Newspaper Page Text
Spelman gets an interim provost
seminars.
Dr. Drake is a Spelman
alumna of the class of 1958, and
obtained her Master’s degree in
English from Bowling Green State
University in Ohio, after leaving
Spelman. She then went on to re
ceive her doctorate in education
from the University of Pittsburgh
in 1974. When asked about a typi
cal day as interim provost, Dr.
Drake comments that she “receives
a lot of mail and communication
from faculty members.” In addi
tion, Spelman’s academic depart
ments submit their budgets to the
provost. After the provost reviews
the departmental budgets, they are
then sent to Robert Flanigan, vice
president of Spelman’s business
and financial affairs. In addition
to Dr. Drake, there are two associ
ate provosts of the college. These
are Dr. Romie Tribble, the Associ
ate Provost for Liberal Arts and
Education, and Dr. Sylvia
Bozeman, who is the Associate
Provost for the Science and Math
ematics Departments.
Faculty members also sub
mit requests to do research to Dr.
Drake, attend conferences, and
take sabbatical leaves. Dr. Drake’s
responsibilities also require that
she meet with faculty and admin
istration individually and as com-
Continued on page 3
Jennifer Smith
Campus & Local Editor
pointed this position by Dr.
Manley in September. Before as
suming the position of interim pro
offers additional academic enrich
ment to Spelman students. Dr.
Drake is currently employed in her
ment programs for members of the
Atlanta community and various
national organizations such as
Many of you may be unfa
miliar with the fact that Dr. Denise
Stephenson-Hawk is no longer the
provost of Spelman College. A
former employee of the provost’s
office has allegedly reported that
“the administration may have
overestimated her abilities when
they hired her.” Dr. Hawk was
formerly a physics instructor at
Clark Atlanta University before
she entered the position of provost
at Spelman. There are also alleged
reports that Dr. Hawk went over
the budget appropriated for the
college, and that there were con
flicts between her and other mem
bers of the Spelman administra
tion. As we have stated, these ac
cusations are alleged and should
not be seen as a negative reflec
tion upon the institution or Dr.
Hawk. In the process of investi
gating these accusations as well as
finding out who is currently per
forming the duties of the Provost,
I met Spelman’s interim provost,
Dr. Pauline Drake. When asked
about these rumors, Dr. Drake
commented that “To her knowl
edge, Dr. Stephenson-Hawk re
signed.”
Dr. Pauline Drake was ap-
vost. Dr. Drake served as the Dean
of Continuing Education for
Spelman. This position involved
her oversight of several programs
in the college. Among these are
the Gateway Program and Early
College Summer Program, which
26' h year at Spelman, where she
has held various positions on cam
pus, one of the most recent being
dean of Continuing Education.
During this position, Dr. Drake
was also involved with offering
training and professional enrich-
Housing/Urban Development
(HUD). The requirements of these
programs are agreed upon by
Spelman administration and the
employer, and may include activi
ties such as computer classes and
various professional development
Dr. Pauline Drake, Interim Provost
Courtesy Jamie Swift
More funding for Spelman organizations
Jessica McKnight
Campus & Local
Recently around campus,
there has been much talk about the
lack of funding distributed to the
Spelman Spotlight and Reflections
offices. If you have been to the
Reflections office to pick up your
yearbook, you have seen that there
are only three computers in the
office, and only one is connected
to a black and white printer, while
none of the computers have
Internet service. There are stacks
of loose papers everywhere. The
Editor of Reflections, Kisha Young
states, “We have not even been
given basic office supplies. Every
thing is all over the place because
we don’t have any folders. I wish
we had better organization.”
Surprisingly enough, this is
the least of Kisha’s worries. She
also struggles with a lack of cam
eras, computer disks, and a scan
ner. Funding for some of the sup
plies come from her own money-
but, there is only so much she can
do.
A similar story is being told
next door to the Reflections office
in the Spelman Spotlight office.
This office is one of the smallest
offices in Lower Manley. Perhaps
even worse than the yearbook of
fice, this office only has two com
puters and only one works. How
ever, the one that does work does
not have Internet access, a big ob
stacle when a staff member needs
to do research. Therefore, the writ
ers and editors must use the Cam
pus computer labs or personal
PC’s, to complete articles. In ad
dition to being inconvenient, the
quiet environments of the com
puter labs do not allow editors and
writers to openly communicate
and discuss articles with one an
other. Executive managing editor
of the newspaper, Rashida Rawls,
states, “There is no reason to have
an office if we can’t use it. A news
room should always be open and
busy. People should be able to
come in and see that we are con
stantly working.”
Like Young, Rawls has
found herself using her own cam
eras, paying for film, and provid
ing the funding for staff press
passes. These are basic needs to
keep a newspaper running. Even
more importantly, the Spotlight
staff also needs a printer and a
scanner, to produce effective lay
outs.
Keep in mind that members
of these staffs are not just making
these comments as complaints or
excuses for the production of these
Spelman Campus publications.
They genuinely want to improve
the conditions of the yearbook and
the newspaper, yet this cannot be
done without adequate funds. This
lack of
funding
and
equip
ment is
not only
an in
conve
nience,
but it
also di-
rectly
affects
the out
come of
the pub
lications. Young informed us that,
“We’ve missed all three dead
lines we had and that was due
Continued on page 3
Due to lack of funds, the Spotlight office is in shambles.