ARCHIVES
Bennett College
Greenstxxo, N. C.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1974
BENNETT COLLEGE, GREENSBORO, N. C.
VOL. XXXVIII. NO. 3
American Optimism Is Theme Of Founders’
Day Address By Malaysian Ambassador
by Cleo Branch
American optimism was the
theme of the Founder’s Day ad
dress delivered by the Ambassador
of Malaysia, M. Khir Johari, at the
convocation in the chapel on Oct.
13.
Ambassador Khir Johari said
that he found optimism and di
rectness to be among the most ad
mirable qualities of Americans. He
also pointed out that these admir
able qualities are taken for granted
by Americans.
The ambassador said that on
his first visit to America what im
pressed him most was “the sheer
size of your physical possessions—
whether they be automobiles or
pullman coaches; or just the build
ings and countryside.”
He mentioned also that what
made an impression on him was
that although America has various
ethnic groups with different cultu
ral backgrounds it is nevertheless
united by one “common language
and loyalty.” This he felt to be
particularly significant for him
because Malaysia is also a nation
with a multiracial and multirelig
ious population.
He spoke of his gladness at hav
ing a representative from Malay
sia, Mallika Maniam, a freshman,
here at Bennett, He asked for as
sistance from the faculty and from
Mallika’s friends to aid her in
graduating from the college.
“The American dream of ‘rags
to riches’ is also our dream,” stat
ed the ambassador. “Many of our
wealthy countrymen today came
to Malaysia penniless immigrants,
with nothing but faith and hard
work to sustain them on the road
to success,” he said. The three
American success stories he cited
were Ralph Nader and his con
sumer’s crusade, the late Martin
Luther King and his crusade, and
Germaine Greer and her Women’s
Lib.
He mentioned that despite the
gas shortage, inflation, traffic
problems and the decline in the
stock market, America is “still a
bountiful country.”
He said that machines are tak
ing over and that there was a dan
ger that “our intellects will be
atrophied by over-reliance on the
computer.” But, he noted, “the
area of original thought and imag
ination eludes the machine.” He
cited the case of a computer pro
grammed to translate English
hymns into Tamil, a South Indian
dialect, that was given the line,
“Rock of Ages, Cleft for me,” and
out came “Very Big Stone, Broken
for My Benefit.”
Finally, the ambassador remind
ed the audience that liberal arts
graduates are in an exclusive po
sition that can never be filled by
a machine. He stressed that “the
imaginative capacity and confi
dence in the future are needed to
reach your goals.”
STUDENTS AND CITY
ATTEND TEACHER ED
Two hundred educators, includ
ing student teachers, public school
teachers and administrators, be
ginning education students, and
college supeivisors attended a
Competency-Based Teacher Ed
ucation Workshop at Bennett Col
lege, on Oct. 28 according to Dr.
Lcla R. Hankins.
The opening session began with
a symposium on “The Competen
cy-Based Approach to Teacher
Training.”
One of the workshops focused
on “Exit Criteria for Assessing
Student Teaching Performance
and that of Future Teachers Ac-
EDUCATORS
WORKSHOP
Editor Attends Collegiate Press Conference
The editor of The Banner,
Cheryl E. Johnson, recently at
tended the 50th annual conference
of The Associated Collegiate Press.
The conference met in Holly
wood, Florida with over a thou
sand representatives from junior
and senior colleges participating
in the many sessions and work
shops that covered all aspects of
college newspaper, newsmagazine
and yearbook production.
Th(y highlight of the conference
was an opening address by Reg
Murphy, editor of the Atlanta
Constitution. Murphy received
world wide attention last Feb
ruary when he was kidnapped
and ransomed for $700,000.
Johnson said that Bennett may
have been one of the smallest col
leges represented. She also stated
that the conference allowed her
to see, “how trouble free The Ban
ner is in relation to the problems
(Continued on page 4)
cording to Guidelines from the
State Department.” A demonstra
tion, “Media In Action", was held
in Holgate Library.
Forty fall semester Bennett stu
dent teachers, who will be evaluat
ed by the new exit criteria stan
dards, have just begun their ap-
prenticesliip in the public schools.
They are: in business education,
Mary KldridRc; in elen\entary ed
ucation, lloirn S. Aduiiis, Janlcr
II. ('anady, Stephanie I' Dalton,
Sandra I'reeman, Dianr Kiillor,
Marria Johnson, Marsha l/Ovc,
Wanda Maxwell, I'raiicinr Mot
ley. .Alice Myall. Mary Korir.
Sheila Hennrll; in Englisli, Vard-
ley Nelson; in history, I.inda lier-
ry. Sandra Johnson, (ilrnna II.
