Newspaper Page Text
Page 11
Speltnati Spotlight, Atlanta, GA
March 4, 1993
PEROGATIVE
An End to Complacency...
By Stefanie Dunning
Expressions Editor
I write this article with the hope that
it will not fall on deaf ears. I write
this article with the hope that it will be
understood, as well as read. I write
this article because I love myself and I
love the community of people from
which I came and with whom I
proceed.
I am a first-year student here at
Spelman, and like many of you, I came
to Spelman from a basically white
environment. I came to Spelman
thinking that I would be too "weird",
too "proper", too everything that
contradicted the image I saw of
Spelman.
I have tried systematically and
constantly throughout my life to be
what others wanted me to be, which
was what was "normal." My mother
wanted me to be this, my grandmother
wanted me to be that and we all know
what the white indoctrinated society
that we all grow up in wants me to be.
However, I could never deny the
fact that I was uniquely and
inconsequentially me.
I could never be the sheep who
jumped when told and followed when
led. I could never be "simple", easy,
or even quiet for that matter.
Therefore, I don’t see any reason why
my silence should begin during my
arrival and during my tenure at
Spelman.
It would be very easy to say that
Spelman is the best place in the world,
the best thing that ever happened to me
- thebestthebestthebest. This is easy to
say because for most of us, it is
drummed, fed and forced into our
heads. There is no way to forget that
Spelman has a monopoly on advantages
for Black women.
Nevertheless, let us not become
blinded by the salvation of Spelman,
for with the good comes the bad. It is
our duty and responsibility to see our
problems clearly for what they are. It
is also our obligation to the school we
love to try to make it better.
This article is a cry against
complacency. How many times have
you found yourself infuriated by the
way some of the faculty members have
treated you? How many times have you
experienced outright unprofessionalism
when dealing with certain secretaries
and administrators? How many times
has someone told you, rather rudely and
unnecessarily, "Get your priorities
straight!" or "To be a Spelman
woman..."?
I am sure we have all heard it. I
have heard complaints about it echoing
all over campus, from dorm and locker
rooms to the cafeteria. The onslaught of
discontent lives beside sisterhood,
knowledge and love here at Spelman.
Discontent of some sort lives in the
hearts of all of us when dealing with our
school, no matter how much we love it.
Now, sisters, do not sigh here and
stop reading. It is not enough to discuss
the complexities of the issues with our
roommates, boyfriends and friends. It is
not enough to complain childishly to
advisors or deans. We must motivate
ourselves into action. If YOU want
something to change YOU must do
something about it.
The problems experienced by the
student body, us, are only amplified by
inaction. Use your talent, whatever it
may be to change the things that you
don’t like. Write letters. Circulate
petitions, talk to administrators or SSGA
officials. Do whatever it takes to make
sure that the people who can help you
know that you have a problem.
What you do here at Spelman will
affect you later in life. I don’t just
mean your education or extracurricular
activities. I mean that if you learn to
accept the status quo (good or bad) here
at Spelman, you will learn to accept it
in the larger world.
You will begin to think that the
ghettoes are just part of life. You will
begin to think that the drug problem will
never be solved and that white people
will always control African Americans
along with anyone else with the sun
bom into their skin....
This attitude of "What in the world
can I do?" is what keeps people at the
bottom. It is this complacency that the
world is counting on to be the
destruction of our people. Anyone can
destroy you, me, or us if we help them.
Anyone can tell us that we don’t have
any rights if we let them.
Things at Spelman can change for
the better if we want them to. Things in
the world can change if we want them
to. We can change if we want to.
Life and the quality of it are two
values and endeavors worth fighting for.
They are worth being unpopular for.
Let today be the day that you open your
mouth, pick up a pen, start a petition,
make an appointment....
Let today be the day that you make
a commitment. The next time that you
open your mouth to complain about
Spelman or anything else for that
matter, make sure that you are also
complaining about your own
complacency. It takes more than
walking, talking and dressing like
someone who wants change - a
revolutionary, if you will.
Do something revolutionary by
deciding to act on your displeasure and
pain. Do something revolutionary by
being heard. Do something
revolutionary by doing something at all.
...A Call to
By Ilene T. Jones
I recently wrote a letter to the
administrators of this college to voice
my serious concerns about the new
$500 fee to be assessed in July.
This new fee was sprung on
students, the few who were present, at
the Jan. 30 Town Meeting.
As explained, this fee is being
assessed because 10 percent of the
students who claim housing for the
spring semester cause an
"administration shuffle" by not
notifying those in the Officer of
Residential Life that they will be living
off campus.
Those who do not pay this fee will
forfeit their on-campus housing for that
semester.
I find this fee and its reasoning
ridiculous and outrageous.
To assess a $500 fee to 90 percent
of the students for 10 percent of the
students’ behavior is unjust and
unnecessary.
Additionally, having been number
125 on the waiting list, I know that
there have always been students
wanting and waiting to receive on-
campus housing.
This fee not only does not consider
those students who barely make it
throughout two semesters financially,
but it also does not lend any
consideration to those students who
experience financial difficulty during
the summer often caused by family
sickness, death or insufficient job
security.
While I recognize and appreciate the
importance of the monies generated
from room and board, I truly believe
that there is a better method of
preventing this "administrative shuffle."
I suggest that those who choose to
live off campus after an established
deadline in July or August be assessed
a fee. This will prevent those who do
not contribute to the problem from
being asked to the pay the price.
I urge students to examine this issue
and let the administrators know how
you feel about the policies that affect
you.
I challenge my sisters to do more
than just complain to your friends in the
cafeteria and in your dorm rooms.
It is so easy to have an attitude about
what you think is wrong, but it is much
more productive to get involved, be
informed and communicate with
administrators.
My mother often warns that you
can’t complain if you don’t try to make
a change.
Yes, the administrators of this
college have a responsibility to listen
and work for the betterment of our
academic and student life on this
campus; but, we as students have an
obligation to ourselves, to our parents
who pay, and to our future sisters to
take responsibility for our social and
academic development at Spelman.
If you want to stop feeling helpless
GET INVOLVED.
Attend SSGA meetings every
Tuesday at 11:00 a.m., come to the
town meetings, write your newspaper
and administrators.
Our education is our
responsibility.
We cannot ask the administrators to
give more than we are willing to give.
The Shrines of the
Black Madonna
B
Cultural Center
:
Professo
Derrick Bell
speak on
his latest boo-
Faces at the
Be
Well: The
Permanence of
Fri., March 5
6 - 7:30 p.m.
946 Abernathy Blvd.
For more information,