Inside Morehouse - September 2007

2
SEPTEMBER 2007
SACS Prep
The College begins
to prepare for
SACS reaccreditation
9
Taking the Lead
New textbook
blazes trail in
leadership studies
10
No Defense
Why black reporters
aren’t defending
Mike Vick
A CAMPUS NEWSLETTER FOR
FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENTS
Inside MOREHOUSE
Dawn of a Renaissance
By Vickie G. Hampton
O
administrator, a student and an internafficially, President Robert M.
,
tionally renowned scholar with the rest of
Franklin 75 has taken 100 days to
the community.
“look, listen and learn.” He is a little
And Franklin definitely has not put off
more than two-thirds into those days, but
having his say. The prolific writer and soughtthe call of leadership apparently doesn’t
after orator has published his first “House
adhere to timelines.
Report” —a monthly report that reaches facWith a mind for marketing, during
ulty, staff and students, as well as alumni.
NSO, he sent student ambassadors to the
When he spoke to 750 freshmen during NSO,
airport to greet arriving freshman so that
he didn’t mince words when he put a moratostudents, parents and travelers “who pass
rium on the pervasive dress and etiquette
through the busiest airport in the world
associated with the hip-hop culture.
can see Morehouse’s ‘charm offensive’ as
“Let me be more emphatic,” he told the
we take our story and brand into the pubbusiness-attired students. “We are Morehouse,
lic square,” he explained. He also requested
and we will not tolerate profanity in the public
that a 15-by-35 foot banner hang from the
square. We are Morehouse, and we will not tolparking deck to tout three of the College’s
erate sagging pants that gravitate far below
most impressive accolades.
your waistline. No ‘do-rags,’ no baseball caps
He’s also done his fair share of meetinside buildings. No pajamas in the classroom.
and-greets, including a hugely successful
introduction to the black media at a Las
“You are men of Morehouse. You are betVegas reception during the National Robert M. Franklin ‘75, 10th President of Morehouse College ter than that. And I will be watching and
Association
of
Black
Journalists
expecting class from you.” A few weeks later, he
delivered the same message to upperclassmen.
Convention and Career Fair.
That was August.
When the death bell tolled thrice, he celebrated the lives of an
C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 12
The Renaissance Class
By Add Seymour Jr.
IT WAS A SOUL-STIRRING MOMENT. There they were—750
clean-cut, young and intelligent black men, clad in maroon blazers
and singing “Dear Old Morehouse” on Westview Drive, the main
artery of the campus. It was just moments before they would
march up Brown Street and have the gate locked behind them in
the College’s ritual of separation and independence. It was perhaps
their first true moment as men of Morehouse.
Streams of parents and family sobbed and even members of
the Morehouse family, many of whom have witnessed3.
Approximately 750 men of Morehouse comprise the freshman class.
C O NTI N U E D O N PAG E 4
HOUSEKEEPING College Focuses on Internationalization in
INSIDE MOREHOUISE
•
SEPTEMBER 2007
2
■ The Office of Sponsored
Research and Programs has
returned to the Office of
Academic Affairs, with Obie
Clayton as its director.
Denise Moore continues to
serve as director of
Government Relations, which
remains under the Office of
Institutional Advancement.
■ The Telecommunications
Department has announced
that campus telephone numbers are changing from extensions to Direct Inward Dialing
(DID). The transition began
with the staff and will continue with each person/department affected.
■ Beginning Oct. 1, Morehouse
employees will be offered a
choice in companies for their
retirement savings. TIAACREF and AIG VALIC will
now compete to feather your
nest egg. “With competition, we’ll get better service
and better rates,” explained
Wayne Crosse, vice president
of Human Resources.
■ The Ethics Hotline continues
to be an invaluable tool for
the College. To report incidents of ethical questionability, call 1-888-299-9540. All
calls are strictly confidential.
■ If you are not receiving the
campus-wide emails go to
this link: http://mail.morehouse.edu/mailman/listinfo/employees-l .Go down
the page to the area that
says “Subscribing to
Employees-L.” Complete
that section ONLY and hit
“Subscribe.” You should
receive a confirmation that
you have been added to the
list and should begin receiving campus-wide emails.
■ ID cards and confirmation
stickers are no longer done
in Archer Hall. Now get
them from the Physical
Plant Office in Graves Hall.
Three-year Quest for SACS Reaccreditation
By Kai Jackson Issa
his year, planning for the College’s reaccredidation by its regional accrediting agency, the Commission on
Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) will shift into high gear. In a rigorous process that occurs once every 10 years, Morehouse’s reaccreditation will focus on ways to enhance the
development of young men into educated, global citizens for the new millennium and will advance President
Robert Franklin’s new vision for Morehouse as “a global resource for educated and ethical leaders.”
“Accreditation is an institution’s currency,” explained Ron Sheehy ‘65, assistant vice president for academic
affairs and chair of the Morehouse SACS review committee. “It ensures that an institution is in compliance with
the highest standards of excellence in education.” Achieving reacTIMELINE
creditation also ensures that an institution will continue to receive
federal funding, including financial aid.
Morehouse’s reaccreditation process will be completed in March 2008: College submits compli2009, but planning for reaccreditation began in 2005 with the ance audit to SACS
formation of the Morehouse SACS review committee, composed of faculty and staff from all areas of the College. As a for- May 2008: SACS review team conducts
mer associate director of SACS, Sheehy is more than equipped off-site review of the audit
to lead the College in this effort.
“There are twin goals of the SACS process. We want not September 2008: College submits
only to be found in compliance, but we want to use the process QEP
to improve Morehouse,” he said.
