.
SPURS LOCAL INTEREST
One of the projects of the Social Science Club for this year
has been a series of open discussions on subjects of current
interest. The most recent of these discussions was held Mon
day night, March 11, in the gameroom of Abby Hall. Monday
night’s topic was “Liberty at Spelman”, or the lack of it, as
the case may be. Attendance was very good because students
had come to voice their feelings on a topic about which there
has been much, too much, discussion and little, too little, ac
tion; and faculty members had come to find out “just what j
it is the students are complaining about.”
Dr. Zinn, the faculty sponsor
of the Social Science Club, be
gan by reading excerpts from two
letters and a report, which “. . .
are provocative and will stimu
late discussion.” Both letters, he
mentioned were unsolicited. The
first letter was from a Spelman
alumna who is presently matri
culating at one of the leading
graduate schools in the East. She
spoke of how good it was to be
in a situation in which everyone
was placed on her own and ex
pected to act like an adult,
rather than given a few privileges
and having someone play watch
dog, ready to “catch” her in
violation of these privileges.
The second letter was from a
girl who had left Spelman and
who attempted to put on paper
her reasons for leaving. Among
other things she felt that her
total personality would become
warped if she remained at Spel
man, because, “How can anyone
grow up any way but warped
in a warped situation?”
The third excerpts came from
the Fall 1962 Report of the Spe
cial Human Relations Staff for
the National Student YWCA. This
report was prepared by two
young ladies, one white and one
Negro, after a study made of
colleges in the Southern region
of the country. Their report
pointed up the fact that the
trouble with Spelman is regional.
“The first strike against the
Southern student, both Negro and
white, (is that his growth is
stunted by the insularity of the
region. He is nurtured in a cli
mate which has kept him from
exploring the worlds that lie be
yond his gaze. . .the social at
mosphere is one of distrust for
the different; and classroom
learning only more deeply en
trenches parental attitudes rather
than freeing youth to protest and
form its own system of beliefs.”
“The very basic need of South
ern students is to understand
their right to protest—a right
they have simply because they
are human beings. . .” “. . .Fa
culties stifle a vision of the fu
ture by constantly holding up
personal backgrounds to the
students. . .The problems of fa
culty-student communication are
further aggravated by improper
communication between faculties
and administration. Faculty mem
bers feel that they will jeopar
dize their positions by taking
very definite stands on any num
ber of issues.”
Dr. Zinn was followed by a
member of the student body who
spoke of a general discontent
among the students caused chiefly
by an attitude of paternalism
which Spelman has adopted.
“Paternalism in any form induces,
or reinforces, immaturity, con
formity, and interest among
those whose imagination, critical
talent, and capabilities for inte
grity and growth should be en
couraged and given opportunity
for development. Removal of res
ponsibility for personal decision
making from the individual stu
dent distorts and weakens a sign
ificant phase of the education
process. . .We recognize that not
all forms of university-imposed
disciplines are paternalistic in
nature. We can see justification,
and even necessity, in the en
forcement of some rules and
regulations.”
Many and varied answers came
from the students in reply to the
question by one of the faculty
members, “Please be specific—
just what are you complaining
about?” One student brought up
the rules which seem illogical,
such as the practice of permitting
students to wear pants to break
fast on Sunday mornings, but not
on weekday mornings; not being
allowed to wear scarves in the
dining hall when a scarf would
look much neater than a hairdo
made unruly by swimming.
(Continued on page 8)
Founders Day Processional makes a beautiful assembly line
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Renews f deuSunt *VHii
City
In keeping with one of the
best-known of Spelman’s many
traditions, plans are now being
made for the Eighty-Second
Founders’ Day Celebration. Each
year, a week is set aside for us
to pay tribute to Miss Sophia B.
Packard and Miss Hariett E.
Giles, who in 1880 first began to
nurse the dream which was to
become a living reality. This
week ends on April 11, which is
traditionally designated as
Founders’ Day.
