Newspapers / Meredith College Student Newspaper / Dec. 13, 1973, edition 1 / Page 4
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I J I)K( K.MBKK i:!, 1!)7:! THK TWIG PAGE 3 Old ACRONS provide amusement and surprises, proving that dates change , people don’t by Susan Stone The concept of something being “time testable” may seem far-fetched. This reporter was surprised to find written confirmation to the contrary here at Meredith. The Harris room of the libarary contains issues of the ACORN dating to 1907, which was the year the literary magazine found its beginning. The ACORN of 1907 is quite different from the ACORN as we know it. The 1907 format, besides including short stories, and poems, had an editorial section, a Y.W.C.A. Department page, a gossip column, a joke page, and tidbits about the alumnae. (At that time, its sister, THE TWIG, was still in the in cubator.) UNSYNTHESIZEI) WOMAN Amusingly enough the 1908 editor, made a plan for less love stories or more diversified ones. The October, 1907’ issue featured “Dari Glyston’s Star,” a romance in which marriage promises, a woman’s career as a chemist, love and family cannot func tion harmoniously. Women’s Lib would be proud of Verca Royce, for she kept her promise to her dying chemistry professor, made a scientific contribution to humanity, and in the end love came with the MALE making the apologies. As for “marriage on the rebound,” a noncholant male plays little attention to his sweetie and she runs off and marries the wealthy milk man. (“Love in a Can - 1935).The negative - male theme persists in the 1954 issues where is found “The One Great Love,” in which the frickleness of a love-happy guy is satarized. There are many hunorous moments. For instance, there is the age-old dilemma of early morning blahs - “An Alarm Clock” (1907). There is the roommate disaster - “Rooming with Nancy,” (December 1907), and the lights-out ritual in “Disad vantages of Bathing in the Dark,” (Nov. 1935). In 1900, the South Carolina legislature voted not to permit girls of a certain college to spend the Christmas holidays at home. Nancy of “A True Story” wrote her mother of her predicament. Days later a telegram arrived for Nancy - “Ned’s dying - come home immediately.” So a certain coed did spend her holidays at home (Incidentally “Ned” was a pet turkey about to become edible rapture.) RACE ATTITUDES AMENDED The Meredith coed of 1907 would find our black enrollment astounding. “Sally’s First Trip to Town,” summarized the joking at titude held toward blacks. In other stories negroes were referred to as “Colored” or “darkies.” However, more progressively thinking, Liz Cuberson’s “To Nemesis” (1954) received national recognition in a college poetry anthology. CONVOCATION CONCERNS Also of note, one editorial page (1907) contained pleas from the student body to fulfill their dream of a gymnasium and swimming pool. And in a 1954 editorial, required chapels sounded just as chaotic as our required convocations. This reporter can smile after spending some fascinating time absorbing Meredith sentiment and history. People change with time, but not as much as we think. The lingo, the dress, the transportation modify, but people are people. Help. Our Cities. Our Oceans. Our Trees. Our Rivers. Our Air. Our Mountains. Our Fishes. Our Deserts. Our Tomorrows. “Give a hoot, don’t pollute!’ )pgc JoinWoodsy Owl’s fight a^nst pollution.Today. Letters to the editor (continued from page 2) see very quickly my hopes and dreams for our college. To handle academic matters we have a very elaborate structure. The Curriculum Committee, the Instruction Committee, and the Academic Council, are all standing committees of the college. We also have several ad hoc committees dealing with academic matters. There is the Brainstorming Com mittee, the Academic Needs Committee the Academic Push Committee, and the Committee for Raising the Sights of Women. While the academic is primarily the province of the faculty, most of these committees have wide - based student representation. During the spring semester of last year, I met a number of times with a student committee appointed by the Student Government Association president for the purpose of discussing academic needs and direc tions. Curriculum matters are handled by the college community through these established organizations. Our college is a business organization that exceeds four million dollars annually. It has all of the inherent problems and difficulties that accompany any large business. Financial and budgetary matters do require long study and much detailed work. To meet the proposed budget for 1974-75 will require that the college secure from outside sources ap proximately one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In addition to this sizeable project we have set our sights to build a new music building and renovate the current music facilties for our Art Department. The total cost for this immediate project will exceed one million five hundred thousand dollars. Simple mathematics will show that our goal for the immediate future is ap proaching three million dollars. The work involved in securing these funds straggers my imagination. However. I am totally con vinced that the advancement of Meredith College is worth the effort, and I plan to do everything humanly possible to see this program through. Our school is owned by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. The legal authority for its operation rests in the hands of our Board of Trustees. We are chartered by the State as a public cor poration with clear lines of legal authority designated. This is one of the most dedicated groups of people I have ever known. I am totally impressed with the caliber of trustee Meredith College has been able to attract. There are few small colleges in our country that are so blessed in terms of talent. I am con vinced that the judgment of this group is based totally on what they feel is in the best interest of Meredith College. I pledged to them on ac ceptance of the presidency of our school that I would use my best judgment in making decisions. They have been wonderfully supportive of our educational program and I have done my best to respect their feelings, which I will continue to do. The whole concept of required convocation has been