PAGE 2
THE TWIG
MARCH 22. 2028
From the Editor
Loohing hach
to the year 1978
Thumbing through some
past issues of The TWIG last
week led me to consider the.
students and campus as it
appears to have been in 1978.
The students were as young,
as active, and as idealistic
about their future as students
are in 2028. Their future is the
present in 2028; many never
knew 2028 since the average
life expectancy for a woman
in 1978 was around 70. Those
that have survived the past 50
years probably remember
their Meredith years fondly.
Remembrances may include
snatches of cornhuskin; “The
Bathtub Ring,” fried chicken
night, your Junior-Senior
formal, late night studying,
“Roy’s,” comma splices, a
daisy chain. . . “We salute
thee”. . . Each generation
harbors its own ' special
memories.
As for campus concerns in
1978, it seems to have been a
year of cautious progress.
There were no male visitation
hours then, and the
established week night closing
hours for dormitories, mid
night, was in question. The
community seems to have
been examining its purposes
on social policy and student
government actively par
ticipated in this examination.
There was even an upshoot
movement to change the
name of the newspaper!
There were some un
precedented courses included
in the curriculum of 1978,
interdisciplinary in nature.
Art and dance, literature and
pqlitic§.Jttsed ideas, allowing
-stuS^ts to synthesize their
knowledge of these
disciplines. Innovative
thinking seemed to be en
couraged in courses dealing
with science fiction and
consciousness in the future.
Exploring levels of con
sciousness was a new idea on
college . campuses and
Meredith was a forerunner of
the study.
A proposal to establish a
radio and closed circuit
television was introduced in
1978, and a “writing
laboratory” was proposed to
assist students in different
writing skills. There were no
journalism courses in 1978 at
Meredith. It was a year of
stabilizing roots of the com
munity at a time when fresh,
uninhibited buds of creativity
and freedom began to speckle
the community. Community
growth was a sapling,
potential was blossoming.
A movement to de-isoiate
the academic community
thrived on the Meredith
campus in 1978. Students were
involved in internships, jobs,
and volunteer work. Perhaps,
as a Christian institution, the
community sensed a
responsibility to be involved
outside its institutional
boundaries.
Because of its active
involvement, the Meredith
community was undoubtedly
affected by dynamic social
movements in 1978. An
emerging national interest in
citizen participation was
reflected by campus ac
tivities. For example,
volunteer sign-up days, a
committee for social con
cerns, and individual service
projects involved many
students, even before the
movement strengthened at
the national level.
Probably the most
valuable movement which
Meredith recognized in 1978
centered in examining basic
human rights. Endorsed by
President Jimmy Carter as a
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“clear, decent expression of
what our country stands for,”
Meredith focused on human
rights in a community forum
on campus. A drama, BLOOD
KNOT, commenting on the
oppression of blacks in South
Africa during the seventies,
also increased awareness of
oppression in 1978. Meredith
students, perhaps un
consciously, gained a
tolerance and empathetic
understanding of different
peoples as they became
conscious of the importance
on insuring human rights.
Our progressive women’s
college was undoubtedl}
affected by the women’s
movement. It was during the
I970’s that many people stil
questioned whether “equality
of rights under the law shal
not be denied or abridged b}
the United States or any staU
on account of sex.” Th
question of the United State’s
genuine commitment to bask
human rights was especially
linked to this issue.
Students in 1978 witnessec
the women’s movement bursi
the stereotypical boundaries
of narrow, radical feminism
to convoke social concerns
and provoke “consciousness
raising” in every socially
concerned human in an at
tempt to “form a more perfeef
union.” The college, as aii
illustration of its growing
committment to promote
leadership, was represented
at the National Women’s
Conference in November
1977. Meredith seems to hav«
felt, and is still feeling th
vibrations of this soda
earthquake intensely.
' The Meredith community
of 1978, assessed the value of
these movements and also
remained deeply committea
to scholarship. They tried t|>
resist the rising grade ii^
nation problem prevalent iii
academic institutions of the
day. j
Overall, many of thi
traditions and policies of the
college of 2028 were protected
or founded in the college ojf
1978. The student of 2028 and
the student of 1978 are no^
drastically different. The|
both love their families, enjo^
good friends, and wonder
about the future. A young
child, a spring flower, and a
vivid sunset excite any
generation of sensitiv^
humans. The human heart
remains unchanged. The
student of 2028 is inherently
linked to the student of 1978
through a common search for
the value and meaning of
human life. |
MVJ