Newspaper Page Text
October 12, 1983
Spelman Spotlight
Page 3
Dean Cox Speaks Out
by Karen Burroughs
Editor-in-chief
Dr. Carmen Jordan-Cox, Dean
of Student Life at Spelman
College, has served in this posi
tion for almost three years. Her
responsibilities include jurisdic
tion over admissions, life plan
ning programs, religious ac
tivities, health services and
student discipline. For the past
several weeks, students at
Spelman have voiced questions
and concern over various issues
here. Dean Cox offers her views
and suggestions regarding these
issues.
One of the most frequently
voiced opinions involves the
possibility of Spelman having a
female president. “I suspect that
the next president of Spelman
will be a woman,” says Dean
Cox. “I am in favor of that.” Dean
Cox adds however, that the
trustees of Spelman select the
president and that their choice is
based on the individual who can
best fill the objectives set at that
time.” “Leadership is time
specific,” she says. “Dr. Stewart
has accomplished and is ac
complishing the objectives set by
the trustees at the time of his
appointment.”
Another concern of students
regards the fact that students are
not excused from classes on
Black College Day. “Every year,
we go through this,” says one
student. “How can we show our
support for our Black colleges if
we have to go to class?” Another
student adds, “It’s just for a few
hours, surely Spelman can give
us that."
Dean Cox replies, “Con
ceivably one could spend a lot of
time out of class. We could
honor a lot of people. An
institution must decide which
days are important.”
“I’m not saying that Black
College Day is not important,”
she adds. “The major concern of
myself and the faculty, however,
is that students have adequate
time to do the given work during
the semester.”
Students at Spelman were
recently outraged by the abusive
treatment of two Spelman
students on Monday, September
26. During the hour-long
blackout, two Spelman students
were taken to the A.U.C. security
headquarters for “inciting to
riot.” Spelmanites were deeply
disturbed over the harrassment
of these students. “How can we
as students feel safe about an
environment where we fear the
protectors?” asks Bonita
Billingsley, a sophomore at
Spelman. Another student adds,
“I can’t understand the use of
profanity and violence with
bodily force and sticks! I don’t
think this behavior should be
tolerated.”
Dean Cox replies that she is
opposed to any behavior that
violates the law or encourages
others to do so. “When people
make adult decisions, they must
be prepared to face adult conse
quences,” she says. She added
that the Spelman students would
be “dealt with judicially” but
declined to comment on the
nature of their act.
Students also have questions
about the new Learning Circle
Program. According to Dean
Cox, the purpose of this program
is to bridge the gap between
what goes on inside the
classroom with what goes on
outside the classroom. The Lear
ning Circle Program puts par
ticular emphasis on improving
college convocations. “Students
have complained about the
convocation program,” says
Dean Cox. “We want not only
freshmen to come, but all
students.” Dean Cox adds that
the Learning Circle Program will,
in the future, invite such
speakers as Shirley Chisolm,
Charles Merrill and Mayor An
drew Young.
Dean Cox suggests that if
students have problems, con
cerns, or questions, that they
refer them to the head of that
particular department. "If it
cannot be solved at the
departmental level, bring it to
me,” she says. "Our goal is to try
to make things easier for the
student — to improve the overall
college environment for
students. We want our students
to be the best and the most
competitive.
“Werealize that Spelmanites do
not always appreciate their ex
periences at Spelman until
later on,” he concludes. “If a
Spelman graduate is successful
and effective — that is our
gratitude.”
Students Harrassed During Black Out
On the night of September 26,
while the AUC was experiencing
a black out, two Spelmanites,
Shannon Dewith and her sister
Letitia Dewith, were twice
detained by the AUC Security
department and taken to the
security headquarters.
The Dewith sisters’ first arrest
resulted fromShannon’swalking
across the street running parallel
to Spelman’s front gate. “I was
just walking across the street
trying to wait for my friends.
Apparently, I was walking too
slow for the officer, and he told
me I was under arrest. My sister
and friends were trying to make
the policeman let me go and
then he told my sister that she
was under arrest, too,” stated
Shannon.
Officer Frazier of the AUC
security department then ap
proached the squad car where
the sisters were being held and
instructed the other officers to
release the students.
