cnn^
NETT COLLEGE
IMAS F, HOLGATE LIBRARY
r EAST WASHINGTON STREET
^ENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA 27401-3239
Friday, September 26, 1986
“I am Somebody’*
Jesse enlightens
BENNETT COLLEGE, GREENSBORO, N. C.
VoL XLVIII, No. 1
by Carla Bannister
At 8:45 a.m. the dorm di
rector announced loudly over
the intercom, “The chapel ser
vice will be delayed until 10
am. because Rev. Jackson’s
plane was delayed.” The sighs
of anxious, excited ladies
were heard loudly down the
halls.
Later at 10 in the full, buz
zing chapel, excited people
talked animatedly about the
Rev. Jesse Jackson. He had
not appeared yet. At 10:15
the music started. The atmos
phere was filled with Belles
that were beaming with a
certain awareness of black
pride. There was a feeling of
togetherness as Bennett sis
ters exchanged smiles and
hellos. The song “That’s
What He’ll Do For You”
brought even more self-es
teem. This closeness spread
quickly as the audience stood
to give Rev. Jackson a warm,
hearty ovation.
Rev. Jackson began the
speech with a bit of Bennett
history. He talked about the
sit-in at Woolworth’s down
town restaurant at which the
A&T students made history.
Jackson said that it was the
women of Bennett who urged
and encouraged that event.
Jackson said, “The fire in
the woman of Bennett would
not go out. It was the Belles
that kept sitting in and
marching while others would
stop.”
Jackson admired the
strength and maturity of the
Bennett Belle. “Bennett was
a prominent place in unlock
ing the change,” said Jackson.
Jackson added, “Dr. Willa
Player (former Bennett pre
sident) wanted degrees with
dignity.” This statement
brought loud claps from the
audience. Jackson identified
with the crowd as he com
pared Bennett of today with
the Bennett of 25 years ago.
Jackson went on to com
pare South Africa in the pre
sent with the American South
25 years ago. He said, “What
does it matter to have a Ph.D.
if you don’t have mobility like
the wings of a bird” and
“Everyone needs freedom to
move, to develop and grow,”
unlike the sisters and broth
ers of South Africa and un
like the blacks who lived in
the South of America 25 years
ago.
Jackson’s speech touched
on the plight of farmers. He
said, “Choose farms over
arms.” He said farms were
needed to feed the hungry in
America and South Africa.
Jackson also urged the
audience to choose black
schools over jails. He com
mented that the government
was spending more on the
jails than on the schools that
are rapidly closing. Jackson
believes that black colleges
can give important opportuni
ties for blacks to learn and
exercise leadership skills.
These leadership skills can
help give self-esteem to blacks
and enable them to be proud
to say loudly, “I am an Afro-
American.”
At the conclusion of his
speech, he had everyone
standing while they repeated
his trademark statement, “I
am somebody.”
Jackson then urged non
registered voters to register.
Jackson said, “You must vote
where you live. You live in
Greensboro. You get your
mail here and you eat here so
register and vote here.”
Miss Bennett has exceptional talent
by Carla Bannister
She’s so classy that she
wore pearls with her bathing
suit while on duty as a life
guard. She’s so disciplined
that she made the National
Dean’s List and Who’s Who in
American Colleges and Uni
versities. She has also served
as president of Alpha Kappa
Alpha Sorority Inc. and as
vice-president of the junior
cl^ss
Now Alicia Carol McCollum,
a 21-year-old biology major
from Burlington, can add the
title of Miss Bennett to her
achievements. McCollum, who
feels she has matured at Ben
nett, remembers her fr^h-
man year as a time of unstint
ing devotion to duty.
“I was very conservative,”
she says. “I lived like a her
mit, always in my room study
ing. I had one hour a week
to talk to my boyfriend and
only one day to spend with
him on the weekends, and
that was the extent of my
social life. I was on a very
strict and rigid schedule.”
Since then, McCollum has
grown more outgoing. She
describes herself as “very
talkative.” She loves to be
positive. Her favorite motto
is: “In God all things are pos
sible. The road is long; there
are mountains in our way, but
we climb a step every day.
Never give up.”
During her reign as Miss
Bennett, McCollum would like
to see an improvement in the
security staff, the installation
of fire extinguishers in all of
the dorms and higher morale
among students.
A Bennett Scholar and a
member of two honor socie
ties, she wants to represent
the college “in a serious aca
demic way.” “I believe that
there is not enough stress on
the black woman’s education,”
she says. “I think that the
women here should be repre
sented as smart and success
ful.”
McCollum has a deep love
for the campus, which she
considers superior in atmos
phere to the mood at A&T.
“There’s a friendliness at
Bennett. People always speak
to you whereas at A&T the
people are cold and un
friendly, and if you speak to
the students, some of them
look at you like you’re crazy,”
she explains.
McCollum plans to become
an obstetric gynecologist.
