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A SENIOR'S FIVE CENTS WORTH
Is Spelman's intellectual
By Bifli Montgomery
Toward the end of the 1971-72 school year, a
young lady was running for a Student Government
office. For her campaign speech, she read a very
witty satirical analogy of our student body. Her
topic was apathy, but in the form of a super cool,
super dude called “Apathy Jones.” Her talk went
into various descriptions of what apathy can do not
only to an individual, but to an entire student body
as well. I believe her main purpose was to help
usher “Apathy Jones,” in his Cadillac, out of
Spelman’s campus. The cars may have changed,
and the hairstyle altered a little, but “Apathy
Jones” is still around. In fact, he never left, and
from all obvious signs, he ain’t leaving no time soon!
I am a senior at Spelman College. I did not
transfer from another school. I did not start, stop
and return. I came in September, 1969, along with
300 other girls and remained for four years along
with some 200 girls who decided to do the same.
How does one begin to assess the changes, both
good and bad, that we have been subjected to? But
not desiring to appear selfish and self-centered,
Spelman has gone through quite a few alterations
of its own. Of all its changes, its academic climate
has been the most drastically affected when com
pared with its past performance. In questioning this
deep-rooted deviation, we find ourselves asking this
most pertinent question—Is Spelman intellectually
apathetic?
My response is an emphatic YES. Spelman is in
tellectually apathetic. From a senior’s point of
view, this has been steadily on the increase since
we arrived. How does one begin to evaluate the
causes and reasoning behind this apathy?
First, Spelman is situated in a location where
nothing ever happens. This is generalizing a bit but
the consensus is that “nothing ever happens around
Spelman.” (NOTE: On Spelman’s campus, 350
Spelman Lane; not necessarily Atlanta!) Thus, a
routine quickly develops. A very dull and listless
routine. I, along with all of my other sisters, have
atmosphere apathetic?
been trying to figure out what is needed for some
thing to be “happening.” I do not have any set
pattern for this but there is obviously something
that is needed.
Second, Spelman has an apathetic student body.
Let me suggest why. There is an air of lack of com
petitiveness on campus. Everyone is trying to get
over. Just get over. Little more than that is actu
ally desired. One cares about little more than just
getting over.
Third, we have an apathetic faculty. There is
very little push given to students by the faculty.
Younger faculty members find themselves stifled
and restricted by older members of their depart
ments. Some department heads carry their indo
lent and insolent attitudes into the classroom, thus
alienating students. Many faculty members are
waiting on the student body for a force, some kind
of push. The lack of enthusiasm in Giles Hall is so
thick you can cut it with a knife! I believe faculty
look for the end of the day more than students.
Everyone is caught up in and tired of that same
old routine.
Fourth, our apathetic administration. However,
credit must be given to our administration’s fantas
tic ability to raise funds for the school. Call them
contacts, connections, whatever; when it comes to
raising funds, the administration can do it! Inter
nally, it is a different matter. Complaints about
faculty and many administrative policies are listen
ed to and understood. That’s it. Everything heard,
understood—and set aside.
Seniors are leaving—the apathetic atmosphere,
students, faculty and administration will be left be
hind. We are getting out. The Junior class will be
come the Senior class with the express purpose of
getting out. Three classes will remain behind—
juniors, who will spend a year reminding them-
"selves that they have only one more year; sopho
mores, who are just really learning the ropes; and
freshmen, who will come in young, eager and im
pressionable. It is up to the sophomores, freshmen
Reprinted from The Atlanta Constitution
Carl Rowan
Column for Black Readers Only
WASHINGTON - White readers
of this newspaper can move on to the
crossword puzzle, or the bridge col
umn. or the
sports pages. I
want to rap a bit
with my black
readers today.
And if what I
say angers a few
brothers and sis
ters, so be it. But
it’s time blacks —
especially young
blacks — stopped
deluding them
selves into believing
following of stupid fads is “black soli
darity.”
It is time to stop swallowing this
malarkey that styling your hair in 30
nappy plaits, with enough head skin
showing to cane-bottom granny’s rock
er, is the epitome of “pride in racial
heritage.”
The current Ebony magazine has
a feature called “Is the Afro on the
W'ay Out?” It suggests that the college
group didn’t find enough “black pride”
in the old Afro, so young blacks have
now resorted to “ancient African hair
styles” such as the “tree cornrow” —
modeled by a lassie who looks as
though she got her head caught in a
corn-shucker. Another sister sports
“cornrows tipped with curls” — and
looks as though she got trapped in a
stampede of hungry locusts.
Anybody who didn’t find enough
“black pride” with a “bush” is sup
posed to finally discover his or her
black identity in a “cornrow.”
This is, to put it as decently as I
can, pure nonsense. Black Americans
can let their hair grow' to the ground,
they can shave till their heads outshine
cue balls, they can straighten or tease
or crocinole or curl or process, they
can buy wigs till they run out of
money (as a lot of Africans do in
Nairobi and other African cities I have
visited), but there isn’t going to be
any meahingful black pride until more
black people are making solid achieve
ments in competition with the white
majority.
Nothing galls me more than a
black dude who is cutting classes, or
who never reads a newspaper or maga
zine or book, or won’t hold onto a job,
or won’t give a dime to help some
needy black, sitting around the barber
shop or the pool hall or the student
union talking about how his “rags” or
his “ ’fro” symbolizes black pride.
No Greek, no Jew, no Roman, no
Aztec ever designed enough rags or
grew enough hair to cloak failure to
the extent that it could pass for
“pride.”
