THE TWIG
Newspaper of the Students of Meredith College
VOL. LI NO. 3
MEREDITH COLLEGE, RALEIGH. N.C.
SEPTEMBER 15, 1976
Student wakens at 4 am to screen cutting
by Debbie Doss
Two Meredith juniors
have reported that a man
attempted to enter their room
on first Stringfield and have
urged that tighter security be
given by campus guards.
Alix Willcox, a freshman
hall proctor, and her room
mate, Mary Lane, were
awakened about 4 a.m.,
Wednesday, September 1, by
an unfamiliar noise outside
their first floor window. Ac
cording to Miss Willcox, she
initially thought the noise was
caused by an electric fan in
her room.
However, she then saw
shadows outside the window
and realized that a man was
cutting the screen over the
window. She could not
determine what was being
used to cut the screen, she
said.
Miss Willcox further
stated that when she at
tempted to awaken her
roommate, the intruder ap
parently was scared away by
the movement inside the
room. “He ran away back
1st woman at Indy 500
Guthrie to speak
Tall, slender and
feminine, Janet Guthrie, the
first woman ever to be entered
in the world-famous In
dianapolis 500-mile race, will
speak at Meredith College
Monday, September 20 at 7:30
p.m. in Cate Center
Auditorium.
Miss Guthrie has 13 years’
racing experience and has
competed in more than 120
races, in which she usually
has been the only woman
contender. She holds an FIA
competition license and has
held a Sports Car Club of
America, top grade of com
petition license continuously
since 1964. She also possesses
a commercial pilot’s license
with 400 hours in 23 aircraft
types and previously held a
flight instructor’s rating.
Her list of credentials is
impressive. In 1970 she was
first in class at the Sebring 12-
hour endurance race. In
addition, she captured the 1973
North Atlantic Road Racing
Championship in her Toyota
Celica and placed second in
the NARRC series in 1974. In
1975, she was first overall in
the Vanderbilt Cup races at
Bridgehampton, Long Island,
in which she was in com
petition with twenty-seven
men.
Janet Guthrie is the
daughter of an airline captain
and the eldest of five brothers
and sisters. She grew up in
Miami, Florida, and then
attended the University of
Michigan where she earned a
B.S. degree in physics in 1960.
For the following six years she
served as a research and
development engineer for
Republic Aviation Cor
poration and was assigned to
sub-orbital and space vehicle
projects.
Her experience in the
aerospace industry, coupled
with the commercial pilot’s
license she has held since the
age of 18, led to an application
for astronaut training with the
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration. She
was among four women who
passed the first series of
NASA tests for the scientist-
astronaut program. However,
because it was decided by the
National Academy of Sciences
that program candidates
should possess PhD’s, this
ambition was not fulfilled.
It was during this time
that she discovered the thrill
of sports car racing, a sport
that also attracted several of
the astronauts. Previously, in
1960, she purchased an XK 120
Jaguar coupe, primarily for
its classic appearance, and in
1963 she bought an XK 140
which she campaigned for five
years in SCCA races,
developing not only her ob
vious driving ability but also
her mechanical expertise.
From 1968 through 1973,
she served as a technical
editor for the Sperry Division,
Sperry Rand Corporation. She
currently is a consumer in
formation specialist for
Toyota.
“I’ve always thought I
was lucky,” she says, “to
have been born in a country
and at a historical moment
when women were free to do
as they pleased. Many so-
called men’s fields are simply
the most intrinsically
stimulating, and auto racing
certainly ranks as the most
fantastically exciting sport
around.”
Absentee
ballots
available
Since Meredith students
will be attending clases on
November 2, they will need to
obtain absentee ballots if they
plan to vote. The procedure
for obtaining absentee ballots
follows:
An application for ab
sentee ballot can be obtained
either in person ot by written
request to the individual’s
home county Board of
Elections. This is for in-state
and out-of-state residents.
Applications will not be
available until October 4 and
cannot be obtained after 6
p.m. on October 27.
The ballot should be
completed, put in a sealed
envelope and the envelope
should be signed on the out
side in the presence of a
Notary Public.
Notary Publics on the
Meredith campus are Miss
Virginia Scarboro, business
office, and Mrs. Madge
Dillard, Academic Dean’s
office.
The absentee ballot must
be received in the respective
county Board of Elections by 6
p.m. on November 1.
toward Carroll,” she said, but
not before he had cut an “L”
shaped hole in the screen, 4
inches by 12 inches.