This year, the College will finalize two major components October 2008: SACS committee conof the SACS review: the completion of a compliance audit and ducts on-site review of the College,
the creation a quality enhancement plan (QEP).
looking specifically for evidence that the
A compliance audit committee is charged with finding the
documentation showing that the College is in compliance with QEP theme is successfully implemented.
SACS core requirements of quality education.
In September 2008, Morehouse will submit its QEP, a doc- Fall 2009: Formal reaccreditation
ument that focuses on one theme related to excellence in under- granted
graduate learning. Through surveys and discussions, faculty, staff
and administrators have identified leadership, internationalization and scholarship as critical principles for student learning at the College. The committee is now in the process of refining those principles into one theme.
Given the College’s emphasis on producing students with global competency, the chosen QEP theme will
undoubtedly have a strong international component that will be rooted in Morehouse’s tradition of leadership
with a social conscience. “The concern and regard for other human beings have to be at the heart of internationalization, and internationalization without regard to other human beings has no heart,” says Sheehy.
As interim vice president for Academic Affairs and provost, Willis B. Sheftall ‘64 is overseeing the entire reaccreditation process. Having served on various committees for SACS during his career, Sheftall is very familiar
with the process. “While assuring SACS that we provide quality education at Morehouse, this process also serves
as a powerful reminder to us that we provide quality education to our students,” he said. “This process will provide the College with a focus for improving the learning experiences of our students that will guide us for the
next several years.” ■
T
SACS LEADERSHIP TEAM MEMBERS
Robert M. Franklin Jr.
Willis B. Sheftall
Ronald Sheehy
John Williams
Kevin Appleton
Karen Miller
Kevin Rome
Jocelyn Jackson
Lance Shipman
Anderson Williams
Chair
Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
Chair, SACS Review
Dean, Division of Business Administration and Economics
Vice President for Business and Finance
Vice President for Administrative Services
Vice President for Student Affairs
Faculty
Faculty
Faculty
DIVISION OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
New Dean Focuses on Student and Faculty Development
By Add Seymour Jr.
3
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SEPTEMBER 2007
M
Terry Mills, dean of Humanities and Social Sciences
eral arts education,” Mills said.
One of those accountability issues he plans to take a hard stance
on is plagiarism. His answer: help students to address the issues—
including understanding writing techniques—on the front end.
“Maybe we need to incorporate style into our courses.
(Students) know what they shouldn’t do. What I suspect is that
they may not know how to do it right,” he said.
But Mills is not just some stern administrator. He gives fist bumps
to janitors, jokes with faculty, touches the King statue each time he passes it and likes just hanging out on campus talking to people.
“He came in with a can-do attitude and he did it with a smile,”
said Henry Thompson IV, a senior finance major who works in
Mills’ office. “When I met him, I didn’t actually know he was a
dean. He’s a real great guy.”
Mills says he’s just basking in becoming part of the
Morehouse family.
“I’m really excited to be here at Morehouse,” he said. “I think
that with the various transitions that are occurring, this is an
exciting time to be here.” ■
Morehouse Named “Hottest Men’s College” by Newsweek/Kaplan ;
One of Best Southeastern Colleges by Princeton Review
MOREHOUSE HAS RECENTLY been listed
in two national rankings: Newsweek magazine
named it the nation’s “hottest men’s college”
and the Princeton Review for 2008 named the
College among its list of best Southeastern
colleges. Newsweek’s “25 Hottest Schools,” a
new ranking this year, appears in the newsmagazine’s Aug. 27, 2007, issue and in the
annual Newsweek-Kaplan College Guide.
Morehouse is the only HBCU and the only
institution of higher learning in Georgia to
make the list.
The article cites the College’s legacy
of producing black leaders, specifically
mentioning Nobel laureate Martin Luther
King Jr. ‘48, actor Samuel L. Jackson ‘72
and filmmaker Shelton “Spike” Lee ‘79.
It also highlights two recent campus
developments: the $2-million donation
from Goldman Sachs to endow a chair that
will be held by the new director of the
Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr.
Collection; and the Morehouse College
Center for the Arts, a $20-million, 76,000square-foot facility that will house the Ray
Charles Performing Arts Center and the
Music Education Building. Construction
on the new facility will begin this fall.
In the Princeton Review’s annual ranking of colleges and universities nation-
wide, Morehouse is one of 146 schools to
receive the publication’s Best in the Southeast designation. A total of 654 schools made the listing,
representing the Northeast,Midwest,Southeast and
West. in the Best Colleges: Region by Region section of PrincetonReview.com (www.princetonreview.com/college/research/regional).
Colleges were selected based on two
criteria. First, they had to meet the publication’s standards for academic excellence
within their region. Second, students were
anonymously surveyed to obtain a representative, opinion-driven profile for their
particular college. School profiles are
available on PrincetonReview.com. ■
INSIDE MOREHOUISE
orehouse College is a great institution, but it wasn’t the
reason that Terry Mills found his way to Atlanta. It was
family.
“We wanted to be close to our grandkids and our youngest son,”
Mills explained. “So when we moved here, it wasn’t about
Morehouse or Atlanta or a job.”
Mills, the new dean of the Division of Humanities and Social
Sciences, believes that divine intervention was behind the convergence of a long career as a sociologist, educator and administrator,
the opening of the deanship position and his move to Georgia.
Mills has a long and distinguished career that has spanned
academia and corporate America. The Harlem native spent the
past decade at the University of Florida as a highly respected professor and—for the last three years—assistant dean of Minority
Affairs. He picked up a variety of honors and awards, such as
Teacher of the Year in 2001-02 and, perhaps the university’s highest honor, the Presidential Medallion for Distinguished Service
this past year.
Plaques from students (whom he prefers calling “scholars”)
along with a stack of cards and letters that Mills keeps in the closet of his Wheeler Hall office provide a clue.