Leary, Kuby Sclienck; in home
economics, Sliirley (Ireen. Kffic
Jones; in music, IJnda Brown,
Bonita ('havis. Jacqueline K. Fos
ter. I’risrilla I.enions; in Physical
Eilucation, Ginxer Bell. Wanda
Cobb, Vanes.sa Curry. Jean Jack
son. (’atliy (i. MussinKton, Delores
Scoll; in special education. Sadie
Anthony. Bettye Carter, SheiUi
McDowell, Odile l’ierre-I,oiils,
Aillene Seldon, Kathy 11, Suitkii.
Kathy S. Sumpter. Cheryl Sullon,
I’atricia Teal and Sandra While.
Mrs. Effie Miller: “Liberation Is The Freedom To Be My Own Woman”
by Cheryl E. Johnson
“It takes away my identity com
pletely” was one comment Mrs.
Effie Miller made concerning the
life she leads as a college presi
dent’s wife. Her husband is Isaac
H. Miller, president of Bennett
College, a private school for wo
men.
She said, “A woman’s identity is
directly related to her husband’s.
This is the way people know you.
They don’t know you for your
self.” Her husbands position she
stated, “may be the reason that 1
have so many meetings to go to.”
Mrs. Miller is the member of more
than 37 civic organizations. Among
the memberships she holds are:
the Voluntary Action Center, Guil
ford County Headstart, Employ
ment Security Commission, PTA
Council for the City of Greensboro,
and The Board of Trustees of L.
Richardson Hospital.
Mrs. Miller says that whenever
she receives notice of a meeting,
she places the notice on a bulletin
board and it doesn’t come down
until after she has attended the
meeting.
Ttie First Lady says she is al
ways “the presidents’ wife or so-
n’-so’s mother.” Of course, the
mother of five children would be
referred to as “so-n’-so’s mother”,
from time to time. Her offspring
are: Ike Jr., 20, Kevin, 19, Eric, 16,
Keith, 13, and Kay, 8.
Most women would think an
identity problem secondary to cop
ing with the reality of a husband's
interaction with more than 500
women. But not Mrs. Miller. About
this she commented, “'nie other
women are a job that must be
done.” She said that she was in
formed that Bennett was a col
lege for women before they ac
cepted the presidency. Her feel
ings are that she has always
known where she stood with her
husband and that, “all the way
from the beginning of marriage”
he has provided her with “secur
ity.”
The solid security base of their
23-year-old marriage may well
have come from its beginnings. He
was a handsome new chemistry
professor at A&T State Univer
sity in those days. She was a
sophomore in the same university
at the time. Mrs. Miller said she
first saw him at a reception, “He
hadn’t even noticed me, I don’t
suppose,” she explained, “but I
saw him and said . . . THAT is
the man for me!” For some time
thereafter she really didn’t think
about him, but she admitted, “he
had girls swooning and saying I
will get his work TO-DAY!” she
added with rolling eyes. She was
not enrolled in his classes and
they did not have occasion to talk
until one day when he saw her
moping, during the latter part of
her sophomore year. Her parents
were going to Germany and had
dropped the bomb shell that she
would not be making the trip.
Therefore, she was in an unpleas
ant mood the day he invited hei
to his office to talk. She said, “The
minute I sat down, I cried like a
baby.” "He wasn’t fresh,” she
noted and “anyhow a relationship
between a faculty member and a
student was “taboo! They would
have fii'ed the faculty member and
sent the student home!” She said
that she was aware that he was
dating faculty ladies and laughed
when she said, “I had a fi:00 p.m.
curfew.” But they eventually got
together.
The First Lady’s lack of recog
nition as “Effie Miller” has not re
sulted in her adoption of a strong
wotnen’s liberation attitude. She
said that, "Each woman’s libera
tion must be measured by her own
desires and needs. For me,” she
continued, “liberation is the free
dom to be my own woman.”
Mrs. Miller may be the great
woman behind a great man but
she has a hands-off policy towards
helping her husband make profes
sional decisions. About decision
making she says, “1 more or less
stay out of that realm of thinking.
He might ask an opinion and I ju.st
answer, but not in the tone of
making a decision.”
Mrs. Miller made the distinction
that most college manors, the pre.s-
ident’s home, have unlisted tele
phone iHitnbers, “except us. We
have kids away from home tf>o
and it is a good thing if a parent
can call us in case of an emergency
since the dormitory lines stay
busy.”
As a college piesident. Dr. Mil
ler spends many, many hours
iiway from home on money raising
I'ndeavors. The First Lady says
that she’s lonely when he is away;
however they relate to each other
and “When he’s home with me,
HE'S HOME WITH ME.”