THE TWIG
VOL. XLix NO. rr \ ^
Newspaper of the Students of Meredith College
MEREDITH COLLEGE, RALEIGH. N.C.
APRIL in. 1976
SGA installs officers
by Nancy Newton
The installation of the ’76-
’77 Student Government
Association officers was held
Friday, April 9 in Jones
Auditorium. The new officers
included Phyllis Smith, SGA
President, Beth Veasey,
College Center Association
President, and Menda Sue
Godfrey, President of
Meredith Christian
Association.
Rebecca Askew, ’75-’76
SGA President, made a few
remarks concerning the past
year’s achievements. She said
that while the SGA had
seemed “trapped in a
legislation of petty rules,” it
had taken responsibility for
improving the life of the
students.
She notes that the
changes, such as that made in
the Honor Code, were not
guaranteed to be flawless,
but that they were evidence of
student growth and respon
sibility to reach the goals
before them.
Rebecca stated in closing
that Meredith’s SGA could be
seen as a “circle spiraling up
and out, building on the
foundations laid by others,”
forming a system “of birth
and rebirth.”
Newly installed president
Phyllis Smith stated as her
goal for the upcoming year the
“reaching out beyond
Meredith” to the community
at large. She hoped that the
government would not
become “bogged down in
change” but rather “build
stronger roads” for the future.
A final challenge was
presented by President John
Weems “to involve as many
students as possible to insure
a strong leadership.’’ He
hoped that the new govern
ment would be judged “not by
style but rather by results”,
and he pledged his
cooperation, energy and
support to achieve the best for
Meredith.
Parramore gives lecture
Junior Christine Glascock, Stringfield Dorm president, shows off
the 1976 Play Day trophy. Stringfield placed first in the com
petition, followed by Vann in second place and Poteat in third.
Play Day activities included hula-hoop and jump rope contests,
relays, softball games, and a book auction. Highlights of the day
included Mr. Phil DeBerry’s hula-hooping exhibition. Dr. lone
Knight’s stint as a book auctioneer, and Dr. Donald Samson’s
fancy baseball catches.
by Debbie Doss
Dr. Thomas C.
Parramore, assistant
professor of history at
Meredith, presented the
Distinguished Faculty Lec
ture of 1976 on Monday night,
April 5, in Jones Auditorium.
Dr. Parramore’s topic,
“Red Tie Bill and the
Wingless Bird; Tarheel
Baptists and the Evolution
Rose, Aubrecht receive awards
(MIS)-Two Meredith
College faculty members
were honored during the
college’s observance of
Parents’ Weekend by being
named Outstanding Christian
Teachers at Meredith. The
award, made possible by
support of the college’s
parents’ association, was
presented during the parents’
banquet Saturday evening.
Dr. Norma Rose,
professor and chairman of the
English department, and Dr.
Lyn G. Aubrecht, assistant
professor of psychology, were
selected as teachers who
convey a Christian per
spective in education and who
challenge students in their
academic area.
Contest is
announced
Students who do creative
writing of any kind are invited
to turn in samples of their
work for consideration in this
spring’s Hubbell award. To
participate, a student may
submit five poems or three
samples of prose to Mrs.
Helen Jones, 120 Joyner, by
Friday, April 23. A cash
award of $25, announced on
Awards Day, May 3, is made
possible through the
generosity of alumna Ruth
Anne Hubbell, who wished to
make possible the annual
recognition of creative writing
ability among Meredith
students.
Two Outstanding
Christian Teachers are
selected annually by the
academic dean and the
president of the college from
campus nominations.
Selection is based on the
teacher’s ability to challenge
and excite the student within
his or her discipline, the
ability to convey the
realization that his or her
teaching field is a part of a
Christian perspective on
education, and the ability to
make the student aware of
fundamental religious
questions and help to provide
a context within which an
swers may be produced.
Dr. Rose, who joined the
Meredith faculty in 1937,
received her A.B. degree from
Meredith, her M.A. from the
University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, and her Ph.D.
from Yale University.
