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FOUNDERS DAY 1976
From The Editor:
Debbi Newton
To Speak Of What?
What does an editor speak of in a final editorial? Does she
speak of dreams defered ? Or “rivers” she has known?
Does she speak of the first black, and the first man, to dedicate
21 years to the nations oldest institution of higher learning for black
women? Or does she speak of sororities on campus where in theory,
sororities are forbidden to exist?
Does she speak of student leaders who play an active role on
those sorority lines? Or does she wait, to speak of “how (they) got
over?”
Does an editor, in her last editorial, speak of college standing
committees that have -Tailed to meet even once throughout the
academic year? Or does she speak of the atrocities of campus living?
Does she speak of the inability of the student community to
legitimately negotiate student demands with the college ad
ministration? Or does she speak simply, of coming of age?
How difficult it has been coming into my womanhood during
these past 1 years on campus at Spelman. 1 have seen many things
the last .1 years. I have seen potential areas of development remain
virtually unexplored within this college community. Areas which,
simply because I was a student, were made inaccessible to me. But
because I was growing, 1 witnessed also other urgencies of the
community, and those urgencies beckoned the contributions I had
been prepared to make.
How awkward it seemed - the struggle to contribute. How
confused 1 often felt. During that time, it seemed as though I had
become invisible to the floating eyes of the campus.
"When you have lived invisible as long as I have,” noted Ralph
Ellison in his novel, The Invisible Man,” you develop a certain
ingenuity.” Asserted Invisible Man, “I’ll solve the problem...I’ll
do that and more.”
Like Ellison, I too learned to utilize my invisibility, by working
closely, but silently, within the college’s adminsitrative machinery.
In my search, I have discovered that faculty and students on this
campus do share some commonalities - and those commonalities
oftentimes, are the problems they share, posed by the ineffective
administration of academic priorities.
As a result of problems like these, many students, like myself,
have come to the realization that in general, Spelman students are
receiving little or no education of practical value from the college.
And thus, many are successfully engaged in programs of self-
cducation. To a very large extent, that process of self-education for
myself, has been a vast extenstion of the pages upon which I now
write.
In spite of it all, hte Spelman experience has nurtured a horizon
in my life. I have learned also that a legacy does exist here, in spite
of what I had learned initially from older members of this com
munity.
It is a legacy that now flows deep witin my own veins, Because
of the "rivers 1 have known.” And, 1 am learning, it is a legacy
borne from the souls of all black folks - both past and present. More
important, it is a legacy that is “older than the world” and “more
ancient than the blood.”
And it’s value lie in that it has given birth to the insight I shall
need, in order that I successfully sail the “rivers” I have yet to
encounter.
What docs an editor speak of in a last editorial? Does she speak
of the anguish of a young girl coming into her womanhood?
I attempted to grown here at Spelman, and I did grow. It was a
growth which 1 perceived as an attempt at survival. And oftentimes,
simply trying to survive it all took more strength than I was able to
muster. But I am somewhat certain now of the past I have lived
here.
Uppermost in my mind will remain memories of those people
who made this survival necessary. Yes, there were people who
made a conscious effort to help me to attain, and to maintain my
womanly stature.
Though this is my last voice to the Spelman College com
munity. do not sleep fast - for it is not the last you w ill hear of it.
To my Mama, to Barbara Brow n, to Ernestine Brazeal. to Judy
Gcbrc-Hiwct, and to Spelman College - thank you. You arc all
women, by your own strengths.
Dr. Manley, Mr. & Mrs. McCarthy, Dr. Scott & Students In
background. Occasion: Dedication of Bldg.
The Manley Years
By Dr. Albert E. Manley,
President of Spelman College
doss Of 1976
Where Do We
Go From Here?
By Sherrie Marshall
Rich man, poor man, beggar
man, thief, doctor, lawyer,
hdian chief. Add to this list
teacher, nurse, dietician,
housewife, clerk, politician, and
you still have an incomplete
peture of the futures of
members of the 1975-76
g-aduating class of Spelman
College.
As May 16 slowly approaches,
seniors spend a lot of time
reflecting on the past and even
more time (hopefully) asking
‘Where do we go from here?”
And many of us are reminded
lhat even as children jumping
rope on the sidewalks outside
our homes, we have been
conscious of the fact that our
kitures lie in our own hands.
So, where do we go from here?
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I am honored to have been asked to contribute an article, briefs as
it necessarily must be, to the Spotlight, concerning my twenty-three
years as the chief administrator of Spelman College.
Twenty-three years is a great many years. For some of you,
twenty-three years are more than your lifetime; for me, they con
stitute more than one third of mine and add up to the most exciting,
rewarding, and challenging period of time any one person could hope
to experience in a lifetime.