This year, the SSGA-sponsored
“Know Your Spelman Quiz” and
the pep song contest were held
Thursday, April 4, at 11:30 a.m.,
to begin the week of activities.
At this time, the classes entered
into a two-way competition.
First of all, each class selected
someone who “knows her Spel
man” to test her knowledge and
memory against representatives
of the other classes. Secondly,
each class wrote and sang a
song, which was judged on the
basis of such qualities as origina
lity, delivery, suitability to oc
casion, etc.
The Anniversary Vesper Ser
vice was held the following
Sunday at the regular vesper
hour with the Reverend Samuel
W. Williams, as the speaker.
That same night, at 8:00 in Sis
ters’ Chapel, the Spelman Col
lege Glee Club presented its an
nual spring concert.
emoried
family has family-style luncheon
in Morgan Hall. The SSGA is
in charge, and the speaker for
the occasion is Cecile Ganpat-
singh, the President of the Senior
Class.
The formal Founders’ Day
'exercises will be held at 3:00 p.m.
in Sisters Chapel. At this time
Spelman students, faculty and
guests will hear Mrs. Sadie T. M.
Alexander, Attorney at Law, from
Philadelphia, Penna.
The cooperation and participa
tion of everypne has made this
Founders’ Day celebration worthy
of past ones.
Jean Berrien
Coeds Make
PI DELTA PHI
Honor Society
On March 18, the Epsilon
Chapter of Pi Delta Phi, the Na
tional Honor Society in French,
held an initiation in the Lane
Lounge of the Samuel H. Archer
Physical Education Building
on the Morehouse Campus. Six-
(Continued on page 8)
COAHR Acts
On March 14th, over five-hun
dred Atlanta University Center
students marched on Atlanta’s
City Hall requesting that Mayor
Ivan Allen Jr. “take action imme
diately regarding the breaking
down of racial barriers.”
The march followed the arrests
of William Paul Berrien of Clark
College and Amos Brown of
Morehouse College, who attempt
ed to integrate the Henry Grady
Hotel. Students formed a picket
line around the hotel’s entrance,
immediately after the arrests.
Student leaders of the Com
mittee On Appeal For Human
Rights (COAHR) were respon
sible for the organization of the
march, picketing, and “sleep-in”
demonstrations. (See picture)
Notes on Votes
Four Mississippi counties -
Amite, Clairborne, Lowndes, and
Leflore — have been ordered,
in a lawsuit, to open their voter
registration records to federal
inspection.
The law suit charges that strict
voter requirements were estab
lished to discriminate against
Negroes.
The areas in question have
been the scenes of the nearly
fatal attacks on SNCC workers
like James Travis, Sam Block,
and Willie Peacock.
Progress in Pine Bluff
Students suspended from Ar
kansas A. M. & N. College be
cause of their participation in
desegregation demonstrations, in
tegrated the Holiday Inn motor
hotel in Pine Bluff, Ark. on
March 17th. Similar demonstra
tions have been held at Wal
greens Drug Store and an F. W.
Woolworth’s, but to no avail.
Leon Nash, a former Arkansas
A. M. & N. College student, was
arrested on March 14th and
charged with “defacing public
property.” He had been placing
signs announcing a mass meeting
on a utility pole.
Law Delays SNCC Workers
Donald Harris land John
Churchville, field secretaries for
the SNCC, were held and threat
ened by Sumter County law en
forcement officials on March 18th.
The two have been active in
Sumter’s voter registration drive.
Last summer, the sheriff was
placed under a federal injunction
forbidding his interference with
SNCC workers.
(Continued on page 8)
The Fine Arts Building shows rapid progress
April 11, Founders Day, begins
with the decoration of the Memo
rial Plaques honoring Misses
Packard and Giles by the mem
bers of the Granddaughters Club.
These plaques are located in
Howe Hall. Immediately follow
ing this ceremony, the Spelman
Students picket Henry Grady Hotel while their colleagues
stage sleep-in demonstration in lobby of hotel