Guilfordian, September 18, 1981
Guest column
Your world too
By David Davenport
It is time for us to explore issues that are most significant to the con
tinued existence of man if we are to arrest ourselves from a present
course of destruction.
To begin this contemplation, however, we must awaken from the
drunken slumber that currently prevails in this society. The fact that
the slumber of apathy reaches into every aspect of society is alarm
ing, but what is more astounding is that this untimely social disease is
a current phenomenon on college campuses, the breeding ground of
tomorrow's leaders. Unfortunately, Guilford College is not an excep
tion.
In the three years that I have been here at Guilford I have found that
students, for the most part, have an extremely limited interest in
issues unrelated to sex, drugs, or other general amusement.
The support of this observation is reflected in the continuous lack of
participation by the student body in "significant" events. By signifi
cant I mean those issues that may appear irrelevant to our immediate
situation but serve to perpetuate or change the foundations of the
world in which we exist.
For example, the vigil held here last year for the dead and missing
kids in Atlanta attracted only 20-30 students. Of that number only two
were black. Another example was the national march of Greensboro to
protest the killing of the Communist Worker's Party members by the
Ku Klux Klan. There were approximately fifty Guilford students, as I
observed, when at least half the student body should have been there.
Other issues to which students have not responded adequately to here
at Guilford are Reagan's budget cuts and the El Salvador conflict.
Important to our quest for conscientious involvement in such mat
ters will be the support of the school and student administrations.
President Rogers is surely interested in student growth and will sup
port any responsible student activity. Martin Jones, the new student
body president, an exceptionally competent leader, is also committed
to increased student activism. He has many ideas that he would like to
pursue this year and is receptive to others' ideas as well.
The student, however, is essential to any change here at Guilford
College. It is we who must transform this school from a collection of
self-centered, ignorant, and disorganized zombies to an aware, con
cerned and unified student body which asserts itself. The time to move
is now, not tomorrow, not next week or next year, but now!
In the coming year this column will focus on issues relevant to
Guilford such as Racism, Cafeteria food, Black-White relations,
Serendipity, etc. Other topics will include ERA, IRA, the Middle East,
South Africa, Religion, and more. Stay tuned . . Harambee.
Battery shines
significant breakthrough, as only
60 people in the world have been
working in the United States.
Developing an organic battery
requires knowledge of Organic
Chemistry, Electrochemistry,
and Physics.
According to Maclnnes, his
years at Guilford prepared him
for the tasks which he faced at
the University of Pennsylvania.
"At a liberal arts school you have 1
to know something about
everything...it helped me a great
deal to have skills in different
areas," he said.
When Maclnnes arrived at the
University of Pennsylvania in
July of 1980 he was not quite sure
what type of research he would
be doing. He found that he was
assigned to the staffs of
professors G. MacDiarmid oand
Alan Heeger who had been
working for nearly two years on
the development of a new bat
tery.
After he and his assistants
created a half-plastic- half-metal
(lithium) battery Maclnnes
"took a chance" and replaced the
lithium with the polyacetelene
plastic.
The research having been
completed, the next step belongs
to industry-the process of
Spaced out
who failed to show up.
White said that top priority was
given to students on the waiting
list who were commuting from
their homes in towns in the Triad
area. Students next in line for on
campus housing are those living
in private homes which are
farthest from campus. At
present, ten students remain in
homes in the community.
The Housing director added
o-
The first Biophile day trip took place Saturday, September 5 at Stone Mountain in Elkin, NC
IDS 101
Students at this time took five
three-credit courses per
semester, instead of the present
four. The faculty decided that a
move to a four course load would
benefit the quality of education
for all concerned, so as a tran
sitional move, freshmen received
six credits for the new class. In
1970, the revised MITC was
changed to four credits with the
accompanying change in
from page 1
molding the battery into a usable
form and selling it. Two com
panies, BASF of Germany and a
division of Allied Corporation of
the US have bought licenses to
develop the plastic battery.
Maclnnes said that the battery
should be widely available within
five years.
From page 1
that approximately sixty spaces
usually become available by the
end of the semester for a variety
of reasons.
After all the students who have
been. temporarily housed have
been moved on campus, those
who are dissatisfied with their
Frazier Apartment placement
have the option of applying for a
room in one of the traditional
dormitories upon availability.
schedule, but the two-semester
format was retained.
The unit on women's issues was
expanded that year as well.
While Mel Reiser said that the
new topic was an "unqualified
success," Cyril Harvey, who also
taught the course, wasn't so sure
it went over well. He tells of a
particularly articulate black
woman in his classroom who had
been on the race relations
question, but had little to say
about feminism. "She just said,
I like being a girl," and I said
"That's just because you inow
your place", but 1 don't think she
got it. I think we were a little
ahead of our time on this one."
James Gifford, now professor
of the history of medicine at Duke
University, directed MITC in
1971, and in 1972 the course was
rewritten by a faculty group that
included faculty members
Elwood Parker, Carter Delafield,
Beth Keiser, and Bob Johnson.
This group also changed the
name to the less sexist and, noted
Mel Keiser, more existentialist,
"Being Human in the Twentieth
Century."Also known, adds Cyril
Harvey, as "Bacon, Ham,
Tomato, & Cheese Sandwich,"
and "Being Hugh, Man in the
Twentieth Century," not to
mention other less prosaic
nicknames. The new program
shifted the personal aspects of
the course to the first semester,
and the environmental to the
second semester.
Elwood Parker became
chairman in 1974 after Keiser,
and the freshman schedule was
again modified. It was decided
that a full year of both freshman
english and BHTC left students
few options for course selections.
From page 1
Cyril Harvey said that one year
freshmen had 30 papers in those
two courses alone, and that it
seemed wiser to spread the heavy
writing out a bit, "not just a two
semester blitz." To do this, the
second semester of freshman
english was shifted to the
sophomore year.
BHTC was changed to a single
semester freshman course that
would be supplemented with a
more specialized in
terdisciplinary course at the
senior level-IDS 401.
Jerry Godard said that he
thought the two-semester fresh
man course was "a better course,
but there's an understandable
resistance to a required common
course. I wouldn't push for it."
Mel Keiser agreed, saying that
"There was a kind of learning
better accomplished over a full
year than in a semester, but we
can't do it because we don't have
the staff." Cyril Harvey liked the
shorter course better, with
reservations, and the delayed
effect nature of the class became
"depressing" when stretched
over a full year. "Students got
more alive when it was not a year
course."
The relocation of freshman
english necessitated an increased
stress on writing in the BHTC
curriculum. Elwood Parker said
that students were officially
assigned at least eight papers in
the semester. The heavy em
phasis on writing was retained
until last year, even after English
151 was returned to second
semester of freshman year in
1979.
Next week, part 2 will examine
the recently replaced "IDS 101-
Freedom," and the new "The Self
Apart.")
page 3