THE TWIG
Newspaper of the Students of Meredith College
VOL. LII NO. 2
MEREDITH COLLEGE, RALEIGH, N.C.
SEPTEMBER 9, 1977
Dr. Thomas to assume executive position
by Annette Gregory
Gov. James B. Hunt, Jr.
announced Sept. 1 the ap
pointment of Dr. Sandra
Thomas, Vice-President for
Student Development, as
executive director of the
Office for Citizen Affairs for
the state of North Carolina in
an effort to involve citizens
more directly in the state’s
government.
Gov. Hunt’s ad
ministration places high
priority on “rekindling
citizens’ confidence in
government and building and
maintaining viable channels
for both dialogue and par
ticipation between the citizens
of North Carolina and their
government,’’ Dr. Thomas
said.
The new Office of Citizen
Affairs is directly linked to the
governor’s office. Asexecutive
director. Dr. Thomas will
coordinate offices within the
Office of Citizen Affairs and
represent the governor as a
liasion person between
himself, the Office of Citizen
Affairs and the people of
North Carolina. She will
travel throughout the state
talking to people on the im
portance of expressing their
voice in their government.
There are now over one
million people participating in
volunteer projects across the
state. Gov. Hunt wants to
double this number through
the new office.
The Citizen Help division
of the Office of Citizen Affairs
will be staffed by ombudsmen
with toll-free telephone
numbers who will help people
by referral or by answering
questions and arranging
needed aid themselves.
College must
make provisions
by Nancy Newton
In recent months,
legislation has been in
troduced into Congress by the
Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare
(HEW) stating that any
organigation; public-
According to Mr. Joe Baker,
Vice-President for Business
and Finance, the ad
ministration will make the
additional provisions
necessary to fulfill the stated
requirements.
private, that is the recipient of
federal funds can not deny
admission or the use of its
facilities to any handicapped
person.
As stated in the final
ruling^ “handicapped’’ in
cludes anyone who has “a
physical .... (any
physiological disorder or
condition, cosmetic
disfigurement, or anatomical
loss affecting one or more of
the body systems) such as
neurological ... respiratory ...
reproductive ... skin ... or
mental impairment ... (any
mental or psychological
disorder, such as mental
retardation, organic brain
syndrome, or emotional or
mental illness, and specific
learning disabilities...) which
substantially limits one or
more major life activities
(functions such as caring for
one’s self, performing manual
tasks, walking, seeing,
hearing, speaking, breathing,
learning and working...) or,
has a record of such an im
pairment (has a history of or
has been misclassified as
having a substantially
limiting mental or physical
impairment), or is regarded
as having an. impairment
(mental or physical im
pairment that does not sub
stantially limit major life
activities but that is treated
by an organization as con
stituting a limitation or one
that is limiting as a result of
the attitudes or others toward
such impairment)" In the
report issued by HEW it was
further explained that
“handicapped” includes drug
addiction and alcoholism.
Under the ruling, the
college, as a recepient of
federal funds, must not
discriminate against han
dicapped persons in
“recruitment, admission, and
treatment after admission.”
“ftm—BaKei—fui'tiiei—exr*
plains that the college
already has fulfilled many of
the physical renovations to the
campus in the form of ramps,
elevators, and special
restrooms, since the
legislature of North Carolina
passed a similar plan under
section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Also, the college has accepted
several handicapped persons
and has acknowledged the
existence of the non-
discriminatory policy in the
college literature since the
date of the act.
Mr. Baker expresses
concern for more adjustments
needed to provide adequate
restroom and dressing room
facilities. He states that,
“When Meredith accepts
handicapped students,
faculty, and administration,
we must see that they can
participate.” He sees the
problem now as being the
anticipation of the ne^ of
handicapped persons. He feels
that the college itself will
undertake any additional
costs for the renovation from
college funds.
The college will also be
expected to provide access to
learning aides such as tapes,
records, or readers to enable
the student to fulfill class
requirements. The library’s
visual aides, books, and
microfilm collection may
have to be adjusted or sup
plemented to serve the han
dicapped. The bookstore may
also have to stock items such
as braille textbooks or
recordings of text books.
In closing, Mr. Baker
expresses the belief that the
college “will have to do
whatever is necessary to meet
the needs of such persons.”
