Bicentennial Is Bunk To Belles
Anniversary Of America’s 200th Birthday May Have Mediocre Meaning To Campus
by Cheryl E. Johnson
A majority of those persons polled on campus last week said
they felt that America’s bicentennial was an occasion not worth
their celebrating, since blacks initially entered this country as
slaves and that too much money and emphasis were being placed
on the celebration.
Fran Franklin from Ocean City, Maryland, said she’s' “just
sick of it.” She added “I’m not for it at all because they have just
carried this celebration a little too far.” Franklin feels the fi
nances being used to promote 200 years of U.S.A. might better
be used to eradicate poverty and other U.S. social ills.
Student Government President Thorna Humphries also thinks
too much money is going into this celebration. She said “It has
been said that blacks don’t have anything to celebrate. At least,”
she continued, “we can go into a cafeteria, sit down and eat there
without having to carry our food out. And we don’t have to ride
in the back of a bus, anymore, unless we want to. We don’t have
total freedom, but we have gained some things.” About the
monies being spent she said “They are spending quite a bit of
money and going far out for the bicentennial,” but conceded “I
guess some people have something to celebrate.”
Basketball team member Debbie Moser thinks' she might be
more excited about 1976 if she were a senior in high school or
college, but since she is a freshman she has no special feelings.
Moser
Duckett
Baly
Jessup
Stokes
Roebuck
She also said “Whites may have more to celebrate than blacks
since black people have not been free ever since they came to
America.”
But Jeannie Duckett a member of the class of 1976 and a na
tive of the nation’s capitol thinks the occasion “is a bunch of bs”
and says of the celebration that she “wasn’t invited to the party.”
Duckett ask the question “What am I supposed to do, get in my
car, drive to Philadelphia and ring the Liberty Bell?” She ad
mitted that she wouldn’t feel any different this July 4th just
like she feels no special feelings on the anniversary of Martin
Luther King’s birth or Christmas. She did concede that she felt
closer to the anniversary of King’s birth than other special dates.
(Continued on Page 4)
FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1976
BENNETT COLLEGE, GREENSBORO, N. C.
VOL. XXXVlll, NO. 6
Bookkeeping Office Is Broken Into
by Cheryl E. Johnson
The bookkeeping office was
broken into through an east
window of the Race Hall Ad
ministration Building some
time during the night of Jan
uary 19 and the motive was
not money as “it was apparent
they were looking for rec
ords,” according to comp
troller, Franklin Bailey.
He said the intruders
“jumbled up the files and
tampered with a cabinet that
contained certain records, and
it is apparent they were look
ing for records,” because
there were other items of
value “they could have taken
but they did not.”
Bailey said the two-room
bookkeeping office set-up was
“Just disrupted,” and that in
checking the premises the
morning following the break-
in he found “nothing miss
ing” that he could see.
Police have completed a
preliminary check, he said,
but the incident is' still under
investigation. Bailey said he
has no idea who broke in.
Students Are Hauling To Class
Dean Says Reinstated Class Attendance Policy Will Continue
by Cheryl E. Johnson
The class attendance policy that
was reinstated last semester has
resulted in “the best class attend
ance there has been in recent
years,” Dr. Chelsea Tipton, dean
of the college, said. And he em
phasized that “the course cut
policy will continue.”
Mrs. Linda Addo, an assistant
professor of history, who was the
chairwoman of the Committee on
Class Attendance says she had
only one of 55 freshmen dropped
from her classes and no upper-
410” Frosb Choreographer Mental Giant
by Robyn-Denise Berryhill
Gradual silence slipped over the audience as the spotlights stripped the darkness from the stage. Faint
sounds of Ramsey Lewis’s “Sun Goddess” could be heard as dancers, already positioned on stage, began to
move about. Suddenly one dancer dressed in white breaks away from the group and begins to execute steps
with the agility and grace of a dove in flight.
She is sixteen year old Stephanie Mapp, the choreographer of the dance and a freshman English major.
