Newspaper Page Text
July, 1976 - New National BLACK MONITOR
I Lodi/ Park<f fflcbtoft I
I (Only Black Lady Pre/ldent) I
I Black College: Bartow-Scotia I
The Lady:
Dr. Mabie Parker McLean is president of
Barber-Scotia Concord, North Carolina. She
is the first woman and the first alumna of this
predominately black college to become its
president. She is also the only black woman
in the United States, at this time, who is
president of a four-year liberal arts college.
In Dr. McLean’s office there are only two
photographs—both of the late Dr. Mary McLeod
Bethune, the world renown black educator and
another illustrious Barber-Scotia alumna. Dr.
McLean remembers and admires the good
teachers she has known. As she was growing
up she wanted to combine into her own per
sonality the best characteristics of the teachers
who had inspired her. The teachers she admired
the most were the tough ones. Dr. McLean
has been quoted as saying, “I never appreciated
the teachers who were gift-givers.”
Dr. McLean’s continuing goal has been to
be a good teacher. Since graduating from
Barber-Scotia College, she has continued her
studies at Johnson C. Smith University,
Howard University, Northwestern University,
Catholic University of America, and the In
stitute for Educational Management. Harvard
University. 1972. Dr. McLean is married and
has one son.
Dr. McLean’s appointment to the presidency
of Barber-Scotia College took place in May,
1975. The following excerpts from her inaugural
address, “An Emerging, Optional College For
This Era,” reflicts this great woman’s strength
of character which makes her one of the unique
personalities of our times.
This College was born in the smoke and
stench hovering over the land after the War Bet
ween the States. The attending physician was
Luke Dorland, a minister commissioned by the
Freedmen’s Committee of the Presbyterian
Church, USA to go South and locate a site for
a school for the daughters of recently-freed
slaves. Concord. North Carolina answered his
conception of an ideal site as he wrote, “I have
found the place!" Here, in 1867, Reverend
Dorland presented to the educational world the
infant institution which Matthew Scott (one of
the most liberal friends the school ever had)
was given the privilege of naming. He called
this newborn symbol of opportunity, “Scotia
Seminary,"modestly preferring it to bear the
name of his native Scotland, rather than his own.
The Chartering of the institution by the State
of North Carolina in 1870 gave a sense of
security about Scotia to Luke Dorland and to
the Church; it generated a degree of respect
from the Concord community and from the
Page 4
educational circle of the State.
The amendment to the charter of April 2, 1954
(six months prior to the Supreme Court decision
of May 17. 1954) deleting the words, "colored
women” and substituting the word “youth"
ushered in the open-door policy of admission
to All qualified students, without regard to race,
sex, or creed. Since 1954, the predominance
of the race of its student body has been deter
mined solely by the predominance of the
students who have chosen to enroll here...
Now comes the stage for looking ahead into
the telescope of time to seek to get a vision
of what the future can hold for an institution
like this one.
1 see: An emerging, optional college for this
era
An Emerging Optional College for this era.
What manner of College is this?...
Building on its history of 109 years in
education, analyzing the present, and testing the
winds that are blowing across the educational
plains of the future, what kind of option for
people can a Scotia provide? What kin dos place
ca nit be?
-IS there a place for a small college in a small
town-one that will place no merit on smallness
alone, but one which will capitalize on needs
it can meet for those who function and relate
best to size?
-Is there room for a place where the disad
vantaged are served-a place where "disad
vantaged" is broadened to include the
economically, socially, spiritually, politically,
and-or educationally-deprived? A place where
those of any race or creed who have been denied
access to the mainstream of America may find
acceptance and dignity?
-A place where inadequacy or incompleteness
of one’s former training is not equated with
inability to learn? A place where people
recognize that “All Becoming takes time.”
-On the other hand, is there a place where
the educationally strong and secure, without or
with limited financial resources, may find
challenge and fulfillment as they acquire a
wholesome regard for the educationally less
alert, who are not always equally less capable?
