Newspapers / Meredith College Student Newspaper / Feb. 21, 2001, edition 1 / Page 1
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Meredith Herald Volume XVII, Issue 20 Educating Women to Excel February 21, 2001 On the inside: □ Nominate a book for the Summer Read ing Program. Page 2 □ Basketball team prepares for season’s end. Page 5 □ Sweet November pieasmg romantic Page 8 Meredith Herald at Meredith College 3800 Hillsborough St. Raleigh, NC 27607 {919)760-2824 Stories retold at Founder’s Day □ Seniors, faculty, stu dents hear Meredith alum Elizabeth Crowder Staff Writer “Retelling Your Slory,” the Founder’s Day address given by Meredith alumna and acclaimed author and teacher Charleen Swansea, was a reminder that everybody has a story. More remarkable than most, Swansea’s story was a reminder that the years at Meredith and beyond hold an infmite number of possibilities. Swansea, the daughter of a prizefighter and a society woman, came to Meredith determined to remake herself. But little did she know her pro fessors would be determined to remake her as well. She soon befriended Dr. EHen Price, her Latin profes sor, attending Quaker meetings with her and learning the value of solitude and quiet. Another friend was Dr. Ernest Canaday, whose math classes were the first in which she excelled. It was under his instruction that Swansea learned to treat math as a writ ten language, not an indeci pherable code. Equally influential in Swansea’s life were her Eng lish professors. She lived across the hall from Dr. Mary Lynch Johnson, author of A History of Meredith College, and this living arrangement proved helpful when she slept through one of Canaday’s exams. Johnson told him that anyone sleeping that deeply needed to be sleeping, sc Swansea was allowed to take her exam late and without penalty. Dr. Norma Rose was “the fierce one,” the one who taught Swansea to give only her best effort and to be an equally fierce teacher. And Dr. Julia Hamlet Harris was Swansea’s creative writing professor, a professor who made students read War ana Peace and think about what might happen next in the story. All three women taught their students the joy of “turning things around,” and Swansea did just that when she researched poet Ezra Pound in the library and began a six-year correspondence with him. Though conflned to an insane asylum due to his anti- Semitic and fascist leanings. Pound sent her writing assign ments such as reproducing red tissue paper in a poem. After graduating from Meredith in 1954, Swansea taught creative writing at Queens College in her home town, Charlotte. She was fired for integrating her class with a student from Johnson C. Smith College, but she continued the class in her home. She and her students started the Red Clay Rambler, a liter ary magazine featuring the work of Norman Mailer, Alice Walker and other prominent writers. Swansea started the Poe- house Press several years later, but tragedy struck when her husband contracted lead poi soning and committed suicide by setting fire to their home. This event prompted the mixing of science and art in Swansea's life, as she traveled to Spain and Germany to research the effects of lead and aluminum on the human ner vous system. Her findings led her to careers in neurobiological research and pharmaceuticals, and she also remarried, con firming the lesson she learned in Price's Quaker meetings— light can be found in darkness. Senior Rachel Perkinson enjoyed Swansea's address and said that she presented “the his tory of Meredith College in a humorous way.” Perkinson also enjoyed her discussion of the strong connections she made with her professors. English professor Dr. Sarah English was intrigued by the different paths Swansea's career took and by her persis tence in researching her hus band's lead poisoning when “most would have just let that be." English was also struck by the resistance to integration that Swansea faced. While Queens College was still segre gated during the early to mid- 1960s. Duke University, where English was a student, had admitted its first African- American Student's: Swansea concluded with her resolve to tell her granddaugh ter about her days at Meredith, tales of her professors and the college’s first professors. Founder's Day also included the processional of seniors wearing their gowns for the first time, as well as faculty in their regalia. After Monday’s convocation, the Granddaugh ter’s Club hosted a wreath-lay ing ceremony on Thomas Meredith’s marker. Students raise issues at forum maxwelll@ m«r^tii.edu LlSAWttSON Sia« wmer The spring “Free Your Mind Forum.” sponsored by Student Life, took place last night at 6 p.m. in the Stringfield side of Belk Dining Hail. The forum did exactly what it intended: it freed the minds of many con cerned Meredith students. Many heated issues have risen this past semester. Last night, students got to hear the administration’s answers to their questions. Parking was a key issue. Senior Hillary Allen brought up the topic of senior parking. Others agreed that many times cars are wrongfully parked in the senior lot. Chief Strickland answered this concern by saying, “all we can do is ticket them and boot them.” Beyond that, he point ed out, security has little con trol. When asked when the new parking lot would be done, he commented, “I've already tried that, all I can say is pretty soon.” Strickland ended his time at the podium by giving mediator Leslie Gilliland a "friends of campus police" mug in appreciation for all she has done. “It must be noted that this is the first time in his tory a parking issue has ended in applause,” commented Dean of Students Jean Jackson. Another question brought up was whether soft drink machines could have Camcard slots. Bill Wade, executive vice president of accounting, informed students that they are currently trying a new system to allow drink machines to take money and Camcards. “It is in the works,” he concluded. Next, students asked Bill Cox, director of financial aid, about the availability of schol arships. "We are working diligently to provide financial aid to all returning students.” he stressed. The office of financial aid will begin processing finan cial information for next fall on Monday. Also, this Friday, the board of trustees will be voting on a budget. It will not be until after then that the technology fee for all 2001-2002 students will be set in stone. Tuition was the next topic up for discussion. One student asked for a breakdown of exactly how our tuition money is used. President Maureen Hartford and Bill Wade agreed that it is difficult to say exactly how much of students’ tuition money goes where because the revenue comes from other sources. For example, next year $36 million will be See FORUM on page 4
Meredith College Student Newspaper
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Feb. 21, 2001, edition 1
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