Later, in her Jones Hall room,
Stephanie, reflected on her back
ground; interest in dance; and,
her decision to come to Bennett:
“My mother sent me to a ballet
school when I was ten and at first
I didn’t like it very much. When I
went to high school dance was a
compulsory subject during the first
two years. My mother is a dancer
and founder of her own dance
company, The Fiery Limbo Dan
cers. They dance on top of glass
and stuff like that.”
Stephanie added that at one
time she was reluctant to pursue
an interest in dance because “Peo
ple would think I was following in
my mother’s footsteps.”
Born June 4, 1959 in Bermuda,
she is a graduate of Warwick Sec
ondary School. During her sopho
more year of high school she took
the SAT “just to see how I would
so do,” she explained. Stephanie
did well on that exam, and as a
result was offered early admis
sion to Bennett thus skipping her
senior year of high school by grad
uating early.
Her cousin Bobbie Durden, a
sophomore and cartoonist for the
BANNER influenced her decision
to come to Bennett, greatly, with
photo by Cheryl E. Johnson ^ on
Freshman Choreographer From Bermuda (Contmued on Page 3)
classmen at all. In her opinion,
which is based on the students and
classes she has, “the policy has
worked well,” she said.
“Several years ago,” she said
“1 chaired the committee that
drew up the non-compulsory at
tendance policy, the idea behind
this proposal being that after a
certain number of years if sta
tistics indicated the policy was not
working it would be studied
again.”
At the end of the experimental
time period for the non-compul
sory policy the statistics showed a
Williams Climaxes
King Commemoration
by Joyce Bass
A lecture by the Rev. Hosea
Williams, former top assistant to
the late Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., climaxed the Martin Luther
King Memorial program on Thurs
day, January 15, at 8:30 p.m. in
Harrison Auditorium on the camp
us of A&T State University.
The program was organized to
commemorate the birthday of Dr.
King and was sponsored by the
Student Government Association
of A&T.
The ceremony, with the theme,
“Walking With the King,” was
presided over by Ted Mangum,
president of the A&T Student
Government Association. After the
invocation, music was rendered
by the Scott Hall Group, followed
by several modern dance presen
tations performed by local youth
groups. Leonard Frye, a member
of the A&T SGA then introduced
the speaker.
Mr. Williams was a civil rights
leader during the 1960’s and served
as special director of projects for
Dr. King’s Southern Christian
Leadership Conference.
Mr. Williams, a native of Bain-
bridge, Ga., worked with Dr. King
for more than eight years. Since
King’s death, he has been actively
engaged in politics, winning a seat
in the Georgia House of Repre
sentatives in 1973.
Mr. Williams feels the black
youth of today hold the key to
tomorrow. He said, “Black people
will never mess up America like
drop in student grades and a de
cline in class attendance. Since the
committee felt that there was a
definite connection between how
often a student attended class and
how well a student performed aca
demically the committee drew up
a mandatory class attendance
policy which was modification of
a previous policy, that was put
into effect the fall of 1975.
Tipton said he was “certain that
grades have improved a great
deal.” However, he added, “Indi
cations I have from faculty mem
bers is that it is too early to de
termine the specific effects the
policy has had on grade reports.”
According to the dean’s official
tally of the number of students
who were dropped from classes as
a result of over cutting, 30 stu
dents were dropped from 40
courses. The sophomore class had
the highest percentage of stu
dents dropped with 11 of the total
30. The freshman and senior
classes followed with eight and
seven, respectively, while the
juniors had the smallest number
of four.
Tipton said he was “sure we
have had fewer freshman who
have failed,” this semester (fall
’75) than in previous semesters
when class attendance was left
to the student’s discretion.
“In the past,” Addo said “I have
never had much trouble with up-
per-classmen.” It was on the
freshman level, that she had dif
ficulties with students demonstrat
ing mature prudence by attend
ing class and therefore, maintain
ing their best grades.
When asked the reason upper
classmen were subjected to the
policy when evidence pointed to
freshman being more lax in com
ing to class she said “In some in
stances there were a lot of upper
classmen who were not showing
maturity,” by attending class, t
the white folks have. The 1960’s
was the first time a black mass
stood together and came together
for dignity and freedom. But a lot
of people had to die so that we
could walk and ride with pride.”
On January 10, 1966, King or
ganized the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference. At an ear-
(Continued on Page 4)