The Spelman spotlight. (Atlanta , Georgia) 1957-1980, March 12, 1980, Image 1

The Spelman spotlight., March 12, 1980, Image 1

About The Spelman spotlight. (Atlanta , Georgia) 1957-1980 | View Entire Issue (March 12, 1980)

Page of 10

Prev Issue Next Issue

Text PDF JP2 (1.6 MB) Clip/Print Image

Page of 10

Prev Issue Next Issue

Return to Top

Newspaper Page TextA member of the Campus Digest News Service and the National News Bureau. VOL. XXIII, NO. 7 Atlanta, Georgia March 12, 1980 Donna Dunlap, SSGA President Census Comes to Spelman By Kiron K. Skinner Donna Dunlap, Spelman’s student body president, in an in terview with the Spotlight, ex plained that she will work with the “Committee for Special Events,” a sub-committee of the “Complete Count Committee.” This sub-committee is respon sible for special census events in the city of Atlanta such as the dissemination of flyers at City wide activities and the planning of informative sessions on the census at low-income housing projects. Donna’s job, however, will be largely based on campus. She must make sure that all students, boarding on Spelman’s campus, fill out the Census form that they receive through the mail. In J anuary of this year. Mayor Maynard Jackson, with the aid of one of his assistants, Cecilia Hunter, formed the “Complete Count Committee.” The purpose of this committee is to make sure that strategies to insure total participation of Atlantans in the 1980 Census are planned and executed. The members of this com mittee include the four un dergraduate student government association presidents of the Atlanta University Center, businessmen, representatives from large corporations, national organizations and large local organizations. It is important, Donna ex plained, that students fill out and return the census form because they will not be counted with their families. Also, off-campus students will receive a form through the mail. “Students should not take the filling out of the 1980 census for ms lightly,” Donna stressed. “It is essential for students to be coun ted as members of the Atlanta community so that funds which are to go to minorities will be ac curately allocated.” Donna also addressed the issue of confidentiality. Many people feel that if they fill out the forms, the information will be used for some other means. Donna ex plained that the information is confidential and the money that Atlanta receives for its programs, like elderly services, is based on the count of the Census. On March 28, the AUC Political Action Network, headed by Pamela Denise Moore, will have a “Count Us In Rally” on Chestnut Street. The purpose of this rally is to get students "egistered to vote. Donna stated that the rally will encompass the census issue and all students are urged to attend. AUC St jdents Organize Rally “Apathy in the Atlanta Univer sity Center (AUC) has reached an all-time high,” said Pamela Moore, president, AUC-SCLC. “It has been a long time since the students here have taken a stand and addressed a political issue.” On Friday, March 28, 1980, students (and community) will have that chance to become in volved. The AUC Political Ac tion Network, a coalition of student organizations interested in revitalizing student political participation, will host a pre census rally and voter registration drive. The event will take place on Chestnut Street between Clark College and Atlan ta University from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Mayo.r Maynard Jackson, Commissioners Michael Lomax and Chuck Williams, and Emma INSIDE THIS ISSUE Blacks and the Census 3 Women in Sports 4 Olympic Politics S AUC News 6 Black Enrollment Dropped 7 Career Opportunities 8 Darnell will be among the speakers during the rally. Free refreshments and prizes , live en tertainment, and a disco will cap the festivities. “In view of the presidential elections,...future government funded programs, and reap portionment of state and city populations which determine representation,,..it is important that blacks be counted in the cen sus,” explained Moore. Problems of inflation and unemployment continue,” and it is important that blacks recognize the ballot as a potent political force. The rally is being sponsored to promote the census count and to register people, and to let “people know that we haven’t lost total perspective,” said Moore. Groups participating in the event are, the AUC-SCLC, the Clark College Chapter NAACP, SGAs of Clark, Morehouse, Morris Brown, and Spelman Colleges, South Carolina Club. J unior Class at Spelman College, The Tillies, AKAs and Deltas from Spelman. For further information con tact Pam Moore at 588-9569. DST Urges Black Involvement in the Census The president of the Nation’s largest Black Greek-letter organization of women recently pledged an all-out mobilization of the membership in behalf of the 1980 census. Mrs. Mona Humphries Bailey, president of Delta Sigma Theta, said that the sorority’s 643 chap ters in 42 States will be working in their communities to assure the most complete count possible in the 1980 census, which begins April 1. “Census figures are used to ap portion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and most States use the data for redistricting their legislature,” Bailey pointed out. She also noted that the Federal government “distributes more than $50 billion annually based in part - on what the census says about the population and housing in an area. “There is too much at stake,” said Bailey, “for us to be overlooked or not counted in this census.” “When our people are missed in the census, it means they remain invisible,” Bailey con tinued. “We hurt ourselves when we are not counted and the Black community will get shortchanged if we are not properly counted.” Bailey also stressed that an ac curate count of Black Americans will mean funds for jobs, job training, hospitals, schools, low- cost housing, CETA, revenue sharing, and a host of other programs and services that will benefit the Black community. In urging Black involvement in the 1980 census, Bailey specifically called on Delta mem bers and supporters to “find out what your chapter can do to help get the word out. “Call your nearest Regional Census Bureau office for ad ditional information,” she con cluded. “And, let Delta Sigma Theta help to ensure that all Black people are counted in 1980.” Every household in the United States will receive a census ques tionnaire in the mail on March 28. Every question should be answered. The questionnire should be mailed back on or about April 1, or held until a cen sus taker arrives to pick it up, depending on the instructions. All individual census answers are confidential, by law. Since the modern confidentiality laws went into effect in 1929, not once has the Census Bureau even been charged with a violation of con fidentiality.