“I bring to Morehouse a real commitment to student development and junior faculty development,” Mills said. “That’s what
I’m all about. We want to give them the right guidance, right
direction....”
Recently, Mills unveiled a new slogan: “Division of Hunanities and
Social Sciences, building the strong foundation upon which Morehouse
Men stand. ”
There are a variety of issues that Mills wants to address during
his tenure. He is looking to raise the bar on teaching in the division,
along with research. Mills also wants to enhance the scholarship of
faculty members and wants to pursue more external and corporate
funding opportunities.
“I guess my vision [for the division] would be to have a sustained level of educational quality and accountability of our faculty and our students, and to establish ourselves as a leader in lib-
Cont’d from Renaissance Class
INSIDE MOREHOUISE
•
SEPTEMBER 2007
4
this scene many times before, were
themselves moved.
“To see all those young men—bright,
powerful, eager to learn—ready to conquer the world,” said Anne Watts, associate vice president for Academic Affairs.
“That is a powerful, powerful scene.”
The class has been dubbed the
“Renaissance Class,” a tribute to the fact
that this class will be the first to study
their entire collegiate careers under the
tutelage of President Robert Franklin ‘75.
But, according to Sterling Hudson
III, dean of Admissions and Records, the
class has another distinguishing mark.
Each student was personally interviewed,
either by admissions personnel or alumni based in their hometowns, due in part
to some high-profile incidents involving
Morehouse students or former students
that garnered negative attention towards
the College.
“I think it’s been very helpful to us to
understand who our students are beyond
their academic profile,” Hudson said.
“The major difference in this class is
their measure of character. We have
already observed that this class has come
in with a different demeanor,” he said.
Terrence Dixon, associate dean of
Admissions and Records, concurred.
“They seem to be very focused and
willing to receive direction from the
Morehouse community,” said Dixon.
Though final figures are still being
tallied by the Office of Assessment and
Institutional Research, Hudson said the
“
The Renaissance man is
there to uplift and serve others.
That is the social conscience—
that inner, moral compass—that
makes us sensitive to injustice
and mobilizes us to act.
—President Robert M. Franklin ‘75
new men of Morehouse come from nearly 37 states. Nearly 22 percent of the estimated 750 freshman come from Georgia,
with two-thirds of that group hailing
from metro Atlanta.
“I think that’s an indication that we
have stepped up our recruiting in the
metro Atlanta area and the outlying
counties,” Hudson said, adding that
many of the Georgia students are HOPE
scholarship recipients.
There is also a strong representation
of new students from California, the
Washington, D.C./Maryland/Northern
Virginia area, metropolitan New York
City, Chicago, Michigan and Texas.
This class is very accomplished academically. Nearly 20 percent of them are
CLICK HERE morehouse.edu updates
Click on video icon on home page.
“POSTCARDS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE”
features journals and photos from students who
share their overseas travel experiences. Click on
O P P O RT U N I T I E S
A 30-SECOND VIDEO featuring President
Robert Franklin ’75 welcomes visitors to the site.
”
high school valedictorians or salutatorians with a mean grade point average of
3.3—very close to the 3.5 goal that
Hudson says his office has set for incoming freshmen classes.
“We’re very close,” he said. “This
class is strong—at least as strong as
last year.”
During NSO, the new students and
their parents were introduced to the
Morehouse community through sessions
and talks with every area of campus life:
administration, financial aid, various
academic departments and even campus
police.
“It’s an opportunity to address any
unreadiness on the part of students or
questions from parents,” Hudson said.
“I think it also presented the College a
chance to convey to parents and incoming freshmen the culture of the College.
I think it went well.”
It went well even as tears fell from
the eyes of proud parents who watched as
their sons put on the new Morehouse
blazers—one of the first outward signs
that they would abide by President
Franklin’s urging to “look the part; act
the part; talk the talk and walk the walk.”
“These young men are works in
progress,” said Watts of the Renaissance
Class. “But it’s also a transformation.
These young men are being transformed
from boys into men. They are moving
from one place of their lives of youthfulness and they are becoming men in a very
special and dynamic way.
globe icon on front page.
THE NEW JOURNALISM AND SPORTS
JUMPSTART IS LOOKING TO HIRE 13 TEAM LEADERS FOR 2007-2008.
The team leader prepares a team of corps members to provide educational
activities to young children and families. They plan and implement effective
Jumpstart sessions, coach Corps members to use developmentally appropriate
practices with young children, facilitate team meetings, assist corps members
in developing strong relationships with children’s families, develop relationships with classroom teachers, deliver and participate in trainings, represent
Jumpstart at community meetings and manage administrative tasks.
PROGRAM has web presence under the English
Department. Click “Academics” on home page, next
“Division of Humanities and Social Sciences,” next
“Department of English,” then select the program.
To apply
Visit www.jstart.or/apply or contact Rochelle Lindsey, Jumpstart Program
manager, at 404-572-3693. ■
Freshman Cleon Rich volunteers with a local agency.
W
hen Cleon Rich, a freshman
biology major, graduated from
his Kilmarnock, Va., high school
last year, he was the only black male in his
graduating class who was going to college.
“It was a problem for me,” he said. But
he believes that if black males are reached
at a young age, you can “break the cycle of
them not furthering their education.”
This desire to reach back is what
motivated Rich to attend the annual
Community Volunteer Fair on the Kilgore
Plaza on Sept. 5, sponsored by the Bonner
Office of Community Service. The 35
community partners seeking volunteers
for their organizations had prepared spiels,
cards and pamphlets with proof that Rich’s
experience, unfortunately, was not an isolated occurrence, but one happening at an
alarming rate across the country.
