Newspaper Page Text
SPOTLIGHT
SPELMAN COLLEGE WW ATLANTA, GEORGIA
NOVEMBER 25, 1966
WRITE-IN SUCCEEDS
A MATTER OF CONSCIENCE
Write-in Supporters: including Mrs. Lois Moreland and H. Williams
by Pat Collins
This election year was a revealing one for Georgia. She
along with several other states was confronted with situations
they hadn’t experienced in quite some time: the prospect of
Segregationist Governors. Georgia’s situation was particularly
acute in that she had to choose between a racist and an
ultra-conservative (i.e. sophisticated racist) for Governor.
For a while many liberal and progressive thinking citizens
of the state were perplexed. Some said that they would go
fishing on election day while others said that they would take
the “lesser of the two evils” and support Callaway. Then
something miraculous happened. Many Georgians recounciled
themselves to the fact that there could be no lesser of two
evils.
So some Fulton County Democrats, guided by their con
sciences, banded together and decided to sponsor a Write-In
Georgia Campaign. The candidate was Ellis Amall. (Or for
those of us who insist on being technical — the “lesser of the
three evils”).
Write-In Georgia started out with nothing. They acquired
an office in a downtown building and set about borrowing
chairs and equipment from various offices. Soon money began
to flow in — checks, nickels and dimes, dollars.
The denouncing cries came. Many were opposed to the
write-in. All it would do would be to put Maddox into office.
The supporters of the write-in stuck it out. They continued
volunteering their time and donating their money to a cause
they felt imperative.
As election time neared there were rallies and even a
Write-In Convention in Macon, Ga. There was also hot
debate between the more practical leaders of the community
(notably Negro leaders) who wanted to put Callaway in
office and the more idealistic members who refused to
chose between two entirely unsuitable candidates.
The highlight of the Write-In Movement was the Concert
for Conscience held the week before the election ' here in
Atlanta at the Georgian Terrace Hotel. Several notable per
formers donated their time to the cause for human freedom.
Among those on the program were Theodore Bikel, re
nowned actor and folksinger, Peter, Paul & Mary, and Father
Malcolm Boyd who talked extemporaneously and read from
his best-selling book of prayers, Are You Running With Me
Jesus.
Each day the tension mounted until finally election day
came. Lester Maddox immediately loomed ahead in the Gov
ernor’s race. By 8 o’clock NBC projections had announced
him the victor. It seemed that the struggle for freedom had
left most of Georgia untouched. But the morning after told
the story. No candidate had a majority of the votes! The
Write-In (about 6% of the total vote — in all about 50,000
votes) had prevented the election of either Callaway or
(Continued on Page 6)
Hosea Williams at Write-In Rally
The Carmichael Controversy
During the week of October 31, the Spelman College
campus was in an uproar about the on-again, off-again ap
pearance of Stokely Carmichael on this campus. A repre
sentative of the Spotlight Staff has secured interviews with
nearly all the people involved in the situation. To clear up
any rumors that may still be circulating and in an attempt
to prevent further confusion of this sort, the Spotlight pre
sents the facts about the “Carmichael Controversy.”
Mary Susan Parker, Vice President of the Sophomore
Class, is the person who actually invited Carmichael to speak
on Spelman’s campus. She asked Mrs. Perry if the class
could use Howe Hall for the presentation. Mrs. Perry re
fused permission. When Dean Chivers was told of this
predicament, she stated that she would override Mrs. Perry
if necessary to obtain Howe Hall. Mrs. Chivers then gave
permission for the event. Dr. Manley did not object to Car
michael’s presence on campus in the future, but did object to.
his coming at that particular time since Carmichael had only
been invited a few days before and the event was not well pre
pared. Mary felt that “The main problem in the situation was
the breakdown, not between administration and students, but
between administrative officers themselves.”
Mrs. Grace Jason Perry, Registrar, stated that she refused
the sophomore class’ request to use Howe Hall on the follow
ing grounds: Such a presentation was not in her jurisdiction
because she was only concerned with academic presentations
not extra-curricular ones.
Mrs. Naomi Chivers, Dean of Women, told the interviewer
that Mary Parker and Jacquelyn Howard asked for use of
Howe Hall to present Stokely Carmichael. Mrs. Chivers then
went to see Dr. Manley, but he was out of town. The pub
licity for the event had already been put up. When the de
cision was made to postpone it S.N.C.C. was not informed.
Jacquelyn Howard, President of the Sophomore class,
told of two meetings that the students involved in the issue
had with President Manley. The first meeting was held the
Sunday before Carmichael’s scheduled and publicized ap
pearance. The student participants in this meeting were Bar
bara Pyatt, President of the S.S.G.A., and Mary Parker.
After the meeting, Mary informed Jacquelyn that they would
probably have to cancel the presentation. But Carmichael did
appear and speak on the night of October 31.
At the second meeting Dr. Manley said (a) he was un
aware of the permission given for Carmichael’s apperance,
given them by Dean Chivers. (b) he had no objections to
Carmichael’s appearing on campus, (c) that the S.S.G.A.
would present a list of speakers for the year, (d) a definite
form of presenting speakers would be set up. This would be
discussed in a meeting of the President’s Council.
Because of this meeting a Lecture Committee for the
A.U. Center has been formed.
INFLATION
Hits Spelman
by Yvette Sawvoir
Although President Johnson
promised that we could have
both guns and butter, it has
become increasingly difficult
to get butter. The cause of this
problem is generally con
sidered to be inflation. This
means that the value of our
money is decreasing as the
average of some particular
group of prices—the price level
—is increasing. It is not the
amount of money, but the val
ue of spending money—what
economists call ‘real money’—
that determines purchasing
power. More simply, the cost
of living has risen.
Just as American house
wives are complaining about
the impact of inflation, Spel
man students have justifiably
complained about tight money
which is limiting our intellec
tual, cultural, and social activ
ities. However, too many have
failed to examine the under
lying causes. The SSGA and
Mr. Coe have been accused of
misappropriating and mishan
dling our money. Since we have
more students (therefore more
money is coming in) some
people have illogically con
cluded that there should be
more money for each organ
ization, club, class, and dormi
tory. This is not the case.
Having more people means
more activities with a broader
scope requiring more materials
to fulfill the purposes of the
organization. Together with
higher prices, increased de
mand at Spelman has raised
the cost of operating an organ
ization efficiently. Thus, the
SSGA, which allocates funds
according to the needs of an
organization as its representa
tives defend them before the
Budget Board, has a budget
that goes beyond its total in
come. This means deficit
spending. For several years the
SSGA has operated in this
way. Money which is not used
by an organization is, for
sound economic reasons, used
to pay the debt incurred from
the previous year. The SSGA
has only the sum of all the
activity fees to distribute
among all organizations and
projects for the entire year.
The job the SSGA has done
is commendable.