Newspaper Page Text
Tuesday, April 27, 1965
SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT
Page 2
SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT
Editor-in-Chief Leila Potts
Co-Editor Frieda Williams
■ Associate Editor Andrea Williams
Secretary Carolyn Clark
Business Manager Helen Coleman
Cartoonist Carolyn Simmons
Reporters Judy Tillman,
Anna Belle Porter, Phoebe Bailey, Yvette Savwoir, Carolyn Camp
bell, Joyce Young, Melba Davis, Anne Carroll, Patsy Stevens,
Carol King, Jane Smith, Ruth Batey, Clara Prioleau, Alexis
Walker, Beverly Smith.
Leila Potts
WHO’S
NEXT??
Webster defines a rumor as
“a story current but not au
thenticated.” The key word here
is “authenticated" which is sy
nonymous with truth and valid
ity - something which a rumor
has not! Anything that is not sy
nonymous with truth and valid
ity has no place in an academic
situation - a situation that we
entered to find the truth, not to
reject it. Unfortunately, however,
the evils of untruth prevail,
rearing their ugly heads when
ever they get a chance, often
leaving indelible marks upon
the lives of the people they
touch.
Rumors are usually concoct
ed by narrow, idle minds. It is
bad enough to have a narrow
mind, but to have an idle mind
is the devil’s workshop. After
their beginning rumors pass from
mouth to mouth as gossip and
inevitably gain new “Facts” and
become more “Juicy”. The in
teresting thing about this is that
rumors are all right until the}
are about you, then they are
dirty, vicious lies.
Most females have what is
known as feminine intuition.
Unfortunately, most of us also
have a pettiness about us - a
“quality” which when exercis
ed can do wonders for rumors,
especially with regard to the
length of time they stay alive
and the “facts” that are con
tinually being added. I ven
ture to say here that that is
one quality all of us could do
without.
Here is an hypothetical ru
mor that can illustrate what
I'm talking about: Eva Jones
had just recently become en
gaged. After a while she be
gan teasing about getting mar
ried secretely, though never
saying concrete. Spring break
came and she went home. Her
fiance visited her but they did
not get married. About a week
after she got back, the rumor
was started that she had got
ten married during the break.
The rumor stayed in circula
tion quite a long time, gained
new “Facts” as to the date and
reasons, and eventually came to
the attention of the adminis
tration who promptly called her
in. In order to prove her in
nocence Eva had to answer a
host of questions and to take
a medical examination. Her par
ents were called and they be
came excited. However, no ac
tions were taken by the admin
istration because the rumor
was not true. But, Eva still suf
fered. She was thoroughly hu
miliated and hurt. Was the ru
mor worth the agony it put her
through? NO!
Rumors serve no sane, prac
tical, aesthetic, ethical, or moral
purpose. In other words they
have no use, except for those
small-minded, jealous hiumans
who use them for revenge. If
you are in doubt about some
thing, or if you “saw some
thing”, get the facts straight be
fore you pass it on, if you must.
If you can’t get the facts straight
then keep quiet. A rumor is not
worth the humiliation it can
put an individual through.
Would you like to be a subject?
Would you like to be the next
one? I think not.
To paraphrase an old saying,
A WORD
OF THANKS
Once in a while, some of us
experience something which is
so meaningful that mere words
will not suffice to express the
beauty of that experience; we
stand naked in the face of exalt
ed beauty because it strips us
to the essence of pure art. Yet
we know, in the end, that we
must say something in gratitude
—something fitting, something
proper. So, this is to thank those
responsible for the presentation
of the Branoho Kromanavich
Chorus of Y ugoslavia on
March 31, 1965 in Sisters Cha
pel.
The art we experienced is
called music. Because we heard
it in the purity of its rendition
it becomes essence. And so goes
another rare experience ... we
may not talk much about it, or
even think of it — but we can
never forget . . .
To say more, outside of a
critical analysis, is nothing short
of giving vent to an impulse.