A postcard from the Prodigy Project,
a mentoring program targeting black
boys ages 5 to 9, stated that more black
men in their 20s are in prison (34 percent) than at work (30 percent).
Education, it also stated, is the only hope
for black boys. “Without successful smart
black men to aspire to, and solid reading
skills, many of our boys won’t succeed in
school,” it stated.
Jerome L. Beaner, the senior program
coordinator with ForeverFamily, an
organization that assists children of incar-
cerated parents, said the organization is
seeking more men to inspire black boys.
“Somewhere between 70 and 80 percent of these kids end up committing
crime,” he explained. Beaner, who regularly volunteers in a local elementary school
reading to children, says many of the black
male students he encounters have reading
problems and have difficulty with letter
recognition.
He sees the difference in the male students when he is there. “They seem to look
up to me,” he said. “We need more men to
encourage them. We have many kids who
don’t have men in their families. We need
more male role models.”
Beaner was hoping to recruit 20 to 25
Morehouse students. An hour and a half
into the four-hour fair, he had seven students on his sign-up sheet. “I’m confident
I’ll get at least 20,” he said.
According to the Bonner Office of
Community Service, the annual event
signed up 100 new volunteers last fall, and,
for the first time, a second fair is being
planned for the spring.
TigerPoint, which is accessible
through TigerNet, tracks the volunteer
work of 700 students and allows the
Bonner Office to show the statistical
impact of student volunteerism. ■
—VGH
MOREHOUSE SIGNS MENTOR-PROTEGE
AGREEMENT WITH ORNL
A new joint initiative between Morehouse and Oak
Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)—a multi-program
science lab managed by UT-Battelle for the
Department of Energy—will help improve the
College’s science programs, aid the lab’s recruiting
efforts and promote research collaborations at both
institutions.
The ORNL-Morehouse Mentor Protégé
Agreement is the first such agreement between a historically black college or university and a Department of
Energy Office of Science lab. ORNL’s Mentor-Protégé
Program is part of a DOE initiative designed to encourage and help small businesses perform contracts and
subcontracts for ORNL.
The agreement is among a number of recent
Morehouse science endeavors, including the
College’s new Bioinformatics Program and the ongoing success of its dual-degree engineering program.
LRC OFFERS WORKSHOPS
ON DIGGING UP FAMILY ROOTS
The Morehouse College Learning Resource Center
and College Archives again is offering a series of
workshops that will provide online access to hundreds
of helpful databases related to researching family history; provide steps in collecting oral history and documenting the research efforts; and help with collecting and storing family photographs and film footage,
and understanding the African Ancestry DNA
process. The workshops are limited to 25 people
per session.
Class dates are: Tuesday, Sept. 25 or
Tuesday, Oct. 2 from 6 to 8 p.m. Based on demand,
an additional day class may be added for staff. ■
5
SEPTEMBER 2007
COMMEMORATION OF 9/11 INCLUDES
THE JENA 6, KATRINA AND IRAQ
The program sponsored by the King Chapel Assistants on
the Kilgore Plaza on Sept. 11 was titled “Remembering
9/11: We Will Never Forget.”
Why, then, was junior Reginald McKinley urging students to participate in a rally to bring attention to the plight
of the Jena 6? Why was Alaina Todd, a Spelman student,
talking about her struggle to deal with the loss of her home
even though it was two years after Hurricane Katrina had
ravaged New Orleans?
It was because, according to senior Jeremy
House—who himself spoke on the war in Iraq—the four
national tragedies are all connected. Martin Luther King
Jr. ’48, who spoke about the ‘inescapable network of
mutuality’ would have seen no separation in the four
national tragedies, according to House.
“He wouldn’t have separated the Jena 6 from
Iraq. He wouldn’t separate September 11 from
Katrina. They are all related, and we are responsible
for keeping their memories alive.”
•
Vendors at Community Volunteer Fair
Seek Black Male Role Models
NEWS BRIEFS
INSIDE MOREHOUISE
MY YOUNGER BROTHER’S KEEPER
INSIDE MOREHOUISE
•
SEPTEMBER 2007
6
Siavash Abghari, professor of banking
and finance, has had his paper “AfricanAmerican Male Business Students’
Perspective of Academic Advising: A
Retention and Success Strategy” accepted
for publication by the Journal of College
Teaching and Learning.
Cheryl L. Allen, associate professor of
accounting, and Kasim Alli, professor of
finance, are the first recipients of the
Morgan Stanley Professorship, a new
program that funds the teaching and
research of business professors representing Historically Black Colleges and
Universities. As part of the program,
they spent six weeks at the Morgan
Stanley headquarters in New York.
Larry S. Blumer, professor of biology,
was awarded the “Teaching Excellence
Award” sponsored by
Vulcan Material
Company in May.
Blumer was recognized for his “outstanding contribution
to undergraduate education, student learnLarry S. Blumer
ing and campus life.”
t a k e
TN
note
FACULTY
Uzee Brown Jr., chair of the
Department of Music, has been jointly
contracted by the Paris Opera Comique
and the Atlanta Opera to perform in an
international production of Porgy and
Bess in 2008. A series of more than 20
performances will be staged and presented in Paris and Caen, France, Granada,
Spain, and Brussels, Belgium. Brown will
portray “Frazier, the Lawyer,” a role that
he performed with the Atlanta Opera in
the fall of 2005, as well as performed and
recorded for Decca Records in 2006 with
the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and
Chorus in conjunction with the
Nashville Opera.
David Morrow, director of the
Morehouse Glee Club, was recently
appointed conductor of the Atlanta
Singers, a professional vocal ensemble of
approximately 20 singers. He is the first
African American to conduct such a
group in the city. His debut as conductor
occurred in April when the group performed at the All Saints Episcopal
Church and the Marietta First United
Methodist Church.
