Newspaper Page Text
I
The BluePrint
SpelmanPaper@gmail.com September 2013
SPELMANi
ALUMNAE SPOTLIGHT
On Inclusion and Sensitivity in AUC
By: Ayanna Runcie C’20l5
What many people refer to as being handicapped,
disabled, or crippled Shatika Duncan simply refers to as
being differently abled. The Class of 2013 graduate has
mild cerebral palsy.
“It’s not that I’m disabled,” Duncan said. “I can do
anything I want to do I just have to do it differently.”
When Duncan was a small child her mother noticed
that she was not developing at the usual rate, and was
behind in pivotal milestones in childhood development
such as being able to sit up properly. After consulting a
medical physician, Duncan was diagnosed with cerebral
palsy. She has needed technological assistance ever since.
She used a wheelchair in elementary school, a walker in
high school, and a scooter in college.
As someone who had to get around campus on a
scooter, Duncan argues that Spelman College is not a
very accessible campus. Many doors are hard to open
because they do not have buttons that open them elec
tronically and sometimes the elevators do not work. For
most of her college career she was not even given a key to
the lifts in buildings with many stairs, such as Giles Hall.
Once, Duncan was not able to take a class she was
really passionate about because the classroom was only
accessible by stairs. Additionally, the showers act as an
other challenge because many lack supportive bars. Dun
can recalls falling in the showers several times during her
first year at Spelman.
Duncan argues that the only recent advancement in
Spelman becoming more accessible is the renovation of
Laura Spelman, one of her former residence halls. None
theless, Duncan struggled with opening and closing
doors even in this building.
She believes that the only reason that Laura Spelman
is accessible is because all new buildings are required to
be accessible by federal law. Most of the other residence
halls are not accessible because Spelman is not required
to meet those standards on such old buildings. Duncan
believes that Spelman should make every building acces
sible anyway.
However, making the campus totally accessible to all
students has not been something in which Spelman has
chosen to invest. Making the Spelman Safety Shuttle ac
cessible is also something that Spelman has not invested
in.
“If [Spelman] was forced to invest in it, they would
probably just shut the shuttle down,” a Spelman Public
Safety officer said.
Duncan feels as though Spelman’s administration
has been really insensitive to the needs of differently
IGHT
EXCHANGE STUDENTS
Students from all over the world
By: Dedra Mitchell C’2014
abled students because there are so few of them.
“Even if it’s just one student, one student matters,”
Duncan said.
Duncan was the only graduating senior who need
ed to use a scooter. Even still, the administration did not
make an effort to make aspects of senior week more com
fortable for her.
During her time as a student, her peers were very
insensitive to her needs as well. A lot of times when Dun
can attended events throughout the Atlanta University
Center, people have made insensitive or obscene com
ments towards her.
“People will say things like, ‘why are you here with
that scooter, you look stupid,’ or people will stand right
in front of me as if I’m not even there,” Duncan said. “It
makes me feel really excluded.”
During Duncan’s first week of her freshman year, a
group of men approached her on the Clark Atlanta cam
pus and said “we could rob you right now if we wanted
to,” just because she was in a scooter.
“I want to go out and have fun just like everybody
else but I often can’t because I am scared of what some
one might do to me,” Duncan said.
As a way to be more sensitive and inclusive towards
differently abled people, perhaps Spelman College, as
well as the adjacent colleges in the Atlanta University
Center, should focus on promoting daily awareness.
“Bring more awareness, not just in awareness week,”
Marlissa Stalling C’2015 said. “But make it part of the
code of conduct. Being disabled doesn’t always mean
physically.
“If someone who is blind were to attend Spelman,
the campus would not know how to react. There would
be a lot of stares. So disability awareness should be an
everyday code of conduct.”
If Spelman’s campus becomes more accessible, a
broader array of women would want to attend the insti
tution. This would not only further diversify Spelman’s
campus, but it would also help students become more
accepting of people from different backgrounds, which
supports Spelman’s mission of developing freethinking
women. Students would learn to navigate difference.