discussed rather often during the fall semester. I have found no one really happy with the plan under which we are currenlty operating. I will place this matter with the faculty with the hope of developing a more workable plan. The drug policy at Meredith College was established by the Board of Trustees. Only this Board can make changes in this policy. We currently have a representative group in the Student Life Committee working with the Student Life Committee of the Board. Our trustees will meet as a group both in Janaury and February of this year and these discussions can be continued at the Student Life Com mittee’s pleasure. Since my arrival at Meredith College there has never been a drug case presented to the Judicial Board The reasoning ex pressed is that the severity of the punishment precludes cases being reported. Knowing that the Judical Board has seldom been called upon to act during the fall semester on offenses of less .severity, I am pessimistic that ;i change in drug policy will have much effect. I am now working with my third set of student government officers. I have been impressed each time with the high quality of leadership the student body has selected. It has been my policy to try to be available to work with the Executive Committee of the SGA as regularly as they feel necessary. These meetings have numbered as high as twenty-five during the school year. These meetings perhaps have been of more pleasure to me than to them. This year we have not met on this regularly scheduled basis, but I am equally as proud of their accomplishments. I feel that the criticism of not meeting with the students and visiting with them in an informal way is a valid one. Perhaps we do take each other too much for granted. If you recall in my opening remarks to the students in 1972, I expressed the desire to get to know as many of our students as possible in the shortest length of time. The relationships that have developed during this time are very dear to me indeed, it is my earnest desire to do everything possible to make our relationship closer. devoted my total energies to this marvelous school — this I will continue. Sincerely, JohnE. Weems The Meredith community learned that we do support an open speaker policy which reflects the high academic integrity that has always been characteristic of Meredith. To the Editor: At the closing of another semester, I would like to express my appreciation to all student leaders for their hard work and dedication in ser ving Meredith. CCA, MRA and MCA have provided many activities tor the student’s interest and welfare as well as those provided by the many clubs. To all of the hall proctors and dorm presidents, I would like Sincerely, Elaine Williams Genie Bailey Volunteers (Continued from page 1) John Weems is the president of Meredith. The responsibility is his also. I know more than anyone that we need every facet of our campus working together continually to improve our program. It is very important that we stay abreast of every possible threat that the future holds for our students and also know every advantage that might be obtained through our very special kind of education. I have always been ex cited about Meredith and confident of its future. In coming to this campus the students were my most pleasant surprise. Our hearts were won immediately and nothing has happened to change our minds. I am glad that this senior knocked three times on the ceiling, as it has given me an opportunity to express my feelings to each of you about things of im portance to all of us. I have to express my most sincere appreciation for not only running the dorms effectively’ but for also promoting many social and academic changes that have enhanced student life this year. The President’s office, the Academic Dean’s office, the Dean of Student’s office, and many other people in the administration and the faculty deserve thanks for the communicating and con tributing. Eleanor Hill and the TWIG staff are to be com mended for their superior work and for helping SGA channel their concerns. And to my hard-working, fantastic Executive Committee (Genie Bailey, Pam Faison, Woody Dicus, Hope Faircloth, Carol Taylor, Alice Winecoff, Ami Pierce, Sarah Leigh Shell, an- Missy Upchurch;, I owe many thanks and much more than words could ever express. Thank you Meredith com munity - for your efforts in helping all of us to function! If we continue to work together, with our goal being the needs of the students, second semester should prove to be as challenging as this one has been My hope is that next semester will be a working, sharing, growing, and learning experience for everyone. Sincerely, Elaine Williams, SGA Pres. experience are invited to join the British Archaeology Seminar at Lincoln College, Oxford, organized by the Association for Cultural Exchange. Six academic credits can be earned from participating in this low-cost program which ends by three weeks’ participation on digs in different parts of England and Scotland. Write now for further details to Ian Lowson, 539 West 112 Street, New York, N. Y. 10025. Editor’s poll (Continued from page 1) Dear Editor; From the Sydney Abbott crisis, we all learned a great deal. area of wide agreement was the need for a system of socialized medicine. Finally, in the questions pertaining to the cultural aspects of American life, 75.4 percent of the editors said that the government was spen ding too little money in sup port of the arts. They felt that there was very little artistic value in television, and over 35 percent said that they rarely, if ever, watched public T. V. The questionnaire also revealed that 3.7 percent of the respondents rarely or never read a book, 13.3 per cent rarely attended films, and only about 50 percent occasionally visited an art museum. Taken as a whole, the questionnaire shows the ^itors to be dissatisfied with the general state of life in the U. S. The areas revealing the greatest amount of dissatisfaction are those aspects which relate closely to everyday life, while the questions dealing with more remote or abstract conditions were less reflective of this discontent.
Meredith College Student Newspaper
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Dec. 13, 1973, edition 1
4
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