Meredith Herald
Volume xvni, Issued Lj^
Educating Women to Excel
September 19, 2001
On the
inside:
□ Wings of
Hope campaign
is hoping to give
a million dollars
to victims of last
T\iesday’s
attacks.
Page 2
□ If she lived
today, she would
have been a fem
inist. Artemisia
leads the first
Convocation of
the year.
Page 5
□ Editorial: It
is a shame It
took a terrorist
attack to bring
the United States
together.
Page 8
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Task Force narrows the choices of
the general education signature
Leesha Austin
Features Editor
□ The Task Force
meets again to dis
cuss general educa
tion models, debate
title of program.
Members of the General
Education Review Task Force
gathered on Tuesday evening,
Sept. !8, 2001. in Ledford Hall
to further propose models for
general education reform and
to propose signature statements
for the focus of the program.
Following presentations of
two different general education
models, members discussed
positive and negative aspects to
each model as well as possible
choices fqr the general educa
tion program’s signature, the
statement of the general educa
tion program’s focus.
Among the choices for the
signature of the program are:
“Making Connections, Making
a Difference;” “Women in the
World: Learning, Leading, Liv
ing:” “Liberal Learning for
Civic Engagement;” and “Dis
covering Distinct Voices to
Make a World of Difference.”
Dr. Betty Webb, chair of the
Task Force, introduced Dr. l,yn
Aubrecht, professor of psy
chology, who presented a gen
eral education model that he
created.
Aubrecht’s model included
one course that would focus on
studying the lives of women
“who are making a difference.”
Another proposed course
would allow students to exam
ine who they are psychologi
cally as well as examine their
values and beliefs and where
their values and beliefs come
from.
Aubrecht also slated that he
believes the members of the
Task Force and the rest of the
Meredith community have an
obligation to the founders of
the College and other people in
its past to consider their views
while making decisions.
Webb assured him that the
Task Force is considering
Meredith’s history and “trying
to make this an evolutionary
rather than a revolutionary
process."
Following Aubrecht’s pre
sentation, Task Force member
Dr. Virginia Knight presented a
general education model that
she created.
Knight’s proposed “Corner
stone” course, a multi-displi-
nary course, would consist of
writing and service hours and
would deal with gender, sci
ence and global issues through
out the semester. The course
would also involve a heavy
load of literary and historical
reading.
Her proposed courses would
focus on consciousness of
important issues, constructive
conflict, creativity in all
domains or disciplines and citi
zenship in the community.
“The thing I feel most
strongly about is the distribu
tion of courses,” said Knight.
She added that general edu
cation should try to focus more
on the goals of general educa
tion in the categories rather
than focusing on particular dis
ciplines.
Task Force member Dr.
Rosemary Hornak presented
revisions to her general educa
tion model. As a “Cornerstone”
she suggested having a religion
See
GEN ED
page two
Faculty panel discusses terrorism
n Students gather
to ask questions
about why terrorism
happened here.
Christina Holder
Editor in Chief
A panel of Meredith College
and North Carolina State facul
ty talked about the implications
of terrorism at a student forum
on Thursday. Sept. 13, 2001 at
7 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium.
The panel, brought together
lo discuss issues concerning
the recent terrorist attacks in
New York City and Washing
ton, D.C., was foniied quickly
—only two days after the
attacks—by Dr. Michael
Novak, head of the department
of history and politics.
“Many faculty noticed a
great deal of student interest in
class. The level of concern was
enormously high.” said Novak.
"We decided to work with
student concern while it was
still at a pretty high level and to
try to give people information
and analysis in the midst of a
public repsonse that was pri
marily emotional."
Novak called upon four pro
fessors in various disciplines to
speak on the panel including
religion professor Dr, Ann
Burlein. sociology professor
Dr. Rhonda Zingraff, history
and politics professor Dr. Jim
Piazza and N.C. State professor
of Middle Eastern history Dr.
Akram Khater. who has taught
at Meredith for the past five
years.
"We really looked for the
professional training that
would give us a multi-dimen-
sional approach to the prob
lem,” said Novak.
At the panel discussion on
Thursday night, approximately
80 students and faculty gath
ered to pose questions and
learn more about why terrorism
happens.
“We come here to under
stand the best we can,” said
Novak, opening the forum.
"We want to try to understand
why these people thought it
was right to do what they did.
That’s different from saying
what they did was right.”
Khater talked about the his
tory of Arab relations with the
United States, trying to help
audience members see the Arab
perspective.
He said that the United
States' siding with Israel while
acting as an adversary between
Israel and Palestine is one p^int
of contention with Arabs.
Another is the vast material
ism tnany see when looking at
the United Stales. One school
of thought among some Islam
ic extremists is ihal “evil is the
consumer, imperial Wesi." said
Khater. which would explain
why terrorists would attack the
United Slates’ greatest emblem
of capitalism—the World Trade
Center's twin lowers.
“We are not ihe Great Satan,
as it be,” said Khater. but we
have given it fodder.
Piazza, who specializes in
iniernational relations, was
concerned about the United
States jumping inlo war with
out considering the cause
behind a lenorist action of this
degree.
“[When] a nation is at war.
access to information is at a
lower standard." he said. “Our
reaction hasn't been anything
but a military reaction. What
ahi)ut foreign pt)licyT’
Burlein commented that
many people cannot under
stand why Islamic extremists
See
PANEL
page two