Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME XVIII NO. 1
IN THIS I
ISSUE!
NEWS
Spelman Student Shamin
Okollah is selected as
one of Glamour
Magazine’s top 10 college
women....pg. 2
ARTS & LIVING
Thall shall not give into
Temptation...find out what
the Spotlight thought of
Beyonce and Cuba’s
latest flick....pg. 5
FEATURES
Civil War in Sierra Leone
is over, but many women
are still living a life of tor
ture...page 5
HEALTH
Maybe you shouldn’t have
Milk?? Find out on page
P9- 7
PERSPECTIVES
Finding your O-Spot,
guide to great pg. 8
The Strip is back, check it
out on pg. 8
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2003 www.spelman.edu/spotlight
Construction! Construction! Construction!
Kristin Jarrett
News Reporter
As the entering freshman of
the class of2007 walked through
Spelman’s gates, they were
encouraged to continue with a
"business-as-usual" attitude,
even though strange men walked
throughout their campus.
These men are apart of Dr.
Beverly Tatum’s goal of build
ing a better Spelman, they’re
construction workers. The
sounds of drills and hammers
can be heard in the earliest parts
of the day up until the ladies are
leaving from dinner, and head
ing back to their dorms.
Steven Bowser, the director
of Public Safety on Spelman’
campus, gave some insight to
how long this "building" process
is going to take, and what exact
ly is being done.
The largest building seen
from Spelman's gates, better
known as the Cosby Academic
Center, is being re-bricked to
give it a modem look matching
the beautiful layout design
inside. This is the biggest con
struction project on campus
along with the renovation of
Sisters Chapel.
"Sisters Chapel is under full
renovation to modernize the
building and update it to be more
useable for Spelman events."
Bowser explained. All of
Spelman’s convocation cere
monies have been held at King’s
Chapel on the neighboring cam
pus of Morehouse College due
to the unavailability of Sister’s
Chapel.
Bessie Strong Hall is also
under renovation and will be
used to support most of Sisters
Chapel’s events and an upper
classmen residence hall
"The students housed in
Bessie Strong will have a spe
cialty focus around faith-based
initiatives", says Bowser, "simi
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lar to the students in Mac Vicar
Hall with a concentration in a
health-related career."
Packard Hall which once
served as the Admissions office
is under going complete renova
tion and will serve as a sort of
"one stop shop" for school serv
ices. All student services on
campus will be housed in
Packard hall.
"The plan of housing all
major services in Packard Hall
will make it easier on students
without having to travel from
building to building. " Says
Bowser, "student accounts,
financial aid, the business office,
and Admissions will now be in
one central location upon com
pletion of Packard Hall’s reno
vation."
The last project on
Spelman’s campus is the expan
sion of the utility systems in the
dormitories including water,
PHOTO | Photographer
Top: the Cosby center is gated off for brick reconstruction that began this sum
mer. Bottom: Packard is still being renovated after being closed in 2000.
PHOTO | Photographer
see CONSTRUCTION page 2
Students fail to meet public speaking requirements
Atrid L. Thomas
News Editor
All the first and second
year students must complete 16
hours of public speaking work
shops by the time of their grad
uation.
Public speaking workshops
are one of the requirements that
all students must be fulfilled in
Freshman Seminar and
Sophomore Assembly.
According to the faculty
and staff of Spelman College,
students with effective public
speaking skills will be success
ful leaders in' society. In addi
tion, students need to be able to
verbally articulate clearly, suc
cinctly, and persuasively.
"It is important when stu
dents leave Spelman’s gates
that they represent themselves
in an honorable way. Also,
employers are looking for peo
ple who are effective in public
speaking, said Desiree
Pedescleaux, Associate Dean of
Undergraduate Studies.
The purpose of the work
shops is to help develop stu
dents’ public speaking skills
because it fits in with the thrust
of the College’s leadership mis
sion. In addition, the workshops
are part of the Southern
Association of Colleges and
Schools (SACS) requirement.
The public speaking work
shops were instituted in 2000
for all freshmen and sophomore
students because there was no
formal program. According to
SACS, Spelman must give pub
lic speaking instruction as well
as opportunities to students to
speak in public. In the SACS
review, Spelman could not
demonstrate effectively that
students exhibit effective public
speaking skills.
Some students opposed the
public speaking workshops and
strongly believed they are waste
of time and unorganized.
"I think the workshops
are unnecessary because it was
mandated in our English
Composition class that public
speaking was required," said
Shinese Noble, junior Dual
Degree major. "The program is
unorganized because the staff
has thrown this upon us all of
sudden when they knew last
year and years prior that public
speaking was required to gradu
ate."
On the other hand,
some students have said they
have learned helpful informa
tion from the workshops.
"The workshops are
very informative, interesting
and will be helpful to the public
speaking class that I am plan
ning to take next fall," said
Lauren Stokes, a junior English
see SPEAK page 2