John F. Kennedy reminded America that
"Today we waste precious resources when the
bright youngster who should have been a skilled
draftsman or able scientist or engineer, must
remain a pick-and-shovel worker because he
never had a chance to develop his talents."
“The future of any country which is dependent
on the will and the wisdom of its citizens is
Continued on page 10
The College:
Barber-Scotia is a four-year. liberal arts, co
educational institution that is accredited by the
North Carolina Department of Education and
The Southern Association of Colleges and
Schools. Its teacher education programs are
approved by the State with the highest rating
attainable. Barber-Scotia is a member of the
United Negro College Fund and is historically
related to the United Presbyterian Church in
the Untied States of America.
Approximately 600 students are enrolled pur
suing baccaluareate degrees through four
professional centers: The Center for Education
and Development, The Center for Health
Professions. The Center for Political and Social
Development. About a third of the students
are planning to become teachers. The other
students are majoring in Biology. Chemistry,
Medical Technology, Sociology, Sociology-
Welfare, Business Administration, Secretarial
Administration. These majors offer op
portunities for students to move into new
careers and to assume new levels of leadership.
The students at Barber-Scotia College,
although representing the District of Columbia
and sixteen states from Mississippi to Maine,
come primarily from the Carolinas. The
majority of their families are unable to provide
either the amount or the quality of enriching
experiences considered minimal in American
society. Os the students enrolled in the 1970’5,
about 75 percent of their families earned less
than $7,500 a year. Seventy-five percent of the
students received financial assistance averaging
approximately $ 1.400 for the year. Yet, despite
the handicaps of poverty and-or marginal in
come and-or the handicap of the effects of 200
years of institutionalized racism, these students,
like students elsewhere, come with high am
bitions and the essential drive to succeed. And
they do succeed! Among Scotia graduates are
to be found:
a founder and president of a four-year
college;
a cheif administrator of mental health
services for a state:
a United Nations representative;
an adviser to two Presidents of the
United States:
an internationally recognized teacher
of teachers of little children:
a college dean, together with other
school administrators, teachers, doc
tors. nurses, Ph. D’s. Ed. D.’s and
business men and women, church
leaders, social workers, foreign ser
vice personnel, and homemakers.
Barber-Scotia College began in 1867. as
Are you tithing to a black religious institution?
Scotia Seminary, a preparatory school for young
black women. For more than a generajion,
Scotia (as it was called) adhered to this program.
Sensitivity to the demands of society and
responsiveness to the needs of students brought
significant changes in programs and policies.
These are suggested in the following brief
chronology:
1916 Expansion of program and
change of name to Scotia Women’s
College
1930 Merger with Barber Memorial
College. Anniston. Alabama
1932 Adoption of name, Barber-
Scotia College
1934 Class “A” junior college status
1943 Senior college status
1945 First baccalaureate degrees con
ferred
1954 Amendment of Charter on April
2 to admit students without regard to
race or sex
1958 Accreditation by the Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools
1971 Adoption of New Doorways to
Higher Education, an intensive
academic life-style built on an entry
level program and professional
development centers.
The growth of the institution has been guided
by eight presidents:
Luke Dorland (1867-1885)
D. J. Satterfield (1885-1908)
A. W. Verner (1908-1922)
T. R. Lewis (1922-1929)
Myron J. Croker (1929-1932)
Leland S. Cozart (1932-1964)
Lionel H. Newsom (1964-1966)
Jerome L. Gresham (1966-1974)
Mabie P. McLean (1974- )
All of Barber-Scotia’s academic programs and
supportive services are developmental. They
are oriented to the total development of the
students -- intellectually, physically,
emotionally, spiritually and socially. The in
tensive academic life-style honors the student
as a person of infinite worth and builds upon
the strengths he brings to college. Because
Barber-Scotia believes that learning occurs in
relation to a problem or a question or an issue
of importance to the students; the curriculum
is planned to provide learning opportunities that
relate to the life experiences and expectations
of the students. The program of studies stresses
problems rather than ready-made answers,
process rather than information, performance
Continued on page 10