THE TWIG
Newspaper of the Students of Meredith CoUege
VOL. XLIX NO. IT
MEREDITH COLLEGE, RALEIGH, N.C.
APRIL 10, 1975
New administration
assumes lead
Having reviewed her year
as SGA president, Jean
Jackson handed over the
gavel to incoming president
Rebecca Askew on Friday,
April 4, at induction
ceremonies in Jones
Auditorium.
“All year I’ve stood in this
place and . . . watched this
pretty amazing group of
people called a student
government at work,”
Jackson said. She concluded
with an encouragement to
next year’s leaders: “You are
a capable group of people --
you are full of enthusiasm and
your potential is great. With
much pride and a feeling of
anticipation about the good
things to come, I again say
thank you for an incredibly
good year, and turn this gavel
over to your president,
Rebecca Askew.”
Askew, on taking the
podium, commented, “Today,
the circle is complete for me.”
She reviewed her experiences
as treasurer on this year’s
executive committee,
highlighting the establish
ment of an effective judicial
appeals system, the an
ticipation of a faculty
evaluation to be made public
to the student body, and other
attempts “to answer
questions, solve problems and
meet challenges that were
raised at the end of last year.”
She continued, “And so we
come full circle again. Dif
ferent questions, different
problems and different
challenges are being raised
now “ ones with which we
must deal next year. The
Honor Code and the soon-to-be
faculty evaluation will be
questioned. There will most
likely be problems about
which social regulations will
be challenged.”
Acknowledging the “solid
foundation” of past SGA
achievements. Askew con
cluded her speech with a
challenge to incoming officers
to “make a commitment to an
effective, responsible self-
government.”
Included in the in
stallation ceremony were a
hymn of dedication, thoughts
presented by Sue Grant, and a
prayer by Jean Pollock.
Jackie Cullifer led the in
coming association presidents
Rebecca Askew, Nancy
Pentecost, and Ginger
Kimball in their oaths of of
fice. Following Jackson’s
farewell address. Askew
inducted new officers and
gave her remarks. President
Weems, remarking that this
has in many ways been his
most satisfying college year,
challenged the incoming of
ficers to continued responsible
leadership. A singing of the
Alma Mater closed the ser
Mml.
Student Government transition
Play Day to feature
fun, games and books
vice.
Maggie Odell
Play Day will take place
on April 16, from 2 - 6 p.m.
The Meredith Recreation
Association is urging each
dorm to support Play Day by
taking an active part in
scheduled activities and
challenges. Information on
the activities, rules for
challenges and schedules of
events will be posted on
campus.
The MRA has provided
the structure for a fun-filled
day, said Play Day co-
chairmen Diana Rhodes and
Feta Rowe, but the success
and continuation of the Play
Day tradition depends en
tirely on dorm involvement
and enthusiasm.
In conjunction with Play
Day, the Colton English Club
will be having its annual book
Animal behavior’^ observed
in students in Belk Dining Hall
Several methods used to
study behavior are introduced
as part of the course content in
Experimental Psychology 384.
One of these approaches is
“animal behavior” (a syn
thesis of ethology and com
parative psychology), and so
it was that animal behavior
came to be studied in Belk
Dining Hall in an experiment
performed by this semester’s
experimental psychology
class.
One aspect of animal
behavior that has been studied
extensively with lower
animals, but only to a small
degree with human subjects,
is “territoriality”, the ten
dency of animals to occupy or
to claim an area or space as
their own “personal space”.
Very often animals will mark
the spaces they claim
(olfactory “signs” are used by
dogs and cats for example)
and very often animals will
defend their territory against
intruders. In fact, territorial
“signs” might well be con
sidered as indicators that the
owner intends to defend his or
her territory in some way
against an invader.
One hundred and eighty
one subjects took part in the
Meredith study, most of these
Meredith students who were
apparently unaware of the
fact that they were involved in
an experiment. In reality
many of the students who sat
in the west end of the dining
hall, for lunch and dinner on
February 10 - 13 and 17 - 20,
were a part of the in
vestigation in some way. The
experimental procedure in
volved setting up “territorial
signs” (a jacket or coat, and a
hat or scarf) at the end of a
specific table, for given
periods of time, and then
observing the behavior of
potential “intruders”. The
independent variables in the
experiment were the number
of signs used, one vs. two, and
the sex of the owner as in
dicated by the signs, male vs.
female. The density of the
dining hall during each ob
servation period was also
considered.
A number of interesting
results turned up. The
behavior of Meredith students
in response to the number of
signs was to sit down least
often in the presence of two
signs, and if they did sit down,
to sit at a greater distance
from a pair of signs than from
one sign. In regard to the
sexual identity of the objects,
the male or female quality of
the signs did not generally
seem to make much dif
ference. Meredith students
avoided both, but with
perhaps one very important
exception. When they did sit
down at a table claimed by
male objects, they only sat
down in relatively large
numbers, i.e., ten girls on the
average to a fourteen-seat
table. (Perhaps there is safety
in numbers after all!) In
addition, the largest numbers
(Continued on Page 4)
auction. Book display tables
will be in the courtyard. The
selection will be of interest to
all, from that second-hand text
you’ll be needing next
semester to the exciting
mystery thriller or romance
for those hours ahead in the
sun. Whether for those whose
interest is in adding to a
personal library or just a bit of
delightful reading, the
English Club book sale and
auction will have some great
bargains for all!
Proceeds from the auction
will go directly to the club’s
service probject. For two
years the English Club
(through the Christian
Children’s Fund) has been
supporting Mathilda Menezes,
a ten year-old girl from
Virjpet, India. The cost of
supporting Mathilda for one
year is $144, plus any gifts
(Continued on Page 4)
TWIG newsbriefs
History dig
Interested in archeology?
During the second summer
term the State Diyision of
Archeology will direct a dig at
Colonial Halifax. Meredith
faculty will yisit the dig
during the term. For more
details, see Dr. Lemmon in
the History Dept.
Art tour
Dr. Gates and students
from her non-western history
classes will be going to Duke
Uniyersity on Thursday April
10th. They will yisit the Duke
Art Museum from 4 - 5 p.m.,
hear Professor Arif Dirlik
speak about Chinese Com
munism from 5:30 - 7 at the
Center for International
Studies and afterwards haye
supper at a Chinese
restaurant in Durham. Other
Meredith students are invited.
Tertulia officers
La Tertulia Spanish Club
elected officers for next year.
They are as follows:
President, Patricia Murphy;
Vice Pres., Minda Sue God
frey; and Sec. Treas., Dell
Pritchard.
Hubbell Award
The Hubbell Award, a
cash gift of twenty-five
dollars, will be presented on
Awards Day. Meredith
students competing for the
award must submit three to
five samples of their own
poetry or fiction to Mrs. Jones
by April 25 at 12:00 noon.
Raleigh writers will judge the
work.
Lillian Parker Wallace
recipient
Debbie Edge has been
chosen as the recipient of the
Lillian Parker Wallace Award
presented annually by the
Wake County Association of
Phi Beta Kappa. Named for
the former chairman of the
Department of History at
Meredith College, the award
is given for the best historical
research paper written by a
Wake County college or
university student during the
preceding calendar year. The
award was given to Debbie at
the Phi Beta Kappa banquet
on April 7. Her winning paper
was entitled “William
Boylan: Adopted son of Wake
County.”