Page 4 - Spelman Spotlight
Upolerclassmen Unimpressed
Freshmen Have Style of Their Own
by P«n Denise Moore
Regardless of the individual
qualities and personalities of its
members, each class of students
has its own unique image, whether
good or bad, dull or exciting.
Judging from what upper class-
men have said through the grape
vine, it seems as if the class of 1982
has not made a favorable impres
sion on the upperclassmen of Spel
man (with Morehouse it’s a
different story).
After talking to numerous
upperclassmen since August, I
have yet to hear at least one upper
classman say something construc
tive about the class as a whole.
“What do you think of the fresh
men?" I asked some upperclassmen
during the first few days of their
return to Spelman.
“Wild, girl, they are wild!” was
the typical response. Of course I
don’t know how valid that
response is. Upperclassmen proba
bly said the same thing about my
class last year.
One senior attempted to clarify
the issue for me. “Last year’s class
was really loud and wild about any
and everything they did, they
weren’t organized,” she said.
“This year’s class—theirs is a dif
ferent kind of wild. They’re vulner
able and eager to go places.” She
said the freshmen seemed to never
be in their dorms during freshman
week. They were always out
somewhere.
This senior also said the fresh
men were uncooperative in terms
of activities during freshman week.
“We had to go out and recruit girls
for the dating game,” she added.
Another interesting comment
made about the freshmen was that
they seem immature. For example,
one sophomore commented that
she saw two freshmen in front of
the main entrance of the student
center marching back and forth
practicing their band routine.
While she saw nothing wrong with
them practicing, she felt the stu
dent center was definitely the
wrong place for practice.
In another instance, I witnessed
a freshman (I presume, for I didn’t
ask her) walking from the direction
of Read Hall into the basement of
Packard dressed only in red leo
tards and tights with her pants
thrown over her shoulders. While
she was perfectly within her rights
(I guess) and while I could be an
ultra-conservative person, I just
can’t imagine why a mature adult
would wear red leotards and tights
in public.
In other instances, some upper
classmen had no particular impres
sion of the new class. “They have as
of yet to give me an impression,”
said a sophomore. “I have no
impression of them. They are just
here.”
She also said the freshmen do
not seem as aggressive as last year’s
class. “During tests, they slept
because it was really hot.” She said
they didn’t try to endure the
weather. “We sat through it and
took the tests.”
So there you have it. Among
other things, the upperclassmen
view the freshman class as wild,
uncooperative, immature, unim
pressive, and less aggressive.
But one wonders if this is a fair
appraisal of their worth. After all,
we are looking at the images that
are projected. For example, if you
look at the records of this year’s
class, you would get an entirely dif
ferent image.
Ms. Theresa A. Chandler, direc
tor of admissions, said that out of a
class of about 390, “approximately
40% (of the class) had grade point
averages of 3.0 or better, approxi
mately 20 were National Achieve
ment finalists and semifinalists,
and about 17% received academic
scholarships from Spelman. “There
are a lot of students,” she said,
“who we consider as professional
performing artists,” and one
published author.
An overwhelming number were
presidents of their student govern
ment associations or classes—in
some cases being the first blacks to
serve in those capacities, she
stated.
Based on the records, then, it
would seem as if either the upper
classmen are judging their younger
Spelman sisters too harshly or
either our younger Spelman sisters
have as of yet to prove themselves.
Which is it?
30 Years Make A Difference At Spelman
by Malrey Head
Many students at Spelman have
mothers, sisters or other relatives
who attended Spelman College
also. But special emphasis is placed
on the mother and daughter who
both attended Spelman.
On September 21, the faculty
and student body of Spelman had
a chance to share the feelings of a
current Spelman student and her
mother a Spelman alumna.
The topic of their talk, “Spelman
Today and Yesterday,” informed
the listeners of the two different
worlds of Spelman many years
apart.
Mrs. Joy San Walker Brown, a
member of the class of ’52,
describes herself as a homemaker,
mother and community worker.
It was 30 years ago this past
August that Mrs. Brown sat in Sis
ters Chapel as a freshman. The
Spelman of 30 years ago was much
simpler but allowed students less
freedom.
“Then as today, Spelman was a
product of its times. A mirror of
what was present in society as a
whole,” she said. The rules and reg
ulations seemed outrageous then,
and even more so now. But the out
side world was a segregated and
violent community from which stu
dents had to be protected.
Mrs. Brown’s decision to attend
Spelman was affected by women
who had attended Spelman.
Friends and women in the com
munity who had attended Spel
man, began to show qualities she
wanted to emulate.
Mrs. Brown convinced her par
ents to let her come to Spelman. A
native of Houston, Texas, she had
to endure a 24 hour train ride to
Atlanta.
Upon arriving in Atlanta, she
said they were led through the
segregated section to the segre
gated waiting room. It was dirty
and ill kept.
To make matters worse, the cab
that was to take them from the
train station to the campus barely
made it. She began to wonder if she
had done the right thing in coming
to Atlanta.