Robert Tanner, theory and composition
professor in the Department of Music ,
was 2nd place winner in the Young Eight
Emerging Composer Competition, held
in spring 2006. His composition, “Conch
Shell Memories,” is written for a double
string quartet. The work became a commissioned performance piece for the critically acclaimed string chamber ensemble, The Young Eight, who also featured
the piece in its 2007 spring tour.
Glenwood Ross, assistant professor of
economics, completed his sixth travel
abroad to South Africa as part of a partnership between Morehouse and the
Andrew Young Center for Public Policy
at Georgia State University. Ross accompanied seven Morehouse, Spelman and
Georgia State students to South Africa
visiting the Pretoria/Johannesburg area
in Gauteng Province, the industrial center of the country, and the Cape Town
area of the Western Cape Province. Tours
included visits to Robben Island, Soweto,
passages
Benjamin McLaurin ’69 was College’s Earl of Etiquette
BENJAMIN P. MCLAURIN ‘69 made it his business to make sure Morehouse students had a sense
of style and could speak and socialize with the
best. For nearly four decades, he served the
College as an educator, advocate, career counselor
and motivator.
After a brief illness, McLaurin died May 22 at
the age of 60. A memorial service was held June 1
in King Chapel where faculty, staff and former
students paid tribute to the Morehouse legend.
“He taught me the importance of giving
back and making sure to keep Morehouse students in mind when filling internships and new Benjamin McLaurin ’69
job postings while I was a senior executive at a
large financial services institution,” said C. Howie Hodges II ’82 of
Falls Church, Va. “He has thousands of brothers who will miss him,
not only for his great sense of style, but also for his great sense of
humor and for his greatest gift of giving.”
McLaurin was one of three co-founders of the National and
International Spring Tour for business administration and economics
majors. The tour gives students the opportunity to travel to business
centers throughout the world. In 2006-07, McLaurin’s efforts placed at
least 50 Morehouse interns on Wall Street for the summer of 2007.
“Ben fully understood that in order to be a leader, one must
first be a professional,” said Belinda Johnson White,
assistant professor of leadership studies. “There is no
doubt in my mind that the leadership lessons he taught
will continue ad infinitum by the way of the thousands
of young men he developed during his 39 years of service at Morehouse.”
A native of New York, McLaurin was the godson
of the late A. Philip Randolph, the founder of The
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which was the
country’s first black labor union.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in English from
Morehouse in 1969, McLaurin began his career as the
first director of Career Placement at the College. In
2003, he became the director of Career Services under
the Division of Business Administration and Economics.
He was a member of the King Players and director and participant in the Morehouse College Faculty and Staff Follies. ■
The Benjamin P. McLaurin Endowed International Fellowship
has been established to provide perpetual funding for the International
Spring Tour.
Donations may be made online at www.morehousealumniandfriends.com/efr.
STUDENTS
Antoine Lackland, Michael Richardson
and Artesius Miller attended the annual
Bonner Conference Student Leadership
Institute held at Oberlin College this summer. They, along with Bonner staff persons, facilitated a presentation titled
“Report to the U.N.,” which encouraged
a conversation among participants on
critical and important global issues that
have an impact on the human condition and a perspective on the success
or lack of workable human solutions.
Ten Ronald E. McNair scholars
attended the 13th Annual
SAEOPP/UTK McNair National
Scholars Research Conference held
June 29 through July 1 in Knoxville,
passages
Eddie Gaffney ,70 ‘Exercised a Tough, Fatherly Love’
EDDIE DEAN GAFFNEY ‘70, known for his
ubiquitous smile and fatherly concern for
students, died July 24 due to complications
from cancer.
During his memorial service, Gaffney
was remembered for his love of people and
music, his ability to look at the bright side of
life, and his commitment to Morehouse and
her students.
“Eddie Dean recruited me to come to
Morehouse,” said Gaffney’s cousin Uzee Brown
’72, chair of the Department of Music. “It is a
decision I have never regretted.”
It was under the tutelage of professors like Eddie Dean Gaffney ’70
Robert Brisbane, Anna Grant and Frederick
Mapp that Gaffney, a 1970 Morehouse graduate, deepened his
commitment to be a change agent in the community. A psychology student, Gaffney enjoyed singing with the glee club and
serving as an officer of the student government association. He
pledged Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and served as vice basilus his
senior year at Morehouse.
Gaffney continued his education at the University of South
Carolina (USC) in Columbia, where he received a master’s
degree in community psychology in 1973 and completed all but his dissertation toward a Ph.D. in clinical-community psychology. He also began his
career at USC, serving as director of Outreach and
Advocacy at Midlands Center; research associate for
the University’s Social Problems Research Institute;
psychology instructor in the University’s College of
Applied Professional Sciences; and program manager for the President’s Summer Opportunity
Scholars session.
In 1992, Gaffney returned to Morehouse to
teach psychology and went on serve as class dean,
special assistant to the senior vice president for
Academic Affairs, and dean of Student Services for
almost 10 years.
“I think that he was one of the most supportive and caring
individuals that I met at the College, especially when it came to
providing services to students,” said Gwen Wade, director of the
International Student Services and Study Abroad Programs.
“I always admired his calm disposition, his encouraging
words, and his uplifting spirit,” said Lenardo Major, a 2004 graduate living in Nassau. “Dean exercised a tough, fatherly love on
campus that will surely be missed.” ■
SEPTEMBER 2007
California, New York, Nevada, South
Carolina, Washington D.C., and Georgia.