A native of Wadesboro,
Dr. Rose was the first faculty
member to be honored at the
college as a Distinguished
Faculty Lecturer. She was
editor of the Meredith
Alumnae Magazine from its
beginning in 1946 until 1971,
and in 1974 received the
Meredith Alumna Award
given in recognition and
appreciation of outstanding
achievements and significant
service to the community and
to Meredith.
Dr. Aubrecht joined the
Meredith faculty in 1974. He
received his B.S. and M.S.
degrees from Illinois State
University and his Ph.D. from
Ohio State University. At Ohio
State University he was the
recipient of the Graduate
Associate Teaching Award
and was norhinated for an
Alumni Award for
Distinguished Teaching.
A native of Illinois, Dr.
Aubrecht is married to the
former Pam Bauer of
Collinsville, 111. They have two
children.
Controversy,” proved to be an
informative and entertaining
study of the reaction of North
Carolina Baptists during the
1920’s to the “Cult of
Modernism” that espoused
evolution.
According to Parramore,
evolution advocates like Wake
Forest College President,
William Poteat (nicknamed
“Red Tie Bill” by his stud
ents) were able to strike a
blow for academic freedom,
not only with the help of
liberal newspapers in the
state, but with the aid and
tolerance of “enlightened
Fundamentalists.”
Among the “enlightened
Fundamentalists” were
Richard Tilman Vann
(sometimes called the
Wingless Bird” since he had
lost both arms in a sawmill
accident), Livingston John
son, Delia Dixon Carroll, and
other N.C. Baptists associated
with Meredith.
Although these Baptist
Fundamentalists did not
embrace the evolutionist point
of view, they did uphold
Poteat’s right to believe what
he wanted, and to state his
views, even to the students in
his biology class. Richard T.
Vann was a source of private
encouragement to Poteat,
Parramore said, supporting
“Red Tie Bill” during his
years when many Baptists
wanted to see the pro
evolutionist Poteat fired from
his Wake Forest position.
According to Parramore,
the combination of Christian
educators like William Poteat
and “enlightened Fun
damentalists” like Vann
helped to bring about “free
thought in a free classroom”
and perhaps saved North
Carolina from the destructive
division that the evolution
controversy caused in neigh
boring Tennessee.
Parramore concluded his
lecture by questioning the
strength of academic freedom
in North Carolina, noting that
the struggle for freedom of
thought and speech had to be
made all over again during
the Speaker Ban Controversy
of the 1960’s, when Communist
speakers were banned from
N.C. university campuses.
Dr. Parramore, a native
of Winton, N.C., joined the
Meredith Faculty in 1962. He
received his A.B., A.M. and
Ph.D degrees from the
University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, concentrating
in European history.
He has since given more
of his energy to local and
regional research, publishing
many articles in the North
Carolina Historical Review,
State Magazine, North
Carolina Folklore Journal,
and other publications.
Recently, Dr. Parramore
has completed two books.
Carolina Quest, to be
published soon, is a textbook
of North Carolina history
intended for high school use.
Launching the Craft, a history
of the beginnings of Masonry
in North Carolina was
published in December, 1975.
Matthews is installed; IVorton is honored
Non-resident students
gathered in the cafeteria for
the last event of the year, a
luncheon and installation of
the new non-resident
president, Deborah Matthews,
and the new non-resident
board. Dr. Weems presided at
the installation ceremony.
The luncheon was at
tended bv about 75 non
resident students. “The
luncheon marked the end of a
successful organizational
year in which all had worked
to accomplish a great deal,”
said Mrs. Virginia Norton,
past president of the
organization.
Mrs. Norton was also the
recipient of a director’s chair
bearing the seal of Meredith
College. This gift was
presented to her by the
members of the Meredith
College Non-Resident Student
Organization.
In accepting this gift, the
active Mrs. Norton said, “I
promise to sit quietly in the
chair from now on.”
Mrs. Norton was awarded
the Outstanding Day Student
Award, the first such award to
be given in the histoi-y of
Meredith College. The
organization will continue to
honor outstanding members
of the organization annually
by inscribing their names on a
plaque which will hang in the
non-resident student lounge in
Cate Center.