After the Spelmanites entered
the front gate, Shannon turned
and called the officer that
detained her an obsenity. As she
turned her back to the officers
and proceeded to her dormitory,
officer Frazier ran after Shannon
with his club in his hand. Upon
reaching Shannon he' grobbed
her on the neck and forcibly
pulled her to the squad car
according to witnesses. Letitia
turned to help her sister and she
too was pulled to the car.
“They (the officers) were try
ing to push us into the car. They
were bumping our heads against
the roof of the car. They also
kicked my sister in the shins
trying to make her bend her
knees,” said Shannon.
While at the station, the
Spelmanites were not read their
rights and were denied the use of
the telephone. They were told
that they were under arrest for
disorderly conduct.
“I just don’t feel that I have to
be pushed around. There was
too much violence for the situa
tion. I have never had any man
push me around, especially not a
supposed law enforcer.” said
Shannon.
The students were not
arrested, but were released into
the custody of Dr. Donald
Stewart. Several days later, they
were brought up on several
charges bytheSpelmanJudiciary
Board: verbal abuse, disorderly
conduct, incitement of others
resulting in the interference of
college and municipal officials
acting in the performance of
their duties, conducting
threatening, endangering the
health and safety of students and
college officials, failure to comp
ly with the directive of college
officials acting in the perfor
mance of their duties, and viola
tion of criminal law by inciting to
riot.
The hearing was held on
Wednesday, October 5, and a
decision reached, but Dean Cox
declined to disclose the out
come. “I talked with our at
torneys and decided that it
would be best not to comment at
.this time,” she said. “I’m just
concerned about protecting
what I consider to be the rights of
students.”
Letitia had this to say about the
hearing. "The committee did not
listen to the witnesses. The only
thing I am guilty of is being my
brother’s keeper and standing
up for my rights. So if they were
going to charge me with
something it should have been
that.”
"The AUC Security brought
the charges to the Judiciary
Board,” Shannon explained.
“However, when we went to
bring charges against the officers
we were told that we had to take
our complaints against the of
ficers elsewhere. Dean Cox said
there was nothing she could do
about the officers. However, she
found a way to punish us for
(Continued on Page 7)
jWVWWWWWWWWW
$wwwvwwwwwww
Chadwick Hall:
Relic or Ruin?
by Lori Williams
Tearing down buildings that
hold history, dreams, hope, and
memories is always an issue that
tugs at the hearts of those who
have worked in them. This was
certainly the case when I spoke
to people about the possible
“gutting” of Chadwick Hall.
Mashander Butler, a junior
R.A. in Chadwick, stated, “I
don’t believe they should tear it
down.” When asked why, she
said, “Because of its history.” She
stated that she thought renova
tion would be a better idea. She
also stated that she didn’t believe
it was really fit for living, though
it could possibly be used for
office space.
Chadwick was originally used
as an orphanage for young Black
girls. It later'became a nursery
school and evolved into a dor
mitory in 1945. Headed by Ms.
Amy Chadwick, (for whom it
was named) many of the pre
schoolers went on to higher
education here at Spelman.
Why would someone want to
tear down a building with such
history behind it? Vice President
of Business and Financial Affairs,
Mr. Robert D. Flanigan, Jr.
answered this question with a
question: "Who said Chadwick
was being torn down?” He
assured us that no decision had
been made on the future of
Chadwick or any other dor
mitory on this campus. He stated
that the college was looking at
ways to improve the older dor
mitories, but the Board of
Trustees would have to be given
a recommendation by the
college before any action could
be taken. To Mr. Flanigan’s
knowledge (he too would have a
say in it) this has not happened.
“Substantial amounts of money
have been put into the heating
and electrical systems,” says Mr.
Flanigan. "The school is keeping
Chadwick up to code.” He also
admitted that Chadwick may not
be “the prettiest dorm on cam
pus,” but he feels it has its own
historical beauty.
By no means is Chadwick a
contemporary, apartment-like
dwelling, such as the new Living-
Learning Center, but it has its
own appeal. Perhaps it’s all of
those dreams, hopes, memories,
and that history floating around
in there that make it special.