Meredith Herald
Volume XV, Issue 7
We attract bright, talented, ambitious students. Naturally we’re a women’s college.
October 7,1998
On the
inside:
□ Lowe’s
Foods president
speaks to MBA
grad students.
Page 2
O Senior soc-
cer player, Jessi
ca Brool^ ranks
third in NCAA
for her 100
career goals.
Pages 4
□ Antz movie
a flop; Harvey’s
Is This Desire?
satisfies fans.
Page 8
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FAX (919) 760-2869
Email;
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Heaney brings life to Irish works
□ Seamus Heany
offers two readings Sun*
day and Monday.
LESLIE MAXWELL
Police Reporter
Though Meredith College has
been blessed with many exciting
and interesting guests, Irish poet
Seamus Heaney brings life lo all
those who listen. Heaney, the
recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize
for Literature, was present for
many events this weekend,
including poetry readings on
Sunday afternoon and Monday
morning.
Heaney visited Meredith as a
part of the Mary Lynch Johnson
Professorship of English. This
program was established to
honor faculty and to put students
in touch with literary excellence.
The Mary Lynch Johnson Profes
sor for the 1997-98 term is Betty
Adcock, also the Kenan Writer-
in-Residence.
Even with the threat of rain,
the reading took place in Mclver
Ampitheatre. The program began
at 4 p.m. with a welcome by
April Tripp, senior English major
and president of the Colton Eng
lish Club. Adcock introduced
Heaney by saying. “We will
make him at home here today.”
Monday morning. Betty
Webb, English professor and
lover of all things Irish, intro
duced Heaney. She directed her
words to those students in the
English and Art departments who
had studied his work “in antici
pation of his visit to Meredith.”
Heaney began his reading on
Sunday by saying, “It is always
going to be a pleasure lo come to
Meredith because it’s in North
Carolina.” The first poem he read
was “Digging.” The poem, writ
ten in 1966, “is like a banister to
me—it steadies me.” Heaney
said. In “Digging.” he remem
bers seeing his father and grand
father digging the soil to plant
potatoes, but he doesn’t feel that
See POETRY page 4
Gary Walton, head of the English department, speaks with
Heaney as students listen Intently. photo by steve wilson
Faculty concerned with 12000 goals
□ Faculty are skeptical
about recommendations’
generalities.
BETH HALL
News Editor
Frustrated by generalities in
the strategic planning recom
mendations, faculty decided dur
ing their meeting last Friday to
postpone discussion of the Initia
tive 2000 planning until later.
Nearly 100 faculty members
packed Ledford 101, and after
being updated on student life by
SGA president Shannon MacFar-
lene, they commenced discus-
•sion of the 10 strategic planning
recommendations the Initiative
2000 review team had presented
to the Trustees the Friday before
the faculty meeting.
Overall, faculty felt the rec
ommendations were too broad
and general and raised too many
hard-to-answer questions. Dis
cussion of the first two recom
mendations alone took over an
hour of the two hour meeting.
Janice Swab, biology profes
sor, asked how trustees could be
expected to understand and
implement these recommenda
tions. ‘They are only on campus
three or four times a year," said
Swab.
Dean of Undergraduate
Instruction Allen Page, a mem
ber of the review team, answered
that the development of strategy
of how to obtain the goals would
be left to the faculty instead of
the trustees.
Martha Bouknight. math pro
fessor, claimed the recommenda
tions were too general. She said
faculty had experience from
“working day in and day out”
that trustees just didn't have.
‘■[Trustees] need to know what
things are important, so they can
decide priorities,” said
Bouknight.
Barbara True-Weber. politics
professor, felt decisions could
not be properly made until after
the new president is chosen. “We
can lay ground work by the.se
plans, but we need energy and-
coordination at the top.”
The recommendation for fac
ulty to develop new partnerships
with students caused a lot of
debate. Many faculty members,
such as Rhonda Zingraff, won
dered how they would find time
to develop new partnerships
when they already had a “full
plate" of academic responsibili
ties, such as faculty committee
work, thesis direction and class
room teaching.
Also, the faculty discussed
implementing a Datatel system -
a type of administrative soft
ware.
Page reminded faculty of the
Deborah Smith scholarship and
asked them to contribute to its
fund. The scholarship memorial
izes Smith, a biology department
head, who died of lung cancer
earlier this semester.
Sue Kearney, Director of Insti
tutional Research, announced
that 2,599 students were unoffi
cially registered for fall semester.
Mike Hoke, Chief of Campus
Police, discussed security and
parking concerns.
Meet poet
Seamus Heaney
LESLIE MAXWELL
Police Reporter
Although many students have
read poems by Meredith’s dis
tinguished visitor, many others
know very little about Seamus
Heaney. Born in 1939 in Derry
County. Northern Ireland,
Heaney has been writing for
many years.
As a writer, Heaney said that
the toughest question writers are
asked is, “How do you justify
yourself as a writer?" He humor
ously attributed this question to
literary jealousy, calling it
“slightly more demented than
any emotion."
He is the author of thirteen
collections of poetry, three books
of essays and one play. Most of
his poems are about childhood
memories. His most recent book
of poetry is The Spirit Level, and
another book. Opened Ground, is
due to be released in the United
States next year.
He was recently given an hon
orary degree from UNC-Chapel
Hill, where he gave a recent
commencement address. He cur
rently spends half a year in
Dubhn, Ireland with his family
and half in Boston, where he is
Boylston Professor of Rhetoric
and Oratory at Harvard Universi
ty'
One of the poets that has most
influenced him is Robert Frost,
who he mentioned in his reading
Monday. Heaney, like Frost,
writes of everyday events mak
ing them extraordinary, He said
certain poets, like Frost, make
him want to write and “getting
too busy is what stops" writing.
Heaney said of his visit lo
Meredith, “I have been met by
goodwill wherever I turn. The
whole thing is a lerrifici hos
pitable mood.” He said “I feel I
have visited a really poetic site,"
although his inspiration for
poems usually comes after an
experience.
Heaney describes poetry as
“an utterly necessary instrument.
Poetry is the politics of everyday
life.”
He attended St. Columb’s Col
lege and received a degree in
English at Queen's University in
Belfast, Northern Ireland.