-To be continued in next
week’s issue concerning
possible academic, boosing,
and admission changes-
The Community Outreach
division includes coordinators
of programs for community
watch crime prevention,
volunteer reading, children,
energy conservation, criminal
justice and community affairs
network.
The Technical Assistance
division of the office will have
an Information and Com
munication Specialist and a
Public Participation
Specialist.
Meredith College has
granted Dr. Thomas one
year’s leave of absence to
head the Office of Citizen
Affairs. “It will only work if
the people of North Carolina
make it woiic,” she said.
NMapes offers new awareness
by Sharon Holder
Mr. James J. Mapes,
actor, author, and specialist
on extra sensory perception,
and hypnosis will be
demonstrating his powers in a
total audience participation
program on Thursday, Sep
tember 8^t 8:00 p.m. in Jones
auditorium.
In addition to en
tertainment, Mapes sees his
program, “Power of the
Mind” as an opportunity to
make people aware of the
limitless potential of the mind.
“Another important mission
of the show is to destroy the
myths about hypnosis ... I
want to remove &e fear and
introduce hypnosis to people
as a vehicle for the creation of
a more rewarding life.” says
Mapes. Mapes heads the New
York Center for Hypnosis and
Mind Control, besides
presenting over 2(K) shows and
television appearances
yearly.
“The Power of the Mind”
is the first in a series of
various events being offer«l
by the Concerts and Lectures
committee for this year. After
the apparent p^ularity of
certain shows last year, a new
admittance policy has been
developed for this season. In
order to guarantee seats,
students and faculty with
identification will be admitted
with one guest or their parents
from 7:00-7:30 p.m., after
which the doors will be open to
the public. Hopefully this new
policy will enable maximum
enjoyment of the events by
everyone.
Mr. James J. Mapes
Notes from Registrar
Public Notice
Meredith College hereby
designates the following
categories of student in
formation as public or
“Directory Information.”
Such information may be
disclosed by the institution for
any purpose, as its discretion.
Category I - Name, address,
telephone number, dates of'
attendance, class.
Category II - Previous in-
sti^tion(s) attended, major
fi*.yl of study, awards, honors
(iCludes Dean’s list),
degi-ee(s) . conferred (in
cluding dates).
Category III - Past and
present participation in of
ficially recognized sports and
activities, physical factors
(height, weight of athletes),
date and place of birth.
Category IV - Religious
affiliation (Released to
Churches only).
Currently enrolled
students may withhold
disclosure of any category of
information under the Family
Educational Rights and
Privacy Act of 1974. To
withhold disclosure. written
notification must be received
in the Office of the Registrar
prior to September IG, 1977, in
Johnson Hall. Forms
requesting the withholding of
“Directory Information” are
available in the Registrar’s
Office.
Meredith College assumes
that failure on the part of any
student to specifically request
the withholding of categories
of “Directory Information”
indicates individual approval
for disclosure.
Annual Notice
Annually, Meredith
College informs students of
the Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act of
1974. This Act, with which the
institution intends to comply
fully, was designated to
protect the privacy of
education records, to
establish the right of students
to inspect and review their
education records, and to
provide guidelines for the
correction of inaccurate or
misleading data through
informal at^ formal hearings.
Students also have the ri^t to
file complaints with The
Family Educational Rights
and Privacy Act Office
(FERPA) concerning alleged
failures by the institution to
comply with the Act.
Local policy explains in
detail the procedures to be
used by the institution for
compliance with the
provisions of the Act. Copies
of the policy can be found in
the following offices; Ad
missions, Registrar, Dean of
Students, and Career
Placement Services.
The full policy is printed
in The TWIG. The offices
mentioned also maintain a
Directory of Records which
lists all education record
maintained on students by this
institution.
Questions concerning the
Family Education Ri^ts and
Privacy Act may be referred
to: Mrs. Marie Capel in
Career Planning Services
office located in Cate Center.
Grants Provided
The North Carolina
General Assembly has passed
legislation that provides
grants for residents of North
Carolina to attend private
colleges and universities. The
appropriation for 1977-78 will
be a maximum of $300. In
order to qualify for the grant,
each student must file an
application and satisfy the
requirements as specified in
the legislation. Application
forms are available in the
Office of the Registrar.
Deadline for filing the ap
plication is September 15th. If
you have questions, please
contact the Registrar, John
Hiott.