The man was described
by Miss Willcox as being of
average height, 5’9” or 5’10”
with dark curly hair, and
wearing a light blue T-shirt
and jeans. Although the area
was well-lighted outside her
room, she could not see his
face clearly or determine
whether he was black or
white, she said.
Immediately calling the
Meredith campus guards.
Miss Willcox and Miss Lane
noted that they waited 10 to 15
minutes before the arrival of
E.B. Lawrence and Claude
Sugg of campus security.
Guards could find no trace
of the intruder.
The Raleigh Police
Department was also notified
and given a description of the
man, but to date no suspect
has been picked up, according
to Miss Willcox.
Security measures have
been taken since the report of
the attempted break-in to
insure first floor residents of
greater protection. Bars have
been placed over windows to
prevent another screen
cutting incident.
“The bars are beautiful,”
Miss Willcox said. “But I don’t
believe he knew it was an
occupied room,” she added.
“He probably thought it was a
parlor.”
First floor full-length windows are now
break-in attempt in first Stringfield.
1®
barred after the recent
Music awards given
Music Talent Scholarship
Winners for 1976-77 are Sunnie
Ballow, Joy Johnson, and
Elizabeth Rose.
Each year three freshman
music scholars are selected
from a group of ap-
RSW reports budget
by Maggie Odell
Of the $25,000 allotted to
the Program for Raising the
Sights of Women for 1975-76,
one-third was absorbed in
administrative costs, while
one-fifth was allotted to the
student program, it was
shown in the first annual
report of RSW to the spon
soring Mellon Foundation.
Administrative costs
included $8,673 salary and
travel expenses for the
directly who receives full
time/ compensation for
summer planning and one-
quarter time compensation
for work during the school
year. An additional $1,000
went to office supplies and
planning sessions.
Monies spent in the
student program covered the
costs of the Festival of
Creativity, the Life Direc
tions Seminars, the In
ternational Women’s Year
speaker, partial funding of the
student government health
program, creativity awards,
and student participation in
simulation seminars and
other national meetings.
In programs aimed to
reach the total student body,
approximately three dollars
per person was spent. The
bulk of this money went to the
spring Festival of Creativity.
Another $70 per person
sent about 25 students to
simulation seminars and
national meetings. Such
seminars included the Model
UN at Harvard, the North
Carolina Student Legislature,
and the National Art
Education Association
meeting in St. Louis.
The report justifies this
expenditure as an “ex
periment” designed to
“broaden student horizons,
raise their self-esteem, and
serve as leaven for the student
body.”
Dr. Sarah M. Lemmon,
director of the program,
elaborated,‘.‘Their (the
students) being sent was not
just a matter of personal
development. All were ex
pected to do more (at
Meredith) because of having
gone.”
The remainder of the
RSW funds was divided
almost equally between
faculty and library
development.
The library resources
which have been purchased
include audio-visuals,
microforms, books, and
periodicals.
Dr. Lemmon estimated
that 65-70 percent of the funds
allotted to library purchases
were to buy materials per
taining to personal growth.
She felt that the materials
were necessary additions to
the Meredith library. “A
college is not purely the
mind,” she said. “Our library
has not had very much along
the line of personal
development.”
She did not anticipate that
the library expenditures
would be as heavy in the area
of personal develc^ment next
year.
proximately ten finalists who
are chosen to participate in
auditions and interviews with
the music faculty in the
preceding spring.
Mer^ith established the
Music Talent Scholarship
competition in 1969 to
recognize students for their
talent, previous musical
accomplishments, and
potential artistic
achievement.
Music Talent Scholars are
expected to maintain a
minimum quality point ratio
of 3.00 on all music courses
taken at Meredith. The
amount of the scholarship
varies according to the
financial need of each
recipient and is renewable for
four years.
To be considered for a
Music Talent Scholarship,
students must first be ac
cepted for admission to the
college and arrange for a
preliminary audition through
the Department of Music.
Finalists are chosen in
February and are invited to
come to the campus in March
for more selective competion.
funds
for RSW
Meredith College has
received a $25,000 grant from
the Rockefeller Foundaticm to
supplement the monies
received from the Mellon
Foundation for the Program
for Raising the Sights of
Women, Dr. John E. Weems,
president of Meredith College
announced last Wednesday
night at the RSW Advisory
Council dinner meeting.
Dr. Weems said that this
past year’s progress of RSW
had resulted in the awarding
of two grants, the other being
a $17,000 grant from Allied
Chemicals for cooperative
educatiHi.