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Page 6
Spelman Spotlight
October 12, 1983
Yearbook: To Be Or Not To Be
by Stephanie Grant
All our lives the yearbook has
had a special meaning. We had
one for elementary school to
remember our school chums by.
We had them in junior high and
high school to remember the
people we grew up with and
closer to. We even received a
paperback yearbook for our
memories of summer camp!
Yearbooks are symbols
representing years gone by,
when hearts were light and
troubles were few. For the past
two years, Spelman College has
not had a yearbook. Every stu
dent of this college is supposed
to receive a yearbook every year;
indeed, we the students pay for
the production of these year
books. Internal problems,
however, keep the Spelman
yearbook from becoming a reali
ty-
Students pay a basic student
activities fee of $20 each year. It is
counted as part of our tuition.
These fees go toward student
body activities, allowing us ad
mittance to Spelman sports
events, admission to guest
speakers, and yearbooks. These
fees go into the StudentGovern-
ment Association (S.G.A.)
treasury. During the first week of
school the yearbook editor sets
her production schedule, deter
mines a publishing date, and
presents the yearbook budget to
the S.G.A. The S.G.A. then
allocates the necessary monies to
the yearbook staff.
Because no yearbook has been
released for the past two years,
complete monies for yearbook
have not been allocated. Mr.
Don Jones, a controller in the
office of the business manager,
said that since the money has not
been completely alloted, it
should still be in the S.G.A.
treasury, waiting to be used for
those yearbooks never released.
The last yearbook was released
in 1981, when the seniors of
today were freshmen. Why has
there been no yearbook for the
past two years? There are still
many unanswered questions.
Most of the people who worked
on the previous two yearbook
staffs are gone. Those who
remain have said basically one
thing about those staffs. They
were grossly unorganized.
Disorganization breeds confu
sion. When confusion takes over
an organization, things cannot
be properly done. Deadlines are
not met, and production cannot
be completed. The past two
yearbook staffs failed to meet
important deadlines set by the
publishing companies (we have
had two different ones in two
years). Publishing companies
have many contracts with
different schools. When a school
does not meet pertinent
deadlines, its contract loses
priority. It is “put to the back” of
the other contracts. Both the
1981-82 and 1982-83 yearbooks
are partially complete. There are
many pages missing, and
publication cannot be com
pleted until these pages are
written.
This is a very difficult task
when most members of the
previous staffs are no longer
here. It is not, however, impossi
ble.
Ms. Meryl Johnson, 1983-84
Reflections (Spelman's year
book) editor, was a member of
last year’s staff. She was a layout
editor, and one of the few staff
members truely diligent in com
pleting her assignments. Ms.
Johnson’s staff this year is willing
and ready to get started, but
Spelman’s administration will
not allow them to proceed until
the past two yearbrooks are
completed and distributed.
Although they sit in limbo, Ms.
Johnson has set a tentative
production schedule, with the
release of the yearbook being
the end of April beginning of
May of 1984. Ms. Johnson says,
“If they (administration) let us
meet our first deadline, we will
have a yearbook.”
So, it seems as though a sad
tradition is evolving here at
Spelman; a tradition of no year
books. It is true that yearbooks
are not very important, relatively
speaking. It is only a book of
pictures and words. But it is also a
book of memories, a dedication
to the “rites of passage” that we
all go through here at Spelman
College. A yearbook will warm
one’s heart once those years
have swiftly passed. Further
more, we are entitled to them.
Hopefully, this year’s Reflections
will become a reality.
Black Business Beat
Bonner Brothers On The Move
by Lovette Love
This series of articles is to
acquaint students with black-
owned firms specifically located
within the Atlanta area and also
to increase the awareness of
black students to the necessity of
supporting black businesses.
Interviews with managers, ex
ecutives, and presidents of these
companies will answer such
questions as: How do these
companies become established?
What advice do they have for
students graduating from
college and entering the cor
porate world? What are the job
opportunities?; and more.
