Meredith Herald
Volume XII, Issue 6
September 27,1995
Raleigh, North Carolina
Faculty Task Force members
resign from frustration
By: Clarky Lucas and Betsy Stewart
The faculty representatives to the
Meredith College Task Force resigned
their positions last week, said a feculty
member.
Dr. Betty Webb of the English de
partment, Dr. Gwen Clay, head of the
education department and Dr. Ginny
Knight, head of the math and com
puter science department sent their
resignation letter to all members of
the feculty, the board of trustees and
President John Weems.
The letter cited frustration with
the changes in the task force’s pur
pose. Originally the members were to
“define Meredith’s vision for the 21st
century...” and to “develop an ongo
ing strategic planning process involv
ing students, faculty, staff, alumnae
and administration,” said the repre
sentatives.
But this responsibility was
changed. In a letter from the Board of
Tmstees Chairman to the task force,
they were asked to now “focus on
good ideas and suggestions, as op
posed to focusing on assessments and
evaluations.”
“I think the original charge of the
task force was an important one, and
I hope that we will come back to that
as a college,” said Clay.
The task force had been reporting
to the executive committee of the
board, but they are now asked to
report to a subcommittee of five mem
bers.
These conflicts, combined with
Adcock's book to hit
shelves in October
by Dina Di Maio
Betty Adcock likes the cover of her
new book. It shows a sundial, a fitting
symbol for this book of poems about
time.
Due in October, The Difficult
Wtjeel is Adcock’s first book of poetry
in seven years. In the September 17th
issue of The News and Observer.
Adcock describes this book as having
a “preoccupation with time: time pass
ing, time lost, time barely retrieved by
memory.” Adcock has written three
other books: Walking Out in 1975,
Nettles in 1983, and Beholdings in
1988. A perfectionist when it comes
to her work, she says that the long
span of time between books is mostly
due to revision.
Adcock, Meredith’s poet-in-resi
dence, is teaching a class on writing
poetry this semester. She says she
started writing poetry when she was
seven years old. Because she day
dreamed often as a child, she writes
poetry by “putting herdaydreams into
words.”
Her advice to new poets: read.
She says poetry has technique and
craft. Comparing the writing of po
etry to painting, she says that one
does not paint a picture without learn
ing how, without practicing, or with
out ever looking at another painting.
She also advises aspiring poets to
“teach themselves by reading” the
works of other poets. Some contem
porary poets she suggests reading are
Mary Oliver, Rita Dove, and Marilyn
Waniek; two North Carolina poets
she suggests are Fred Chappell and
Robert Morgan.
Adcock has won many awards for
her poetry. In North Carolina she has
won the Roanoke-Chowan Award for
her hook, Nettles, and the Zoe Kincaid
Brockman Award. She also won the
Great Lakes Colleges Association N ew
other factors, led the laculty represen
tatives to resign.
Campus sources say that other
members of the task force are consid
ering resigning. “1 support them in
their decision, but we’ll further dis
cuss the fate of the task force in the
Oaober 2 meeting,” said June Hol
land, president of the Student Govern
ment Association and task force mem
ber.
The task force was created last Feb
ruary in the midst of controversy sur
rounding the financial future of
Meredith College. It consisted of three
faculty members, three students, three
administrators and three alumnae and
was chaired by alumna Cindy McEnery.
President John Weems was unable
to comment at this time.
PUBLISHED: Betty Adcock's
book The Difficult Wtjeelvf iW
be on the shelves in Oct.
Writers Award for her book. Walking
Out. And just last year, she won
Shenandoah Magazine’s James
Boatwright Award.
Adcock will be signing her book at
the opening of the Carolina Inn in
Chapel Hill on Oaober 1. She will also
be reading from her book at the Regu
lator Bookshop in Durham, October 3
at 7 p. m.
A successful
week for
MEA
By: Ginny Bonkemeyer and
Deanna Griffin
Do you like music? Do you like
food? Do you like fun? If so, then you
would have loved the past week from
the Meredith Entertainment Associa
tion, which presented a picnicand Fall
Fest ’95 for Meredith students to en
joy. Heather Hudgins-McKean, MEA
president said that both events were
successful and students had a good
time.
The MEA picnic took place last
Wednesday and featured Shelly Sutton,
from South Carolina, who entertained
students from4:30-6:30p.m.. Hudgins-
McKean said that there was a big turn
out for the event and everyone had
fun. MEA committee sign-ups took
place at the picnic and students were
able to join MEA. The weather was
very nice for the event and all students
enjoyed the chicken and Rice Krispie
treats. MEA sponsored door prizes such
as free Cokes and soft pretzels at the
Fall Fest.
The Fall Fest was this past Sunday
from 12 to 4pm. There was a terrific
turnout for this annual event, despite
the threat of rain. Fall Fest ’95 defined
Sunday afternoons—friends talking
while sitting on blankets in the grass,
dogs chasing the wind, live music,
food and aaivities all placed on the
beautiful Meredith lawn. The list of
activities included face painting, the
ever-popular Moonwalk, balloon art,
pizza, canoeing on the lake, volleyball
and the velcro wall game called Fly
Trap, which was a big hit. The band
Fendal, from Wilmington, kept the
crown alive and entertained. Senior
Tori Taylor described her time at Fall
Fest as “a great chance to take a break
from studying and spend time with
friends. ” The MEA crew cheerfully su
pervised all of the entertainment. Fall
Fest co-chairs Marcie Davis and
Kathryn Dukes sighed with relief as
the day came to an end, and they saw
that their long hours of work and dedi
cation had resulted in a huge success.