In 1951, when 1 arrived at Spelman, it had enrollment of 454
students. The majority of them came from Georgia and the
southeastern region of the United States. The faculty totaled 54. Of
this number, 1 four held the Ph.D. degree. The maximum salary was
$4,500 per year. As far as the curriculum was concerned, the major
emphasis was on nursing, social work, and teaching. THE PHYSICAL
PLANT CON ISTED OF /— BUILDINGS* SOME OF WHICH WERE
BADLY IN NEED OF REPAIR.
In the area of administrative organization, the chief officers
included the president, the assistant treasurer, the dean of women,
and the registrat. There was no dean of instruction. The endowment
of the College was $.1.5 million. The total college budget for the year
was $476,298, not quite half a million dollars.
Through the years since 195.1, I have watched...and I hope, have
helped... Splemlan grow and develop. Today, student enrollment is
1,244. The students come from .18 states and 14 foreign countries. The
largest numoer of majors (486) is in the Division of Social Sciences,
which includes the Departments of Economics, History, Political
Science, P.sychology, and Sociology. The Division of Natural Sciences
follows zith the second highest number (154). Then come the
Divisions of Education, Humanities, and Fine Arts.
In 1972, the organization of the academic program into divisions
was initiated; this divisional arrangement...Social Sciences, Natural
Sciences, Education, Humanities, Fine Arts....was completed in 197.1,
and has proved most beneficial. The flor of information upward and
downward, and between disciplines, has been greatly facilitated. In
1971, an academic dean and an associate academic dean were ap
pointed. Within the five divisions, twenty-two majors are offered: Art,
Biology, Chemistry, Child Development, Computer, Science, Drama,
Dual Degree in Engineering (with Georgia Tech), Economics,
English, French, German, History, Home Economics, Mathematics,
Music, Philosophy, Physical Education, Political Science,
Psychology, Social Science, Sociology, and Spanish.
From the curriculm point of view, therefore, a different emphasis
may be observed. Nursing and home economics in the homemaking
tradition have been deemphasized. There is less emphasis on social
work as such, and in education options other than teching have been
opened up. New programs have been initiated in pre-medicine, pre
dental. and pre-law areas. A dual degree program in engineering has
been established on a cooperative basis with the Georgia Institute of
Technology. Federally and privately funded programs, such as Health
careers. Family Planning, Summer Science, and Freshman Studies,
provide innovative course offerings. Four persons are responsible
either for the ideas for the programs or for their implementation; they
arc Drs. Audrey Forbes Manley and Shirley McBay of the Spelmain
faculty, Mrs. Sally Sage McAlpin, a trustee, and Dr. Lewis Bran-
scomb, a member of the Fund Raising Committee. Spelman continues
to study its curriculum and to provide offerings which stimulate and
excite students to develop their potential and prepare them for
productive living. It is most important to mention here that 50 percent
of the graduating classes in the last few years have continued their
education in graduate and professional schools.
Today, the faculty is compose of 90 full-time and 10 part-time
teachers; 57 percent holds doctoral degrees; 15 percent is on tenure.
It is interesting to note the
wide fariety of choices which
many seniors are making
regarding their futures. There
are those who will continue
school, training for those
professions which have been a
part of their conscious beings
since childhood.
Continued On Page 19
Then there are those who are
going to work-most do not know
st what they will work-but they
do know that they “can’t take no
mo’ school.”
And there are those seniors
who will get married, some of
whom will remain at home and
others who will combine
marriage and a career.
And, of course, there are those
seniors who will be left behind-
watching soap operas, playing
cards, sleeping, and some just
dawn on their luck.
Few of us will be rich. Some of
us will be poor. But how many
of us will be happy or have the
potential for happiness
wherever we go, and whatever
we do? How many of us have
profited from our four years at
Spelman and other un
dergraduate institutions that
even if we are not rich in a
monetary sense, we are rich
with values we have attained
from the human contacts and
experiences we have en
countered?
And even more importantly,
how many seniors will be able to
take these experiences and a
sense of “self” which,
hopefully, we have all
developed, and successfully
ritegrate them into our lives?
Our childhood dreams are
about to become realities-or
shattered fragments of what
could have been. Thus far we
have had help, from our
parents, friends and others.
They have helped to protect our
dreams. But as we divorce
ourselves from so many people
aid things which have kept us
dependent, it is time to make
big decisions-decisions about
where we are going and what we
are going to do-decisions which
will affect our lives and
decisions for which we alone will
be responsible., . , .
Where do we go from here?
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