OCTOBER 13, 1981
BLACK INK
PAGE 3
Sisters' corner
Clayton:know yourself
Although these two men are constructing a ramp on the side of Murphy Hall, on campus,
for the handicapped, they differ greatly in age and years of experience. Larry Everette, 23,
from Burlington, (bending down) has been working with his bricklaying company for five
months. But Thomas Purefoy, 54, (behind the wall) from Carrboro, has been in the
bricklaying profession for 25 years.
Attitudes differ towardUNC
If you were asked what is your attitude
toward Carolina, what would you say?
The answer to that question may depend
on whether you are asking a black athlete or
just an average black student. The answers
between the two vary tremendously.
Athletes are generally protected from the
actual surroundings in a structured setting.
One way is the mandatory study session.
The study session lasts for two hours Sunday
through Thursday evenings, usually begin
ning at 7:30 p.m.
The study session is good for the athletes,
but the other students have to go find their
own time to study.
On the other hand, those students have
larger variety of free Jime whereas, the
athlete doesn't.
One freshman football player, Micah
Moon, of Lynch Station, Virginia, said that
"everything seemed all right and pretty
good," referring to his classes as well as his
social life. The university environment was
the type Moon said he expected when he
arrived so he knew not be succumb to ten
sions that can be inflicted from school.
But another freshman, Karen Evans, of
Burlington, N.C., said he thinks it will take a
lot of effort for a back student to survive here.
Black students will need to learn where to
put their priorities, she said. For example,
whether they should party on Thursday night
or study, Evans said. And the choice for
some of them is to party, she said.
Although the athletes and the other black
students opinions differ, the general concept
associated with Carolina and the number ol
blacks causes hostility. Evidently, the feeling
is catching on; if not, what explanatio^n^can
be given for the bad attitude in the "Southern
Part of Heaven?"
Childhood memories come and go like
cool breezes. We can remember jumping
rope with a bunch of girlfriends, singing ab
out ice cream sodas and other goodies.
We played with dolls and pretended to be
mothers when we were children. Life was so
simple and so much fun! A doll hardly ever
cried and her underwear was usually clean
or at least simple to wash or throw away. Of
course, she may not have worn underwear at
all.
Many of us didn't have a husband for our
babies, butthat was all right. We took care of
those babies just fine by ourselves. Some
times momma would give us a hand,
though. She helped us wash their hair and
bodies, sew clothes for them, and fix them
up nice. And that was just fine.
But things aren't that simple any more.
Real babies do cry, urinate and have bowel
movements. The underwear isn't clean any
more. Momma may not be able to help now,
nor in the future. And most of us have to deal
wtih men now, whether we want to or not.
Life may sound difficult, especially to
those of us who have no family or career yet,
but two elements can ease the burden. W'e
need to plan our lives and know ourselves.
joyce Clayton, assistant dean in the Col
lege of Arts and Sciences, said that she
started planning her life when she was six
years old. She decided that she wanted to
have a career teaching history and get mar
ried, and began toward those goals.
However, "1 didn't allow for things that
might come up, " she said. Besides the other
goals, which she reached, she wanted to
obtain a doctorate degree in history by the
time she was 30 years old. But she became
pregnant before then.
Now Clayton uses another style of plan
ning. "Now I have wide-open, flexible sche
duling," she says. She allows time for her
husband, son, work, other activites, and
herself.
"1 had to set some priorities and had to
determine what came first," she says. "And
another thing is determining how to make
things work."
In order to make things work, you have to
know yourself. "Knowing yourself means
knowing more than surface things," she
says. "It's deeper.
Clayton knew herself well enough to alter
her plans to fit her needs. "You have to know
your strengths, weaknesses, limitations,
grasps, so to speak," she says. She did not
alter her goal — gaining a doctorate — just
the time period. She is working on it now.
As mothers and wives and future mothers
and wives, we need to know ourselves and
plan our lives so that we can survive and
help our people to survive. We have to learn
how to budget time for the greatest satisfac
tion and money so that we can survive gov
ernmental budget cuts and inflation.
"Financially, planning is even more im
portant," Clayton says. She and her husband
started budgeting their finances when they
were married — during her junior year in
college — and she says they have enjoyed
life because theu have lived within their
budgets.
As grown women, we must realize that our
childhood days are over. It'd time to work
with real families, careers, lives. As Clayton
says, "It's not playtime anymore. It's for
real." —Donna Whitaker
One explanation given by Hayden B. Ren-
wick, associate dean in the College of Arts
and Sciences, is that "black students have
made it to Carolina so they feel that the
struggle is over, but the struggle is just begin
ning."
Nevertheless, the overall attitude of the
black freshmen is that you can partv from
Sunday to Sunday and still keep the grade
point average to remain at UNC-CH. The
previous years freshmen proved wrong. The
1980-81 black freshmen class, of 3(i5, lost
49 students (13.4 percent) academically in
eligible to return for the 1981 fall semester.
The black freshmen class this year consists
of approximately 470 students, the largest
number of black freshmen ever at UNC-CH.
They display more aggression (tow'ard
academics) than the freshmen classes of pre
vious years, Renwick said. In order for the
aggression to be worth anything, it should lie
channelled into useful productive actions,
he said.
Some of the aggression will be made use
ful and is begginning to show by the attend
ance at tutorial sessions, Renwich said.
Another way is by the minority advisors
program, he added. The program is de
signed to help the incoming freshman adjust
to life at the University. Hence, if the fresh
men will take advantage of these two sys
tems, their adjustment and their quality
point averages would be successful, he said.
It is very important that the black students
depart undoubtedly with the misconception
of "Having it made." This attitude can be
blamed for the number of inelgibility return
ing students. If this freshman class will not
accept this attitude, more will return next
• -year.-
—Charlene Stewart
1
Hard at work, but not too tired to smile, Edward Reid, 20, works with a shovel on the
■ ca'mpiis.'Reid, frofri Ddrhanrt; ts vvotking outside the Carolina Union. He has worked at
UNC-CH for two months.