The Spotlight. (None) 1980-201?, October 01, 1980, Image 10
Page 10 — FEATURES Spelman Spotlight October 13,1980
Words from the College Chaplain:
A Letter to My Daughter (At Another College)
By Reverend Rates
Dear Shari:
Just a brief note to say hello and say
that I hope you like the enclosed picture.
You don’t have to send it back, since we
had two copies made.
Please excuse my writing on note
book paper but I am giving a test to my
class and, while waiting for them to
finish it, 1 decided to write to you in a
hurry. Now I know that we have talked
about students writing letters in class
during lectures and we still feel as you
do that that’s not the very best way of
1: stening to a lecture. But what I am
doing is probably one of the best ways
that I can give a test, for it displays a cer
tain amount of respect that I hold for my
students. How good it is to be able to
write this letter without watching them
li,e a haw, afraid that they will cheat if 1
am not starting down their papers. Once
upon a time, giving a test was an ar
duous task. It became a teacher-student
adversary game. Well, that was poor
teaching and poor classroom decorum. 1
am now less worried about students
cheating on my tests. Oh, 1 realize that
there have been some “genuses” who
have spent more time in devising
methods of cheating than they have
spent in studying for a test. But I believe
that they can become rare individuals,
expecially if a climate of trust and
respect is created between student and
teacher. Here at Spelman we are ex
perimenting with an “honors program”
through the establishment of an honors
dormitory. I roncially we have also in
stituted rules governing students who
cheat in class or in paper writing. It is my
hope that the rules against cheating will
never be invoked and that, on the other
hand, the honors program will extend in
to every nook and cranny of our college
community. We have some excellent
student leadership and a great student
body this year. I believe it can work.
Perhaps some of us will be criticized
for being careless but, if we can create a
climate of trust and respect, we couldn’t
:are less. I believe that the crux of the sit
uation lies not only in the trust and the
respect that I hold for my students but
also in the trust and the respect that 1
hold for myself and in my job as a
teacher. If I can trust and respect the in
tegrity of my teaching, then I can trust
and respect the students in my class.
And, if a student trusts and respects her
self and what she has done in
preparation for her assignments and
:ests, then she need not cheat. This is
what I believe The Teacher of Galilee
would teach us today. This is what I
believe is the essence of all living and not
just in the classrooms.
Oh, oh. I see that one of my students
has finished the test so I must go. Be
good; write soon; and Mom sends love.
Love,
Dad
Spelman College Chaplain
P.S. I am sending under separate cover a
copy of the Spelman Spotlight as an
example of excellent college journalism.
Lamar Creates the
New Homecoming
for the '80's
by Gregory Clinton
Contributing Writer
Lamar Alford, a senior at Morehouse
College, has been selected as 1980
Coronation Director.
Morehouse College 1980 Home
coming Festivities will commence Oc
tober 26,1980 and conclude on Novem
ber 4, 1980. The Student Government
Association is working quite metic
ulously to insure all involved and af
fected a delightful celebration. One of
the highlights of Homecoming which
commands much hard work, respect
and applause is the Coronation. This is
the event whereas faculty, alumni,
students and friends are acquanited with
the Spelman queens who represent
Morehouse. There had been much
speculation as to whom this year’s Cor
onation Director will be and Lamar
appeared to be more qualified, enthu
siastic and apt for the responsibilities
as director. Lamar has a very impressive
theatrical track record and his ideas for
this year’s coronation are electrifying.
Lamar first came to Morehouse as a
freshman in 1963 from Montgomery,
Alabama and left at the completion of
his junior year. Since then he has per
formed on Broadway—coincidentlally
as Lamar—in the original cast of God-
spell. He has also sang with the New
York City Opera, written three plays,
Throughts, Second Thoughts, and What
Drove Molly Mad?; and appeared on a
number of television shows. These
shows include the Johnny Carson
Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The
Today Show and Sunday night At The
Movies Special. Lamar returned tc
Morehouse in the Spring of 1980 being Scenes from last year’s coronation.
Dr. Jones heads the Centennial Activities Committee at Spelman.
Centennial Expectations Aimed High
by Renee Darensburg strons and as com P etitive as the best
Jr Reporter educational institution in the nation.
New programs have been initiated such
as the honors program and scholarships
which are devised to bring yet a higher
:aliber of students to Spelman. Business
management and computer information
programs will also be initiated to aid
those students interested in such career
fields. Other visible changes will be the
renovation and remodeling of old dor-
mitiories and the building of a new dor
mitory to be completed within a two
year period.
The centennial year marks the
progressiveness of Spelman’s becoming
“the mainstream of selective education,”
comments Dr. Socolow. As Dean Allen
says regarding Spelman’s present ob
jectives as compared to those objectives
proposed in 1981, “Although the wording
of our purpose has changed, the
meaning is the same. We have not
changed.” Spelman still guarantees the
highest caliber of education for its
students. Expectations of the centennial
year overall are high. The tentative calen
dar promises a most celebrated year and
an encouraging future for Spelman.
on leave of absence from the Harlem
School of the Arts to complete 26 hours
for his Bachelor’s degree.
Lamar’s exuberant theatrical plans
are far beyond conventional forms of
coronation. He remembers very vaguely
coronations from years past but believes
this will serve to his, as well as the
audience’s, advantage, Lamar com
mented, “I Only know what’s suppose to
occur traditionally and theatrically.” This
year’s coronation will be a tribute to
Black Woman in that Morehouse will
crown their essence, and emphasize the
theme trust.
Lamar is looking for talented and en
thusiastic students to be a part of this
great production. The audition schedule
has not been confirmed, it awaits the
SAG decision on the director. Pertinent
information, however, will be com
municated later.
Quoting the words of Lamar, “We
must all come together on one accord
castand audience to create and ex
perience an enormous theatrical ful
fillment.”
As April 11, 1981, offically mark
Spelman’s one hundredth day in existen
ce, Spelmanites will come together in
celebration. However, activities such as
conferences, workshops, concerts,
exhibits, plays, and other special events
will be in progress throughout the 1980-
1981 school year.
Dr. Stewart’s plans of celebration
have been broken into three major com
ponents: (1) recognition of Spelman’s
centennial year, (2) presentation of many
programs in keeping with the
celebration, and (3) developmental fund
raising. Centennial headquarters will be
set up in Packard Hall to keep students
abreast of all activities. These activities
began the fourth of this month with the
student exhibit and will conclude with
the 100th Anniversary Commencement.
As stated by Dr. Socolow, Director of
Long Range Plans and Policies, “The
centennial year does not mark a new
period, but the next step.” Spelman is
continuosly evolving to become as