But despite her disappointing
introduction to Atlanta, once at
Spelman there was a “feeling of
happiness,” she said. “We were a
close knit family.” There were
approximately 399 students and
many of the faculty lived on cam
pus, allowing students to see
different attitudes of the teachers.
The security of Spelman, like
everything else, was very small 30
years ago. There was one security
guard for the whole school.
According to Mrs. Brown, his
name was ‘Will-shoot’ and his uni-,
form was the gun on his right side.
He was respected by the More
house men and all others.
The major portion of the social
life for the students at that time
centered around sports activities
and Sunday vespers, an evening
worship service.
“Our social life, we thought, was
rather full, even though we had to
be home by 5 p.m.” she stated.
On Sundays calling hours were
from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Vespers was
also at 3 p.m., which everyone was
required to attend, noted Mrs.
Brown.
The Morehouse men also
attended the vespers and this was
almost the only time that they had
to visit with the students. Since
these were the only hours for
calling, if vespers was not over by
five, the men had to leave at five
anyway, she said.
Weekend visits were another
social outing that the students
looked forward to.
Students with relatives in the city
could visit with written permission
on weekends. If one had friends in
the city she could visit once a
month with written permission,
said Mrs. Brown.
“We all made friends with city
students in order to have weekend
visits,” she said.
The Spelman of Mrs. Brown’s
daughter is not so restricted. One of
the things that attracted her to
Spelman was that it offered its stu
dents some independence. “Spel
man allows you to plot your own
course,” she said.
JoiSanne Brown, the daughter,
is a sophomore at Spelman. A
native of Atlanta, she attended
Northside High School.
Ms. Brown stated that she was
the “product of the so-called Spel
man/Morehouse marriage,” and
had heard about Spelman all her
life. She also attended the Spelman
nursery and took ballet here.
But before making her final deci
sion about attending Spelman, Ms.
Brown decided to do her own
research on Spelman. She found
that Spelman, with an enrollment
of about 1200 students, “was small
bv Malrey Head
Gregory O. Griffin, president of
the Morehouse Student Govern
ment Association (SGA), spoke in
Europe this past summer.
Griffin, a junior political science
major was awarded a $2,000 Mar
tin Luther King Scholarship. The
scholarship allowed him to stay in
Europe for five weeks.
Griffin lived with an Italian fam
ily and gave two lectures on Stu
dent Government Associations. He
spoke at the University of Florence
and the University of Rome, both
enough to be intimate, yet large
enough to be efficient.”
Ms. Brown spoke of Spelman as
a black institution with black roots,
black history and black role
models. But she noted that from
Spelman one could obtain the
“ability to function in an inte
grated society.”
One of Ms. Brown’s main con
siderations for coming to Spelman
were some of Spelman’s finished
products.” Of all the women she
admired who had outstanding
qualities and flair, “most were
graduates of Spelman,” she said.
The graduates of Spelman were
one thing that did not change about
Spelman. Both Mrs. Brown and
her daughter felt that they were
women to be admired.
Mrs. Brown noted the physical
contrast in the Spelman of today
and yesterday. “The outer package
is different, but the inner package,
the core, is the same.”
in Italy.
The main themes of Griffin’s
speeches were battling student
apathy and the common problems
of different student governments.
According to Griffin the purpose
of the scholarship was to help pro
mote world peace and give its recip
ient an experience in international
living.
Griffin says that the main thing
he gained from the experience was
that “where blacks are not a threat
to the status quo, there is no preju
dice.”
Spelman still “provides an envir
onment where black women can
become educated in every sense of
the word,” she said, culturally,
socially, spiritually, intellectually
and many other ways.
No where else in the world is
there a school like Spelman, she
said.
Jones Plays
Haley In
Next Roots
James Earl Jones has been set to
portray Alex Haley in “Roots: The
Next Generations,” the continua
tion of Haley’s epic saga of the
triumph of an American family. It
will air during the 1978-79 season
as an “ABC Novel for Television”
on the ABC Television Network.
Jones, an Oscar nominee for his
riveting portrayal of a prizefight
champion in “The Great White
Hope,” will be seen in the conclud
ing episodes of the 12-to 14-hour
drama. The actor was Haley’s per
sonal choice for the role. They have
been close friends for 12 years.
Jones will be seen as Haley in
sequences depicting the author’s
days as a cook in the Coast Guard,
his return to civilian life and his
eventual turn to writing, which led
to his exhaustive 12-year search to
trace his family ancestry back to
Africa.
Among those previously set to
appear in the film are (in alphabeti
cal order) George Stanford Brown,
Ossie Davis, Ruby dee, Olivia De
Havilland, Ja’net DuBois, Henry
Fonda, Dorian Harewood, Kene
Holliday, Lynne Moody, Harry
Morgan, Greg Morris, Stan Shaw,
March Singer, Richard Thomas
and George Voskovec.
"After enough time has passed, all memories are beautiful."
Morehouse SGA President
Speaks In Italy