Spelman’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP),
“Going Global”, has catapulted a strong foundation for
international exploration. More students are seizing
the opportunity to study abroad, thus enhancing the
international scope for students at Spelman. However,
Spelman is not only sending students across the globe but
accepting international students. This semester Spelman
has the privilege to host five amazing young ladies
hailing from three different continents for the 2013-2014
academic year. The following interview illustrates the
students’ exciting, difficult, and authentic experiences at
Spelman thus far.
1. Moeko Takizawa
Japan
International Studies Major
Junior
2. Tais Bellini
Brazil
Computer Science Major
Junior
3. Katerina Modra
Czech Republic
International Studies Major
Junior
4. Ana Paula F. Cavalieri
Brazil
Computer Science Major
Junior
5. Isabela Fraga de Andrade
Brazil
Biology Major
Junior
40-Year-Old-Freshwoman
By: Karimah Noble, PED Scholar C2015
Walk the manicured campus of Spelman College
and what will you find? Gorgeous, young women of
every size, shape, and hue of brown. Women from
every walk of life, every religious affiliation, and every
socioeconomic background. No two have the same
story—every Spelman womans journey is different.
You might find the Spelmanite who is the first person
to attend college in her family or the “generational”
Spelman woman whose mother’s mother’s mother
graduated from Spelman. The Spelman community
welcomes everyone from the little girl who grew up poor
and knew only scarcity, to the one whose entire world
revolved around affluence. The sisterhood is tangible to
all who enter the gates,
from the woman who
never dreamed she
would attend college—
let alone Spelman—to
the woman, from the
day she was conceived,
had Spelman DNA
encoded within her,
and as a result did not
bother applying to
any other institution
because quite frankly,
nothing less was
expected of her.
If you are
only looking on the
surface, you may only
see excited teenagers
fresh out of high school
experiencing freedom for the first time. However, a
closer gaze might reveal a different kind of student—one
who has woken up late with just enough time to throw
on a pair of sweats before dropping her three children off
to school. Amid a sea of flawlessly styled heads, perfectly
put together designer ensembles, this student may go
unnoticed.
Who is she, you ask? Why, it is I, the 40-year-old
freshwoman, commonly referred to as one of the Pauline
E. Drake Scholar (PEDS), and I represent a small portion
of the student population at Spelman College. Perhaps
I go unnoticed because I wear skinny jeans, instead of
the typical “mom” jeans most have come to associate
with mothers—you know the kind, with the 25 inch
zipper and God-awful pleats that accentuate, rather than
The BluePrint:
camouflage, the mid-section. Or perhaps it is because I
look younger than I am (so I am told anyway), or maybe
it is simply because most students are too busy navigating
through their own lives to even notice.
Whatever the case may be, there are a handful of
mature women who have made the choice to either enter
college for the first time or to return to their studies. Of
course, we are not all literally 40-year-old freshwomen.
Some may be 24-year-old first years, 31-year-old
sophomores, 39-year-old juniors (like yours truly), or
even 50-something-year-old seniors (absolutely no pun
intended). As few and far between as we are, we do walk
among you.
PEDS do not live
the “traditional” life of
college students. We
own homes and have
bills. Some of us are
married to Morehouse
men (shameless plug);
some are single, some
have children and
some do not. There
are PEDS who have
jobs, and others,
like me, are stay-at-
home moms. In other
words, we have real life
responsibilities that we
juggle while attending
Spelman.
Regardless of our
differences, we have
a commonality: We have decided that age is not, and
should not, be a factor in fulfilling our goal. We have
affirmed to ourselves that, just as the tortoise learned in
his competition with the hare, the race is not given to the
swift, but to the one who endures to the end. We have
made the brave choice to pursue this journey despite
being older, having children, spouses, jobs, bills, and
responsibilities beyond ourselves. Why? To complete
a chapter in our lives and be able to say that we wrote,
edited, and finished it our way.