7
•
TN
Tenn. The annual conference attracts
more than 300 participants nationwide
from more than 30 colleges and universities. Biology major Marcus Sandling, psychology major Brian Nails, mathematics
major Dang Do and chemistry majors
Edwin Alexander, Fredrick Garner and
Michael Love all presented scholarly
research in their respective fields. Love
and Alexander placed 5th and 4th respectively in the field of physical science,
Sandling placed 3rd overall in the field of
biology, and Nails placed 2nd overall in
the field of psychology.
Brandon Phillips, a freshman from
Atlanta, presented (posthumously) the
Atlanta Business League’s inaugural
Legacy Award to the late Mayor Maynard
Jackson ’56 for his support of minority
businesses and his civic leadership as
three-term mayor of the city of Atlanta
(1974 -1982, 1990 to 1994). Jackson’s
widow, Valerie Jackson, accepted the
award from the Atlanta Business League, a
minority business development organization established in 1933 as the local affiliate of the National Business League,
founded by Booker T. Washington. ■
INSIDE MOREHOUISE
STAFF
Kellye Blackburn Eccles, director of Career
Planning Placement for Non-Business
Majors, presented Career Development and
Recruitment Initiatives
for African American
Male College Students
at the American
College and Personnel
Association’s Institute
on College Males
Conference, held in
Kellye Blackburn Eccles
May 2007.
Herman Mason, director of the Learning
Resource Center and college archivist, was
recently nominated for the 33rd General
President of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity at
the 101st Anniversary Convention this
past August. He began his tour of the
brotherhood with stops in Illinois,
t a k e
note
and the Cape of Good Hope. Particularly
interesting were visits to Nkosi’s Haven,
an AIDS orphanage, where students were
confronted with the direct impact of the
disease, and to two museums that highlighted various aspects of the antiapartheid struggle— the District Six
Museum and the Apartheid Museum.
Changing Gears
New Faculty
BIOLOGY
Charlese Garnett
Assistant Professor
Alexandra Peister
Assistant Professor
Wallace Sharif
Assistant Professor
INSIDE MOREHOUISE
•
SEPTEMBER 2007
8
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Carolyn D. Davis
Assistant Professor
Gregory N. Price
Professor and Chair, Economics
Department
Bonnie L. Stivers
Visiting Assistant Professor
COMPUTER SCIENCE
Sonya Dennis
Instructor
ENGLISH
Mary Behrman
Assistant Professor
Betty Davis-Robinson
Speech Instructor
Stephane Dunn
Assistant Professor
Alison Ligon
Assistant Professor
Christopher T. Norman
Speech Instructor
Sergio Rizzo
Assistant Professor
HEALTH & PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Lydia Woods
Assistant Professor
MATHEMATICS
Douglas Carter Jr.
Instructor
Joseph W. Eyles
Assistant Professor
William E. Gryc
Assistant Professor
Gabriel Miller
Instructor
Ulrica Wilson
Assistant Professor
MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Euphemia Lewis
Instructor
Barbara Williams
Instructor
PHYSICS
John Howard
Instructor
Emmanuel Karikari
Assistant Professor
PSYCHOLOGY
Sinead N. Younge
Assistant Professor
SOCIOLOGY
Terry Mills
Dean, Humanities & Social Sciences
Professor of Sociology
ART PROGRAM
Charles H. Nelson
Instructor
New Hires
Antoinette Ballard, police officer,
Campus police
Stephanie Brown, administrative assistant, Office of Special Academic
Programs
Angel Anderson, security officer,
Campus police
Tony Belser, assistant registrar,
Registrar’s Office
Samuel Bennett, security officer,
Campus police
Kareem Bland, facility manager/aquatics, Archer Hall Recreation & Fitness
Center
Kevin Booker, director of New Student
Orientation, Student Services
Remeka Bowden, program assistant,
Strategic Planning
Robert Bryant, corporate relations officer, Corporate Relations/OIA
Adrian Cheatham, human resources
assistant, Human Resources
Terrell Cheaves, resident director,
Housing and Residential Life
George Copeland, assistant head football coach/defensive coordinator,
Athletics-Football
Johnny Curtis, security officer, Campus
Police
James Eichelberger, maintenance worker, Physical Plant
Roberto Forbes, maintenance worker,
Physical Plant
Barbara Gillison, administrative assistant, Corporate Relations/OIA
Angela Glenn, assistant registrar,
Registrar’s Office
Linda Johnson, gift processor,
Institutional Advancement
Melvinia King, leadership studies coordinator, Leadership Center
Raphael Moffett, director of Student
Life and Planning, Student ActivitiesGeneral
Cheryl Perdue, purchasing assistant,
Purchasing
Francello Phillips-Calhoun, special
assistant/operations manager, Office
of the President
Danita Reaves, financial aid
assistant/data entry, Financial Aid
Office
Kevin Redd, security officer, Campus
police
Jamie Riley, resident director, Housing
and Residential Life
Michael Simpson, contract paralegal,
General Counsel
Tia Smith, financial planner/budget
analyst, Budget and Planning
Marcel Spates, resident director, Student
Services and Residential Life
Ronald Thomas, director, Journalism
and Sports Program
Sandra VanTravis, environmental health
and safety officer, Campus
Operations
Maurice Washington, director, Housing
and Residential Life
Rashad Watson, coach, Athletics
Karen Williams, assistant, Student
Financial Services
Promotions
Patrick Wheeler, electrical helper,
Physical Plant
Willie Wren, maintenance worker,
Physical Plant
Belinda White’s New
Textbook is Pioneer in
Leadership Studies
By Add Seymour Jr.
THE HARD-FOUGHT CIVIL RIGHTS
battles led by the Martin Luther King Jr.
influenced a teenaged Belinda Johnson
White so much that she figured she’d follow in King’s footsteps. She planned to
attend Morehouse College.