She attributes her hard
work habits to her mother,
Mrs. Calva McCollum, who is
her inspiration.
She hopes to pass on her
drive and determination to all
her Bennett sisters.
0
The E. Gwynn Dancers will appear on campus tonight Sept. 26 at 7:30 p.m. In the Goode Gym. (photo by Sallie A. HAyes.)
Dance troupe’s performance involves total theater
The Lyceum Cultural Ser
ies begins tonight with a per
formance demonstration by
the E. Gwynn Dancers of
North Carolina A&T State
University.
The 7:30 presentation in
Goode Gymnasium will fea
ture the 12-member com
pany’s total theater concept,
including dance, poetry and
slides to enhance the histori
cal significance of period
pieces.
All dances are original and
they are based on authentic
material related to West Afri
can, Haitian and Afro-Ameri
can culture and music. Follow
ing the performance, a recep
tion will be held in the second
floor lounge of the gym.
According to Dr. Ruth
Lucier, series chairperson,
“The program is continuing
evidence of our commitment
to bringing the best in dance
to this college. We are antici
pating an exciting evening
and an enthusiastic response
from the audience.”
The choreographer and
founder of the group is Dr.
Eleanor W. Gwynn, a certi
fied teacher of the Katherine
Dunham technique. Gwynn is
an associate professor of phy
sical education with a specia
lization in dance at A&T.
The performance is free
and open to the public. Ms.
Cathy Griffin is program co
ordinator.
On Oct. 29-31, the Lyceum
series is sixjnsoring a lecture
and exhibition by visual art
ist Otto Neals, who will speak
Oct. 29 in the science assem
bly and show his work at the
“Z” Gallery, 107 S. Dudley.
On Nov. 11, Dr. David
Pinnix, the college organist,
vdll give a piano concert in
Annie Merner Pfeiffer Chapel
at 8:15 p.m.
A Fashion Show and Cos
tume Ball, sponsored by the
home economics department,
will occur Nov. 14, featuring
costumes through the years.
The Lyceum’s final event
of the semester will be the
ever-popular Evening of Pub
lic Speaking, sponsored by the
communications department.
President Miller resigns
by Sallie A. Hayes
Robert S. Chiles Sr., chair
man of the Board of Trustees,
has announced the retirement
of Dr. Isaac H. Miller Jr. as
the school’s president, to be
come come effective June 30,
1987.
The announcement was
made during a special call
session of the board which al
so committed to the establish
ment of a science chair in
Miller’s honor.
Miller, a biochemist, has
served as president of the
college for more than 20
years.
“He (Dr. Miller) has been
responsible for the growth
and development of our total
academic environment which
includes faculty, curriculum,
students and facilities. . .
Under his leadership, the Ben
nett College alumnae were or
ganized and strengthened to
represent one of the finest
support groups that an insti
tution could desire,” Chiles
stated.
In honor of Miller’s service
to the college, the board also
announced the development of
a permanent endowed chair
for the science division with a
minimum committment of $1
million.
“This distinguished chair
will be named for Isaac H.
Miller Jr., a distinguished
scholar in his own right, for
he is held in very high esteem
among his peers in his be
loved profession of bioche
mistry, and as a writer and
research analyst,” said Chiles.
The board also announced
a gift of $22,000 to refurbish
the former home of one-time
president, the late Dr. David
D. Jones. The home has been
designated by the Board as
the Alumnae House, and the
gift of renovation comes from
alumna Mrs. Nancy Young
Lee, a Greensboro native and
former public school teacher.
Mrs. Lee and her husband.
Attorney J. Kenneth Lee,
were on hand to acknowledge
the generous gift to the
school’s Alumnae program.
Valuing yourself emphasized at Opening Convocation
by Evelyn Sims
President Isaac H. Miller
Jr. stressed the importance of
self-worth during the Sept. 11
Opening Convocation, which
also included the Ceremony of
Matriculation.
Dressed in white, 182 fresh-
mei^nd new students as well
as 13 Belles who entered
college last semester saw their
names listed in the registrar’s
book.
“You are indeed persons of
value, and this signing-in
ceremony symbolizes that for
you,” said Miller, who en
couraged the audience to greet
one another with the slogan,
“You are a person of value
and I love you.”
The president warned the
assembly about the social ills
that blight the present and
darken the future.
“We had better get about
the business of living in the
21st century,” he urged, a
task complicated by the spect
ers of nuclear holocaust and
pollution and “the corrosive
effects of dependence on
drugs and alcohol (that)
threaten to destroy our civi
lization.”
Miller affirmed the signifi
cance of the church in higher
education and the importance
of Bennett College in helping
fulfill the destiny of blacks.
“This college is the instru
mentality of the dreams of
slaves ... of people who came
to this country stacked like
cordwood in the bowels of
slave ships. This is an impor
tant institution to the history
of the Negro race,” he said.