So the next time you are in class, look around. You
might be sitting next to one of these extraordinary women
and not even know it. If you happen to be, introduce
yourself. You never know what you might learn from her.
Karimah Noble with her three children
It is the mission of Vie BluePrint to serve as a profound forum that fortifies
understanding, unity, and advocacy throughout the Spelman and greater AUC
community. The BluePrint strives to produce innovative, fair, and creative
journalism that helps its readers understand the nation and world through the
lens of African-American and Black Women.
Q. Why did you choose Spelman College?
. Bellini: “It has a rich culture and it’s beautiful.”
Q. What’s your favorite thing about Spelman so far?
• Modra: “The people and the classes because they’re
so small.”
• Cavalieri: “Everyone is so nice and helpful!”
• Bellini: “We’re really far away from our families, but
I feel so welcomed and comfortable.”
Q. What’s your least favorite thing about Spelman so
far?
• Takizawa: “The food. It’s not healthy and [living
conditions] aren’t as clean”
• Fraga: “The lines for food are so long, and there
are no markets to buy fresh vegetables. And shared
bathroom, shared room.”
Q.What do you miss most about home?
• Takizawa: “My family and friends. But I have
some friends in America doing other study abroad
programs so I may be able to visit them.”
• Fraga: “My mom and cat. I think I can live without
everything else but my mom and cat. I don’t really
miss my boyfriend.”
Q.What would you like to say to the Spelman
community?
. Takizawa: “Feel free to talk to me.”
• Bellini: “Thank you for being so nice to us. People
say that first impressions are the ones that matter the
most and we will always think of Spelman students
and staff as very accepting people.”
• Modra: “I am happy to make new friends!”
. Cavalieri: “To me it’s like a dream! I’m very happy
to be here.”
• Fraga: “A lot of people have asked me why I came
to a ‘black school’. I’m not at a black college. I’m at a
great college. For us, it’s a pleasure and an honor to
be here.”
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Honoring the Late Taronda Spencer
By: Raquel Rainey C2014
Spelman College has suffered a great loss. Taronda
Spencer C’80, college historian and archivist, passed
away earlier this summer. As a second-generation
archivist, Ms. Spencer knew from childhood that history
and archives were her passion.
“She was a connoisseur in her work of history
and archives,” Eloise Alexis C’86, Vice President of
College Relations, said. “She was warm and fuzzy, and
[she] was a person who cared about what people were
made of, which led to her role as historian.”
Ms. Spencer’s extensive knowledge of Spelman’s
history stemmed from her undergraduate degree in
history from Spelman College. In 1998, Ms. Spencer was
extended the opportunity to work as Spelman’s archivist
and in 2000 became the college historian. Alumnae,
faculty, and students loved her due to her preservation of
Spelman traditions.
“If you believe in destiny, this was her destiny,”
Alexis said. As a charge to the Class of 2017, Alexis shares
what Ms. Spencer wrote one year before her passing:
“Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles will never
meet you, Class of 2017, but you are the embodiment of
their vision, of women who would lead and serve.
Therefore, with the equipment of an excellent
education and value of history of black women, Ms.
Spencer’s work will continue to live through all of our
works, activism, and teachings.
Taronda Spencer
1962-2013
5 Ways To Ensure
Justice for Trayvon
By: Ain Ealey C’2014
Below are 5 things you can do now in the wake of
the Trayvon Martin verdict to ensure your involvement
in the ongoing quest for Justice
1. Register to Vote
2. Vote to repeal the Stand your Ground Law.
3. Spring break, thinking about Panama or
Miami? Stop and think. We are financially
boycotting the state of Florida to financial
strain on the state until they change the law.
Fact: The state of Florida makes over 61 billion
dollars in tourism money.
4. Letter Campaign to repeal “Stand your
Ground” sent to all congressmen of the
specific state where the law is enforced. For
those who are registered to vote in New York
the same will work for “Stop and Frisk.”
5. Headquarter corporations that are based
in Florida boycott their products. This is
because they help lobby for the laws that
devalue the life of American citizens. *A list
will be provided.
