Newspaper Page Text
February, 1985
Page 2
Editorial
Grant at a Glance
by Carolyn Grant
Editor-in-chief
Since the beginning of the
semester, a couple of issues
affecting Spelman students have
arisen. They include:
(1) the high price we pay to be
educated and (2) the finance of
an education we hope will not
cease to exist.
The College World Bookstore
(CWB) is the primary outlet here
on campus from which students
purchase necessary material for
classes. Recently, the price of
items, mainly books, in the store
has sparked an attitude of dis
belief and disgust from students.
Last month, some students in an
English class here discovered
that they had purchased a book
at the CWB for $30 and later
found out that it was being sold
for $17 at the Atlanta University
Bookstore. A used copy of the
book was sold at a price higher
than $17. The CWB manager
credited this incident of the
overpriced book to a price
stamper with a wrong figure.
However, this excuse can not be
passed off as a cover for all
incidents of overpriced books.
It is understandable that the
bookstdre must make a profit,
but this profit should not be
made at the expense of excessive
overpricing on books. Because
of the high cost, many students
are reluctant to purchase books
necessary to assist them in their
learning process. In order to
function efficiently within the
classroom environment,
students must be able to keep up
with their assignments. This task
cannot be done without the
necessary materials.
We pay a high price to be
educated at Spelman, but some
of us miss out on a part of our
education when the high price
of books places a barrier up
against buying. The CWS
manager and workers should
make it one of their major
concerns to make books affor
dable and available to students at
decent prices.
While some of us may have
difficulty financing books for an
education, some of us may have
difficulty financing our educa
tion in the future.
President Reagan, once again,
has gone to the cutting board -
this time to cut student aid on
which so many of us rely. Accor
ding to a recent article in the
New York Times, president
Reagan, in his budget for the
fiscal year beginning Oct. 1,
"asked Congress to deny
guaranteed student loans to all
students from families with ad
justed gross income above $32,-
500; to eliminate grants, work
study jobs and other aid for those
with incomes above $25,000 and
to limit to $4,000 a year the
maximum Federal help any stu
dent could draw.
If this proposal goes through,
many of us will be greatly
affected. The doors of education
and opportunity will close in our
faces. Gregory T. Moore, presi
dent of the U nited States Student
Association, stated in the New
York Times article that proposals
such as these would create a
chain reaction of events that
would be dangerous for students
and would place into jeopardy
the current system of higher
education.” And indeed, they
would.
Those of us just beginning our
college careers, can probably
end it just as quick as it started.
What is even more frightening is
the way such a proposal could
affect black colleges. The enroll
ment at these colleges could
drastically drop and they could
suffer from loss of money and
students. Some black colleges
are suffering now. This prposal
could take them to their quiet
death.
A quiet death... A vast
decrease in college degree
recipients... A loss in time. These
are just a few concerns that we
will face if the proposal is passed
and if it is, what will we do and
how will be pay for survival?
Editor-in-Chief
Carolyn Grant
Fine Arts Editor
Jennifer Jackson
Sports Editor
Marie Roberts
Literary Editor
Carol Lawrence
Health Editor
Angela Hubbard
Art Editor
Debra Johnson
Advisor
Kimberly McElroy
Photo Editor
Jennifer Satterfield
Associate Editor
Lynette Glover
News Editors
Jasmine Williams
Debbie Marable
Feature Editor
Wanda Yancey
Political Editor
Sydney Perkins
Layout Editor
Natalie Heard
Circulation Manager
Triphenya Zachery
Advertising Manager
Jacqueline Lewis
Reporters
Lori Boyer
Teri Lee
Triphenya Zachery
Monica Guy
Photographer
Shellie Lawscha
The Spelman Spotlight is a bi-monthly publication produced by and
for the students of Spelman College. The Spotlight office is located in
the Manley College Center, lower concourse, of Spelman College.
Mail should be addressed to Box 1239, Spelman College, Atlanta,
Georgia 30314. Telephone numberis 525-1743.
The Spelman Spotlight
Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor:
This letter is in response to Lynne Hobb’s excellent editorial “Teachers Need to Change
Attitudes.”
As transfer students of the 1983-1984 school year, this article really struck home. We would go as
far to say that we have each changed our respective majors because of the teachers’ and
administration's attitudes. First, when we transferred to Spelman half of our credits are discared;
classes we have worked hard at only to be dismissed as "not pertinent to Spelman's cirriculum” and
no further explanation is needed, or volunteered. We enter as juniors and by the time the
administration is finished we are first-semester sophomores. Why is this? Secondly, we encounter
teachers who feel that the only way to teach is by shoving a book at us and telling us to read this new
information, process this information, store it and then we are tested on areas that the class has not
even covered yet — Those of us who are former “science” majors, do know what we are speaking
of, don't we? (Here again, an explanation is needed, but none is given. We are not so stupid as to
believe that one can breeze through a science course without cracking a book. We are also not
stupid as to believe when the majority of the class is consistently failing that we, as students are not
giving our best effort.
Teachers and administration what are we supposed to think when you will not answer our
questions with clear, direct answers, when you procrastinate to us at every turn, and when you fail
to give us the moral support that we so deseparately need? Talk is cheap, but talking with some
actual caring is another. We know that it is a big bad world out there, and no one is always going to
be there to pick you up and brush you off. What we don’t know is that if students keep failing classes
without knowing why and without feedback (positive or negative) from teachers, how can we
expect to compete in this fast moving world if we cannot even graduate from college?
Now we ask you, talk to your students not at them. Come down from your Ph.D.’s and remember
that you were a student once. Treat us with respect as young adults and that respect will be
reciprocated in turn. You are having your change in life, give us a shot at ours.
Sincerely,
Marcella Hammett and Angela R. Hubbard.
Dear Editor:
In the words of Popeye, "That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!” I am an on-campus
student with a car that has an on-campus parking sticker. I live in Laura Spelman and I park behind
Morehouse-James because that is the only parking area available for students on this side of
campus. I would not mind parking there if the student parking lot were adequate, but this is not the
case. The lot is poorly lit; this becomes particularly dangerous at night when the men from across
Spelman Lane stand at the fence, leer, and shout obscenities and threats. I am becoming
increasingly less convinced that these threats will not be backed-up with action and violence. There
are rodents who use the area as their playground as well as feeding ground. In addition, the fifteen
spaces allotted for student parking in that lot are halved during the week when the maintenance
personnel and nursery school teachers park in the “student only" parking lot. I was truly incensed
when a guard suggested that I park behind Bessie Strong is there were no more spaces available
behind Morehouse-James. This is ludicrous; I know of no one who parks a block away from their
home and walks, when there is parking in front of their home.
A very logical, practical and fair solution to this problem is that parking spaces be filled on a first-
come first parked basis. Allowing students to park in front of Morehouse-James and Laura Spelman
would permit us to park in a well lit area at night. I realize this solution may force some faculty and
staff to park behind Morehouse-James; however they would have the safety of daylight hours. I
urge the administration to thoroughly investigate the parking situation here at Spelman. It is
deplorable the way we have been treated as far as on-campus parking is concerned. We, the
students, are Spelman and we should be the administations number one priority! I ask that
administration examine the problem and to expediently render a favorable solution or decision to
Spelman Students.
Your for a better, happier campus,
Dana Tippin