The focus of this article is on
the Bronner Brothers company,
a Black family-owned manufac
turing company of hair care
products. Bronner Brothers has
four retail stores and two
manufacturing buildings located
in the Atlanta area, and also
approximately eight represen
tatives in other states to promote
their products. Mr. Nathanial
Bronner, Jr.,a graduateof Eckerd
College in St. Petersburg, Florida
is presently the vice president of
research and development at
one of the manufacturing
buildings. As a recipient of the
first chemistry scholarship for a
Black at Eckerd, Mr. Bronner
believes that Blacks shy away
from the technical and scientific
fields where they are needed
most. He feels that a formal
education has its limitations as
far as Blacks are concerned but it
is best to know what you want to
achieve in life so that your goals
can be attainable. Mr. Bronner
said if he could do it all over
again, instead of majoring in
chemistry, he would major in
engineering because it has great
opportunities for Blacks, and
graduates in the engineering
field start at the highest paying
level, except for people with
WE’RE
MATCHMAKERS.
The United Way Voluntary Action Center
(VAC) matches some of metropolitan Atlanta’s
most talented people with some very reward
ing volunteer activities. Let’s make a match,
whatever your interests or talents or wherever
you live. Call the VAC at 522-0110.
United Way’s
Voluntary Action Center
Serving Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton,
Gwinnett, and Rockdale Counties
Harvard MBAs. He feels the
purpose of continuing educa
tion is to be able to attain a
decent paying job, along with
being able to enjoy what you’re
doing. A person must be aware
of the probability of being
successful in his or her particular
field before he or she pursues it.
Black entrepreneurs have a
harder time establishing their
companies than traditional white
entrepreneurs because of the
newness of their companies and
the smaller amount of money
they have to work with.
Although they do not recruit at
colleges, their entrance level
positions for college graduates
are in the sales, marketing,
technical, and accounting fields.
Spelman Women’s Center
Receives Grant
by Teri N. Lee
In July of 1981, Spelman
College was the recipient of a
grant from the Charles Stewart
Mott Foundation Resource
Center. Spelman’s women’s
center is the first of its kind on a
Black campus. The focus of such
a center is the Black woman as an
activist, intellectual, and
educator.
The Women’s Research and
Resource Center is located in
Giles Hall in the space vacated by
the old library and is headed by
Director Beverly Guy-Sheftall. It
has three major parts:
curriculum development in
women’s studies; research on
Black women, such as the ex
hibits located on th- Upper
Concourse of Manl< Center;
and community oi ach to
Black women. The ceiuer is also
involved with the Graduate
Institute of the Liberal Arts of
Emory University in a project
funded by the Women's
Educational Equity Act Program
of the United States Department
of Education to research,
develop, and test modular
curriculum aids for the study of
southern women, white and
black.
On October 21-23, 1982, the
Women’s Research and
Resource Center presented a
symposium on "Black Women
and Public Policy: Issues for the
’80’s.” This event reaffirmed
Spelman’s commitment to Black
women, to community service,
and to research which addresses
issues, needs, and concerns of
Black women.
TheWomen’sCenter has had a
desire to establish itself in the
early '70’s when women’s
centers began to emerge in
other parts of the country.
Jacqueline Royster, member of
the advisory board and director
of the writing program in the
Women's Center, believes the
center is an asset to helping the
Spelman woman. “She, the
Spelman woman, can become
more aware of the world around
her. The Women's Center is a
significant resource for the Black
woman.” The center also
reaches out to the community
for continuing dialogue among
women from varied walks of life.
The goal is to promote such
dialogue and re-confirm the
need for a Black woman's
"place.”
S.W.A.C.
(Continued from Page 5)
general feelings were that they
were trying to promote socialist
ideas, not the rally,” Ms. Cook
also would like us to take note
that S.W.A.C. primarily deals
with internal problems and that
S.S.G.A. informally decided that
anyone who wanted to par
ticipate were free to do so.
Will S.W.A.C. in the future
emphasize the importance of
student participation on issues
that involve them as women and
students? Ms. Cook remarks that
they do plan to enforce student
participation as best as possible.
She would like for students to
attend Town Hall meetings,
social events and S.S.G.A. sup
ported fund raisers.
From what Ms. Cook has told
us it seems like this is going to be
a long eventful year with
S.W.A.C., a year we should be
anticipating, especially the out
come.