HE TWIG
Newspaper of the Students of Meredith College
VOL. XLVin
MEREDITH COLLEGE, RALEIGH, N. C.
.JANUARY 31, 1974
NO. 1.5
NOW President to speak
on sexism and feminism
Wilma Scott Heide
Wilma Scott Heide,
national president of NOW
(National Organization for
Women) will be the SGA-
sponsered convocation
speaker on February 4. Ms.
Heide, a leader in the feminist
movement, will talk on
“Sexism is a Disease and
Feminism is the Cure”.
Ms. Heide has been in
volved in all facets of the
liberation movement whose
aim is, she believes, to get “at
root causes” of social
problems. She and NOW have
been digging into the
problems of equal rights,
marriage, divorce, race,
religion and war; they see
feminism as “the cure”.
Ms. Heide has lc;ig been
involved in human rights. A
behavior scientist by
profession, she has recently
been a member of the
National Policy Council of the
National Women’s Political
Caucus, the National Equality
Committee of the American
Civil Liberties Union, the
Pennsylvania Human
Relations Committee, the
delegation to the White House
Conference on Children 1970
and the White House Con
ference on Youth, and the
Board of Directors of the
National Coalition on Human
Needs and Budget Priorities.
She has for two years been the
president of the seven-year
old NOW. With these groups,
she explores all facets of
sexism - politics, mental
health, child care, poverty
education, family, and human
rights in general.
SGA sponsors letter-writing campaign
On Monday, February 4,
Meredith’s SGA will sponsor a
letter-writing campaign in
behalf of a piece of legislation
pending in the N. C.
legislature which would
abolish the age discrimination
which exists in North
Carolina’s automobile
liability insurance system.
Drivers under 25 years of age
in this state pay higher
liability rates , regardless of
driving record. In fact, it is
possible in some instances for
a driver over 25 years with an
unsafe driving record to pay
lower liability rates than a
driver who has a safe driving
record, but is 25 years old or
younger. Bill No. 659, in
troduced by Sen. John Henley
(D. - 10th District), would
abolish this discriminatory
practice. NCSU Student
Governor Albert Daniel, who
is supporting the legislation, is
also hopeful that once out of
committee, the bill can be
expanded to include abolition
of sex and marital status
discrimination in liability
rates. Daniel points out that
greatest discrimination exists
against the “younger, male,
unmarried driver.” He has
emphasized, in a statement at
the N. C. Insurance Hearing,
that this categorical
NEW COURSES
The Psychology Depart
ment has added two new
courses which have been
approved by the Academic
Council. These additions are a
part of the efforts of the
department to provide a
better, more sound
background in psychology for
its majors and other in
terested students, so that they
will be better prepared for
careers and further study.
One course, “Develop
mental Psychology: Life
Span,” will be a study of the
effects of physical and social
factors on human develop
ment from conception to
death. Areas of development
included are: physical,
perceptual, motor, language,
cognitive, emotional, moral,
and social.
The other course is listed
as “Psychology of Ex
ceptional Children and
Adolescents. ” Intellectual,
emotional, and physical ex
ceptionalities included are the
gifted, retarded, and
emotionally disturbed; the
visually, hearing, and speech
impaired: orthopedically and
neurologically handicapped;
and the chronically disabled.
The effects of physical and
social factors on the
psychological characteristics
of exceptional persons will
also be studied.
Also proposed, but not
approved, were two other
courses often requested by
students: “Developmental
Psychology: Childhood” and
“Psychological Testing and
Evaluation,”
SOCIAL WORK CLUB
The possibility of for
mation of a Social Work Club
was the impetus behind a
January 30 meeting called by
members of an advisory
committee involved in
Meredith’s Social Work
Sequence. The meeting af
forded students an op
portunity to discuss the social
work profession in general
and the program at Meredith
that leads toward certification
in particular. A brief program
was also presented during the
meeting which included a
panel of students who were
placed in local agencies
during the fall semester for
their practicum. These
students shared with the
group some of their ex
periences and discussed their
own understanding of social
work. Students who served on
the advisory committee were
Jane Lewis and Emilv
Bingham, seniors, and
Jennifer ComaS and Dora
Shell, juniors.
discrimination is especially
hard on the safe driver, who
may happen to fit into the
categories of under-25, male
and unmarried. In view of
this, Daniel is urging adoption
of a new system of automobile
liability rates which would be
established on an individual’s
driving record.
The SGA will sponsor the
letter-writing campaign at the
11:00 p.m. hall meetings on
Monday, February 4. En
velopes, paper, stamps,
names and addresses of
legislators will be provided.
Students are urged to ask
their parents to write their
representatives concerning
the legislation.
Ms. Heide finds that sex
stereotyping is as detrimental
to men as it is to women, “We
must emancipate men, from
the James Bond - crewcut-
jock strap - always the leader-
tough-cool - insensitive - in-
strumentalized masculine
mystique. The model is
unattainable for many men,
and worse - it is undesirable in
the extreme,” she states.
Ms. Heide proposes that
such institutions as war and
politics have been
detrimentally permeated by
sexism. With the advent of
human rights she has noted,
“We will no longer be led
only by that half of the
population whose socialization
sanctions violence as the final
assertion of manhood;
feminism is the “sine qua non
for a just society”. She finds
manhood too often
‘‘synonymous with
nationhood”, and wars “prove
a nations manhood”.
She advocates nor-
malacy; it is necessary “to
liberate the so-called feminine
in men and the so-called
masculine in women. It it’s
there, it’s natural for us.” She
notes “All of us are bisexual to
some extent.” She wants
people to be “fully human”
not fully masculine or fully
feminine. ‘‘Women’s
liberation” according to Heide
“means putting sex in its
place”.
Ms. Heide has presented
her arguments against sex
stereotyping to Committees of
the U. S. Senate; the House of
Representatives; the Swedish
Government, and to con
ferences of businesses,
professions and organizations.
Jones is the scene of busy confusion as workmen unpack and install the new red-cushioned chairs in
the deep brown-carpeted auditorium.