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Friday, December 11, 1981
BENNETT COLLEGE, GREENSBORO, N. C.
Vol. XLIII, No. 5
A
A
Santoni analyzes
Racial violence
(Left to right) Deborah Johnson, Marvette Spruill and Wanda Kincaid light candles during the celebration .
of the coming Kwanza held Dec. 6 in the Player Hall Lounge. Attended by a packed house, the observance featured
song, dance and a brilliant speech on the importance of roots by Motlalepula Chabaku, ||° Qogton)
Women’s Studies Program.
by Melinda Lowery
and Evelyn Sims
Racism rates at the top of
the list of violent crimes, con
tended Ronald E. Santoni, a
visiting lecturer in philoso
phy, discussing “Existential
ism and the Concept of Vio
lence” Nov. 16 in the Science
Assembly Hall.
Racial violence occurs in
two forms—overt, such as the
demented activity of the Ku
Klux Klan, and covert, such
as the blindness of whites who
refuse to acknowledge the
prejudice in America.
Racism is motivated by the
same psychology as aggra
vated assault, according to the
professor from Denison Uni
versity. The racist disavows
the humanity of his victim.
“I see violence where people
treat one another as objects
(less than human), where
Johnson recruits Belle recruiters
If you have been bombarded
lately with memos concerning
graduate schools and job oppor
tunities, the action can be traced
directly to the new attitude of
career awareness being presented
by the Career Service Center.
Recently a great deal of empha
sis has been placed on making
students aware of professional
opportunities.
Jacquelyn Jeffers, director of
career services, has recently ac
quired a new addition to her staff,
Anthony Pace. You might have
seen this tall medium-shm male
specimen walking around campus.
Mr. Pace recently coordinated a
seminar titled “Questions to Ask
Graduate School Recruiters.” Con
sidering the number of juniors
and seniors that turned out for
this seminar, the event was labeled
a success. So in the future if you
find a great deal of (so-called by
students) “junk mail” in your post
office box, stop and take a few
minutes to read it. You might read
up on something that could change
the course of your future.
(M. L. Cook, reporter)
H: * *
Phyllis Johnson, director of ad
missions, urges students to become
actively involved in the recruit
ment of future Belles.
She states that although pre
dominantly white colleges have in
creased their recruitment of mi
nority students, Bennett can ex
pect a large freshmen class for fall
1982. In the future, Johnson would
like to sec the Bennett students
revitalize their role in recruitment.
She states that Bennett has the
capacity to enroll at least 300 on-
campus freshmen. She would also
like to recruit more students from
the surrounding area. It is her
hope to see Bennett College with
a student population consisting of
900 or more on-campus and
commuting students.
Johnson will readily admit that
it takes an unique person to be
come a Bennett Belle. The person
must have the initiative to get
involved and she must make some
thing of herself. She is also quick
to defend the proud history of the
school in the sense that it has
offered a family-oriented atmos
phere, individualized attention in
the courses offered and a long
tradition of successfully educating
Black women.
Presently, the admissions office
is approaching the end of a re
cruiting tour that took represen
tatives throughout the United
States. What happens next is the
follow-up on students that have
been contacted.
The spring semester will create
an ideal opportunity for students
to become active in the vital role
they must play in recruiting. Stu
dents will be needed to help out
with campus tours, to plan activ
ities and to sit and chat with
future Belles. If you are thinking
about ways to assure that Bennett
continues to achieve success in
recruiting, fill out the Admission
Student Volunteer Form below.
ADMISSION STUDENT
VOLUNTEERS
Name:
Campus P. O. Box:
Hometown:
Return to: Admission Office, P. O.
Box H.
The sixth annual Home Eco
nomics Awards Night was held
Dec. 10 in Ethel F. Black
Assembly.
A large audience included Home
Economics graduates, family and
friends of the Home Economics
students and community persons.
The program was planned and
executed by the senior Clothing
majors under the direction of
Louise G. Streat, department
chairman.
The theme for the night cen
tered around “Careers for Christ
mas,” and the assembly walls and
the Christmas tree were decorated
with new and interesting Home
Economics careers. The speaker
for the program was Elynor A.
Williams, senior public relations
specialist with Western Electric.
The title of her address was
“Home Economics Prepares for
Career Versatility.”
Fashions were modeled by Be
ginning Clothing students and ex
hibits of student work in Family
Clothing and Costume Design were
featured. A special skit on careers
was written and presented by
senior Clothing majors. Seniors
modeled a versatile wardrobe for
the careerist.