—Venitia Sharpe
WHAT IS COAHR
A few years ago, when dem
onstrations were at their peak,
students in the Atlanta Univer
sity Center formed the Commit
tee on Appeal for Human Rights
in order that they might initiate
desegregation efforts in down
town Atlanta through their own
organization. After all most of
the students would be making
Atlanta their home for the next
four years. Sometimes their hav
ing to go downtown would mean
that they would want comfort
able seats on the city bus, rest
for their tired feet while eating
their lunch, and restrooms to
go to as their bodies signaled the
necessity. Although Negroes,
they were still human beings
with human desires of rest, food
and excretion.
Things were not easy in those
days. The results of many dem-
Great minds talk about ideas,
medium minds talk about
events, but small minds talk
about people.
Leila Potts
onstrations were mass arrests of
many students. This, of course,
entailed financial difficulties on
the part of the parents and
schools and meant academic
sacrifices on the part of the in
carcerated students. In spite of
all of this, those were the good
old days when the students felt
really free to express, for the
first time, their dissatisfaction
and discontentment toward an
unfair society in the form of
chanting freedom songs, partici
pating in mass marchings and in
dulging in passive resistance.
Today things have changed -
but only a little. Certain tangi
ble results are obvious - Negroes
can sit anywhere on buses, eat
at lunch counters and even use
the restrooms at almost any pub
lic concern. Still the problem
is far from being solved.
A group of Spelman and
Morehouse students met in Sep
tember of this academic year in
order to completely reorganize
the Committee on Appeal for
Human Rights. A new constitu
tion was drawn up and endorsed
by the Council of Presidents
of the Atlanta University Cen
ter making this a legitimately
approved organization in which
the entire student bodies could
participate without reluctance.
The organization’s Executive
Committee is composed of an
executive chairman and two rep
resentatives from each respec
tive center institution. Sherryl
Moss, who is secretary of COA
HR, and Dorothea Morton are
the two Spelman representatives
who were appointed by the stu
dent body president. The Coun
cil of Presidents and the respec
tive student body presidents com
pose the Board of Advisors.
In view of the passage of the
1964 Civil Rights Bill and in
conjunction with public senti
ment, the committee decided to
redirect its course from the
streets, and to revise its efforts
into programmed p r oj e c t s .
Among the slated projects were
the Abolition of Capitol Punish
ment in Georgia, the initiation
of a book drive for the inmate
library at Reid Federal Prison,
the initiation of meal sacrificing
for the poor people in places
like Mississippi, the creation of
assistance in the NASH project
tutorial program and making
provision for entertaining the
culturally and socially deprived
children in Vine City, a slum
in the Atlanta University Cen
ter backyard.
None of these projects ma
terialized where there were con
crete results. The only projects
so far where there was center
wide participation and cooper
ation was the impromptu call
for picketeers on behalf of the
Selma situation. This does not
mean necessarily, however, that
the students are only interested
in demonstrating, but it does
mean that the students see a
need for more and more dem
onstrations.
While the social problem
seems to be well on its way to
ward be-ing solved, there is still
room for much improvement in
that area as well as in all other
areas. Students seemed to have
done a tremendous job toward
solving certain racial problems
in their own way. In what way
will you, as a student, solve the
other unsolved problems? The
future is in your hands.
-—Gloria Wise
SHORT EXCHANGE
PROGRAMS
Spelman has just witnessed
one of its most successful ex
periments in the history of the
short term exchange program of
two weeks. The girls from Ce
dar Crest College in Allentown,
Pennsylvania made a definite
and pleasant impression on the
Spelman Student body from their
first day here to their last. The
participants in the program from
Cedar Crest were Gail Griffiths,
Cheryl Buttendorf, Sue Miller,
Patti Braens, Joyce Gill, and
Marcia Rodriguez.
When the roommates and
dormitory mates of these girls
were asked to what did they at
tribute the enthusiastic accep
tance of these girls, they gen
erally replied that it was be
cause they were “real” girls,
just like us. All of the students
(Cont. on page 3)
" FW hoy friatni dn cl I b^oise ^ bavin q a ball 11
up,becav.se a v*mor, , ?
'People told Uuqo X went
to that "Q"party u>>ih
l-Adie. j-ioney, they sa/'d