“It wasn’t until I was in the 10th grade
Belinda Johnson White
that someone finally told me that I couldn’t go to Morehouse,” she said.
But after graduating from neighboring Spelman College and later Georgia Tech
and Georgia State, and starting a career as a corporate consultant, White now teaches
lessons of leadership as an assistant professor in Leadership Studies.
White also decided to do something she said no one else has done: pen a book
about leadership studies, with an added focus on diversity in corporate America. The
book, titled 21st Century Guide to Leadership and Professional Development: Life
Success Tools and Strategies for Emerging Leaders of Color, is a textbook in its first
edition and published by McGraw Hill/Irwin.
“There were no textbooks out there for this class,” said White as the light shines
into her small office decorated with many honors and awards. “I always had to hodgepodge. I got tired of trying to hodge-podge.”
She describes the book as a compilation of advice and teachings from corporate
America along with the basic things that students need to learn to become leaders.
It is an area where White herself has worked as a trainer and consultant with numerous national corporate entities, including Goldman Sachs, Coca-Cola Company and
the Atlanta Falcons.
White uses actual quotes from some of the nation’s most renowned business leaders, including Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons, Morgan Stanley managing director
Carla Harris and media pioneer Ted Turner, culled from their talks on campus.
“Their words are golden,” White said. “But it really comes down to the fundamental things we talk about in class. Too often, students see the bells and whistles and that’s
all they want to focus on. But you’ve got to have the fundamentals.”
She also presents her own theories and teachings on the topic, focusing on five
areas: leadership, professionalism (“That’s the fifth language of business,” she said),
ethics, global awareness and public service. The book is currently sold in the College
bookstore. The second edition will be available next year and will be marketed to higher education institutions across the country, especially other Historically Black Colleges
and Universities.
White said one of her main inspirations for writing the book was Benjamin P.
McLaurin ’69, director for Career Counseling and Placement, who died in May.
“We always said we wanted to write a book,” she recalled. “This made me realize that
tomorrow isn’t promised, so I said I needed to stop saying I’m going to do it and just do it.”
Now that she’s done it, White is now happy to face the challenges of pioneering a
textbook topic not explored before.
“I’m very excited,” she said. “But that’s what we do at Morehouse. We teach students to take the lead.” ■
Chair
Alana Veal
Title III
Vice Chair
Clayton Monroe
Business and Finance
Secretary
Towanda Esquilin
Academic Affairs
Parliamentarian
Michael Southern
Student Services
Communications Committee Chair
Julie Pinkney Tongue
Institutional Advancement
Elections
Committee Chair
Rose Nyman
Academic Affairs
9
SEPTEMBER 2007
Taking the Lead
OFFICERS
•
SHELF LIFE
INSIDE MOREHOUISE
SHELF LIFE
2007-08
STAFF ADVISORY COUNCIL
T
f
MEMBERS
Academic Affairs
Phyllis Bentley
Jacci Davis
Brenda Dodd
Business and Finance
Sheree Benton
Campus Operations
Ron Hearns
Pearl Love
Rico Walls
Bobby Westbrook
Student Services
Terry Alexander
Vanessa Ellerbe
President’s Office
C.O. Hollis
MEMBER AT LARGE
Zandra Everett
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS
O
V
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B
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T
A
P
M
S
C
C
J
I
E
C
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A
Richard Winstead
Wayne Crosse
Karen Miller
M
A
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Contact council members at
[email protected]
B
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my word:
BY RON THOMAS, DIRECTOR, JOURNALISM & SPORTS PROGRAM
•
SEPTEMBER 2007
10
INSIDE MOREHOUISE
DEFENDING BLACK SPORTS JOURNALISTS
WHO AREN’T DEFENDING VICK
W
hen a high-profile
black athlete gets
arrested, raising
our racial antenna is black
sports journalists’ natural
reaction. But not when it came
to Atlanta Falcons icon
Michael Vick, who proved to
be an uncommon criminal.
When Spike Lee hosted
Morehouse’s “Forum on the
Black Athlete” in May, at least
half of the program was spent
analyzing why black male professional athletes are getting
arrested at an alarming rate.
Some panelists chastised
athletes for making incredibly
irresponsible decisions. Other
panelists smacked down the
white sporting press, stating
that they take delight in further besmirching the image of
black males. Several black
sports journalists, including
me, came across as staunch
protectors of black men wearing cleats, spikes and sneakers.
It sounded noble, yet it
felt uncomfortable. I left the
Leadership Center hoping
that aspiring journalists in the
audience understood that
black journalists’ roles are to
find the truth, add perspective
and seek fairness regarding
everyone we write about. Do
that, I tell Morehouse’s first
year of journalism students,
and undoubtedly racism and
negative stereotyping will be
uncovered along the way.
So when the federal
indictment against Vick came
down for financing and participating in dog fighting activities, some black sports journalists preached caution for
good reason. If nothing else,
history has taught us that “justice” for black men is a concept, not a fact. It’s often wise
Ron Thomas
“
When black athletes get involved in
criminal activity, how much should black
sports journalists condemn and how much
should we defend? That’s a mental
tightrope, and I always fear falling too
heavily on one side or the other.
to withhold opinions until
guilt or innocence has been
proven.
But Vick’s offense – for six
years funding an illegal business that trained dogs to kill
and killed dogs that couldn’t –
rightly stripped many black
sports journalists of their protective instinct.
He hadn’t gotten into a
spur-of-the-moment fight in a
nightclub, been caught driving
with a suspended license, or
succumbed again to an addiction that had captured his soul.
In the world of sports, that’s
common criminality, and often
perspective has its place. Ten
”
years ago NBA star Latrell
Sprewell choked his white
coach, yet I wrote that P.J.