Special awards were presented
by the Home Economics Faculty
to students in first semester class
es. The honorees and guests were
(See pg. 4)
New high stomps the Comp.
• _ _i ^ 1
by Rosellen Durham
The test did not prove to be
a demon for most students
who took the English Com
prehensive Examination Nov.
19.
Nearly 70% of the writers
passed this requirement for
graduation—the highest per
centage ever for first-time
test-takers. Eighty-eight out
of 127 students were suc
cessful, according to data re
leased by the communications
denartment.
Professor Virginia A.
Tucker stated that “in the
past, the passing rate some
times dipped below 60% She
expressed satisfaction at the
imnrovement.
The examination asks writ
ers to compose an essay of at
least five well-developed par-
asrraphs on one of a variety
of topics. A total of four ma
jor grammatical errors re
sults in failure. Chronic prob
lems in organization and
coherence can also disqualify
a paper.
Failure of agreement of
subject and verb ranked first
among the major mistakes
(199). It was followed by
pronoun errors (169), failure
of consistency of point of view
(150), sentence fragments
(95) and run-on sentences
(77).
Among lesser problems,
comma faults, misspellings
and instances of incoherence
predominated.
Teachers were pleased by
the 69.29passing rate, but
they had some reservations
about the quality of many
papers. “There were fewer
major errors,” Tucker noted,
“but there were still a lot of
papers which didn’t have
anything to say.”
Instructor Michael Gaspeny
shared this viewpoint. “Too
many of the essays lacked
content as well as effective
use of examples,” he said.
Instructor Anne C. Gillespie
commented that the appear
ance of some papers was
“sloppy” and that continued
laxity in this area will hinder
students’ success in future
courses and in enterin'? grad
uate school and finding re
warding jobs.
Failing students, who
wished to remain anonymous,
voiced several complaints
about the examination.
“I didn’t know how to pre
pare for the test,” one Belle
said. “I did a practice essay,
but evidently that wasn’t
enough.”
“There were too many top
ics and they were too dull,”
another student maintained.
“It took me a long while just
to choose a subject. Then I
ran out of time, and I couldn’t
go back and check over my
paper.”
Several students questioned
the value of the comprehen
sive, claiming that other col
leges in the area did not have
a similar requirement.
The examination will be
given again during the spring
semester.
they depersonify . . . when
they treat people as though
they are not subjects. This is
what happens when segrega
tion occurs . . Santoni said.
This idea parallels the
thinking of theologian Martin
Buber who believed that
injustice arose when the
“I-Thou” relationship be
tween human beings was
twisted into “I-It.”
Santoni identifies power
lessness as one of the major
roots of brutality: “Very fre
quently violence will develop
as an explosive expression of
the sense of powerlessness.
Powerlessness on the part of
a people who feel that they
don’t have any sense of worth
or sense of dignity, (people)
who have been systematically
exploited . . .”
In Santoni’s mind, the Klan
and the Nazis possess this
sense of futility—an outlook
that is sometimes created by
a social ill.
Such organizations “may
see a great deal of unemploy
ment, and they will say, ‘Look,
we don’t have employment be
cause Blacks are taking the
jobs or Jews are taking the
jobs we should be getting,”
according to Santoni. At
tempting to gain a sense of
worth, the Klan and the Nazis
commit violence against their
scapegoats.
Santoni also believes that
sheer madness, without any
cultural reference, motivates
many Klanspeople.
Although cultural condi
tions often supply propaganda
that leads to violence, Santoni
stated that an insane craving
for importance sometimes
produces the same effect. Kill
ing a president, like John F.
Kennedy, or a popular cul
ture idol, like John Lennon,
often arises from the assas
sin’s mania for historical
significance.
Santoni’s analysis charac
terizes the urge of Arthur
Bremer, who after stalking
Hubert Humphrey and Rich
ard Nixon, finally secured his
niche in history in 1968 by
shooting and paralyzing
George Wallace in a Maryland
parking lot. Bremer didn’t
care whom he killed—as long
as the person was renowned.
But Santoni was very care
ful to divorce psychosis and
headline-hunting from the
legitimate claims for libera
tion by exploited people. It is
“with justification that (the
oppressed) can explode with
violence against the colonial
ists who have kept them in
subjugation for hundreds of
years.”
On Nov. 17 in Science As
sembly, Santoni, a pacifist,
presented a lecture on the
insanity of the nuclear arms
race.
Vice-president of the Bi-
National Union of American
and Japanese Professionals
Against Nuclear Omnicide, he
(See pg. 3)