TtiE Belles
of Saint Mary’s College
Volume XLV, No. 4
900 Hillsborough St.
Raleigh, N.C. 27603
March 1991
Meet Emyl Jenkins
First Lady Promotes SMC Throughout The Country
By Kathryn McRee
Editor's note: Emyl Jenkins is
a nationally recognized authority
on antiques and collectibles. She
has a nationally syndicated news
paper column, has written several
books (and has more on the
way), is a regular on the lecture
circuit and has been on "Good
Morning, America” several times.
As well, she is active in her com-
cnunity and she and Dr. Jenkins
are the parents of two children;
their daughter, Joli, an SMC grad
uate, currently attends UVa., and
their son, Langdon, is a student at
UNC-G.
R ecently, The Belles had the
opportunity to talk to Mrs.
Emyl Jenkins, the wife of the
president of Saint Mary’s College.
In the conversation which tran
spired. Mrs. Jenkins discussed
Everything from antiques to
Women’s roles in the modern
World with friendliness and cor
diality, and demonstrated herself
to be one of the most interesting
and active women associated
With Saint Mary’s.
The Belies: We know some of
the things you do as the presi
dent’s wife, such as hosting
'^Eceptions. What are some less
obvious things you’ve done as the
Pi’esident’s wife?
Mrs. Jenkins: I do a lot of
things for the College which the
College never knows about. For
Example, one year I hosted a
Piother’s tea in February for a
North Carolina group that honors
outstanding women and also out
standing mothers in the state. It’s
a small group, but it is a very
important group, and I did that to
get these women to come to
Saint Mary’s, it’s that sort of thing
that I do—to have groups come if
I think that they don’t know about
Saint Mary’s or if they would be
interested in learning more about
it. Another example is this fall—I
couldn’t be here, but the party
went on anyway. There was a
reception, a morning party for
about 25 or 30 exchange wives
from Japan who came through
the house. Here again, I thought
"You can have it all
If you know what
•airis."
—Emyl Jenkins
this gave them a chance to see
Saint Mary’s, as well as coming to
this house. So it’s those sorts of
things which I do that people are
not aware of. Another thing is
wherever I speak, and I speak
across the country all the tirne, I
always insist that in my introduc
tion it is mentioned that C'auston.
my husband, is the president of
Saint Mary’s
And in Pittsburg about four years
ago, after the introduction, it
Continued on page 3
Activists ask Bush to "give peace a chance
Emyl Jenkins poses with fomer UNC president. Bill Friday, who is
holding a copy of one of her books.
Gulf War Promotes Campus Debate
By Jenny Schmidt
A s we went to press, the war
was ending. Yet the
activism it spurred and the ques
tions it raised promised to linger.
The war articles in this issue of
The Belles focus on student con
cerns, some of which have been
negated by the prospect of
peace—and some of which
remain with us.
It is a Monday in late February.
The wind adds a brisk breeze to
the chilly air while the sun is shin
ing brightly. Saint Mary’s campus
is on its normal schedule; stu
dents walk to their classes talking
and laughing. Everything seems
to be at ease; everything seems
to be the usual. But far away a
war had started, for many of us
the first war of this scale that we
have had to experience. “What
were the thoughts and emotions
inside us?” Sometimes this war
seemed distant or even drama
tized. One thing was for sure,
however: this war affected the
lives of our friends and relatives,
our country, and ourselves very
deeply, whether we wanted it to or
not.
In the dining hall, Meg Boette,
Kristin Gardner, Tressa Haynes,
and Donna King, all sophomores
in college, gather for lunch. They
discuss the media’s role in the
war. They feel most of the infor
mation we received was “general
ized,” with a few “attention-get
ters.” The continuous news bul
letins and updates with pictures of
bombs made the war seem unre
al or like a movie. Stephanie Best
and Erica Jones, two 12th-
graders, felt that limitations
should be on the media so impor
tant information would not leak
into the wrong hands.
These students also felt, as
most of us probably do, that Iraq’s
act of spilling oil into the Gulf was
a “cheap shot.” Donna King
describes it as environmental ter
rorism [with] no military value.”
Alison Little, a 12th-grader, asks
why Saddam Hussein would do
such a thing since “he is going to
ruin his own land and set himself
back.”
Most students also felt that
Israel did the right thing by stay
ing out of it; it is felt, however, that
Israel will surely retaliate some
day, probably with terrorism.
continued on page 4