Black people in this country feel a
grueling challenge of survival. Many
of the most powerful forces in the land
are arrayed against us these days,
some openly and some secretly. So we
need to put dov'n all the nonsense and
bull, and get about the business of
manning the ramparts. I don't give a
damn how you style your hair; what
bothers me is that you spend more
time on your hair than on your physics
or English class.
That folderol over “ancient Afri
can hairstyles” gave me a special pain
in the scalp because I read it just after
reading a very troubling article by a
black senior at Harvard.
This young man, Sylvester Mon
roe, wrote in the Saturday Review of
Education, about what has happened
as black students have let their search
for “blackness” and “pride” carry
them to a separatism that shuts them
off from the intellectual strength of
Harvard.
Monroe quotes a black Harvard
professor. Martin A. Kilson, as saying:
“The problem with black students at
Harvard is that they are too caught up
in ideology. Most people who deal in
ideologies believe only 10 per cent of
it. at most. But blacks at Harvard
want to believe 90 per cent of their
own ideological bull—.”
So true. A lot of young people
think they are snowing Whitey. They
are going through his university, tak
ing his degree, without submitting to
the rigors of his academic procedures.
They get away with it because Whitey
doesn’t know how to cope with “black
solidarity.”
But these young blacks are snow
ing themselves. Sometimes destroying
themselves. Not many are as honest
as Monroe, who admits that he is
nervous as hell about leaving Harvard
to compete in a “compleoc, demanding
white world.” Monroe fears that he
has screwed himself by spending three
years at Harvard in “an isolated black
vacuum.”
Let’s face reality: we don’t have
enough firepower to take this country;
we don’t have enough manpower to
dominate it; we don’t have enough
dollar-power to buy it. And we’ll be
short of all these “powers” until we
develop a lot more brainpower. In
truth, that’s the one power we can
develop rapidly, with zeal, without
scaling the dominant group to the
point that it loads on new’ oppressions.
So. in the name of the souls of
black folk, let’s say to hell with this
nonsense about hair. Let’s face up to
some tests of manhood and woman
hood that are truly relevant to black
uplift.
and the few involved upperclassmen to escort
“Apathy Jones” off campus for good! We pay an
awful lot of money for half-rate instructors who
allow us to get over. Let us be completely honest
with our situation. We fool and cheat no one but
ourselves. The price we pay for apathy is close to
$3,000.00 a year. Go home and be apathetic—it’s
cheaper!
Make your instructors give you your money’s
worth. You help pay his salary. Make him earn the
portion you pay.
Do not always look for the easiest instructor
simply to be getting over. Why insult your intelli
gence? Search for that instructor who is so hellified
that by the end of the semester, you will know that
you got your shit together. It will be rough, but in
the final analysis, you will be getting your money’s
worth.
In terms of administration, let pressure be your
objective. Let your grievances be just, valid, impor
tant and airtight. Let it be worth it. The Student
Government Association is your vehicle, your tool.
Use it. If you allow it to, it can work against you.
It can represent a minority. Spelman is too small
for a minority to exist. You are all in this together-
sink or swim—together. That is called sisterhood!
Upon closing, I only add that whether we wish
to admit it or not, we love this school. Otherwise,
we would not keep coming back. We love it so
much that we wish to see it improved—all around.
For Seniors, we have gone through all the books
and in many cases the books have gone through us.
More important, we have learned about life—the
beauty as well as its stark realism. We leave you to
force Spelman to do its job. Its total job—to teach
you about life as well as to prepare you for the
days, the graduate schools, the employment ahead.
After all, what purpose does it serve to pay an insti
tution close to $3,000 a year to be trained for some
kind of occupation, go through all of the mental
changes called maturing, graduate, and not be able
to do a damn thing?
THE WASTING
OF AN EDUCATION
By teeBrock
The high school graduate comes to Spelman to
be a success and obtain either the Bachelor of
Science (B.S.) or the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) de
gree. She is ambitious, enthusiastic and ready. Then
come the realities of the world around her. After a
semester she is likely to suffer a serious loss of what
may be labelled “motivation.” She may find her
self facing the thought of dropping out of school
or not trying so hard, to ease off into a kind of
apathy about what is happening around her.
The question is, “What are some of the factors
which tend to bring about these results?”
One contributing factor is the emphasis placed
on grades. For example, a Spelman sister studies
and as a result, does poorly. There are other sisters
who don’t' study, but because of the emphasis
placed on grades, must seek some other means of
obtaining the grades. Thus, they resort to cheating.
The sister who does study is aware of the fact that
if she wants the grade, then she too must resort to
these means.
Another factor is the special privileges given or
ganizational officers by some of the teachers and
the administration. These sisters spend most of
their time running here and there, but are given a
very desirable grade for their “efforts.” It gets to
the point where “it’s not what you know, but who
you know and what you’re into.”
The last factor to be discussed is the negative at
titude some of the teachers possess. These teachers
carry an air which seems to say, “I’ve gotten mine,
you’ve got yours to get.” The negative attitude of
the teacher brings about a negative response in the
student. If a student goes into a class with a nega
tive attitude, her learning process is obviously im
paired and this brings about a “wasting away of an
education.”
There are many other factors which bring about
“a wasting away of an education”; but the ones
which are stated above are the most dominant ones.
Until these factors, as well as the others, are dealt
with, a serious loss of “motivation” will continue
to dominate this Spelman sister.