Carlesimo wasn’t the blameless
victim because he’d been cursing out and humiliating his
black players for more than a
year. I wouldn’t change a word.
Vick’s case was different.
Backed by the riches from a 10year, $130-million contract, he
looked at all the investment
opportunities within his grasp
and chose extreme, perverse
cruelty to animals. That’s
uncommonly criminal.
Black journalists still
should critique his press coverage, which is what my basic
news writing class did the
morning Vick filed his guilty
plea. We questioned, for
instance, why the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution ran a splitimage photo of Vick a few days
before. The good Vick was pictured in his helmet and face
mask; the bad Vick was wearing
a do-rag and earring. Did that
create a stereotypical equation –
do-rag + earring = criminal – or
was that merely an artistic way
of unpeeling a side of Vick that
had been concealed from view?
For many black columnists, such a question was a
minor issue. What disturbed
Bryan Burwell of the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, ESPN.com’s
Jemele Hill, the Kansas City
Star’s Jason Whitlock, and others (myself included), is that
Vick had escaped the ghettoglorified “thug life” and then
chose to dash back into its
clenches in a uniquely vile way.
When black athletes get
involved in criminal activity,
how much should black sports
journalists condemn and how
much should we defend?
That’s a mental tightrope, and
I always fear falling too heavily
on one side or the other.
In this situation, Vick’s
choice of a reprehensible second career has made my decision much easier. For him, my
protective shield is much,
much thinner than usual. ■
My Word is open to faculty, staff
and students who wish to express
their views on topics of interest to
the Morehouse Community. Articles
must be between 550 to 600 words
and may be edited for clarity or
space. Send inquires to [email protected] or call x8647.
FOOTBALL FACE-LIFT
hose white-helmeted, neatlytrimmed guys at B.T. Harvey
Stadium on Saturdays may look
unfamiliar to Morehouse football
fans. But this is the new version of the Maroon
Tigers, who started the 2007 season with a new
look and a new face leading the way.
The first obvious difference: former
Tennessee State assistant coach and football player Richard Freeman, an Atlanta
native who brings with him a penchant for
heavy discipline.
“I wanted to come in and give an
immediate face-lift for the team — clean
haircuts, clean shaven,” says Freeman.
“We’re going to operate as close to the military as we can. My motto is to play fast, play
hard and play smart. We’re a well-disciplined
ballclub and the tempo is extremely fast.”
That military precision and cohesiveness
also mean a more attacking style of defense
and a West Coast offense designed to keep
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
opponents on their heels this season.
While the Maroon Tigers finished 3-9
last season (one of those wins came courtesy of a forfeit by Miles College, which was
found later to have been using an ineligible
player), there is reason for optimism.
On offense, running back Kelvin
Moore, the team’s second leading rusher with
225 yards rushing and four touchdowns last
year, is back. So is Carlos King, who spent
time as a receiver but returns to the quarterback position where he threw for 396 yards
and two touchdowns in limited duty.
Freeman believes an offense that fin-
11
SEPTEMBER 2007
New Face, New Look and Military-Style Operation
Will Make Football Season ‘Very Interesting’
INSIDE MOREHOUISE
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Coach Richard Freeman prepares his team for the upcoming season.
ished second in the conference and returns
their brand of the West Coast offense will
throw the football around and score in
bunches this season.
“We’ve got a pretty good senior
quarterback returning, a strong receiving
corps and two senior tailbacks,” Freeman
says. “I’m a little concerned up front.
We’ve got a lot of young guys up there.
We’re still waiting on them to gel and
become a cohesive unit.”
Defensively, Freeman promises that a
unit that was last in total defense in 2006
will be more attacking and looks to force
the issue with its opponents.
“It’s a very aggressive defense,” Freeman
says of new defensive coordinator George
Copeland’s unit. “We’d like to load the box
up and bring pressure and force people to passes.
The Maroon Tiger secondary is ready
for the task with Derrick Scott, Gabriel
Harper, Brandon Morgan and Earl Thomas.
A big defensive line is anchored by
Marvin Lane, who at 6’ 7” and 275 pounds has
been leading the way for the a big Morehouse
defensive front. Four transfers are also looking
to come in to contribute defensively.
Conference coaches picked Morehouse to
finish last in the SIAC, but despite a defense that
had some bad games last year, Freeman sees
promise on both sides of the ball and in special
teams. He believes Morehouse Maroon Tiger
fans should get ready for a very interesting season.
“We’re fired up,” Freeman says. “I’m
feeling pretty good about it.” ■
-AS
For the football schedule, www.morehouse.edu/athletics
President Robert
Franklin '75 gives the
signal that the Tigers
have scored a touchdown at the Ft. Valley
game on September 1.
C
INSIDE MOREHOUISE
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SEPTEMBER 2007
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
Crown Forum: Opening Convocation
King Chapel
10:45 a.m.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
Football – Morehouse vs. Concordia College
Selma, AL
5 p.m.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
Lecture: African President-in-Residence
His Excellency Antonio Monteiro
Former President of Cape Verde
Executive Conference Center
Bank of America Auditorium at The Leadership Center
6 p.m.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
Crown Forum: Student Government Association
King Chapel
11 a.m.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
Study Abroad Fair
Representatives from more than 40 foreign institutions
Kilgore Plaza
10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Atlanta University Center Career Fair
Marriott Marquis Hotel (Downtown)
1 p.m.
Transportation provided. Pick up and drop off at
Spelman College front gate on Greensferry
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
8th Annual Morehouse College Breast Cancer
Awareness Walk
8 a.m.
Start/End –King Chapel plaza
Cross Country Track Meet
Clark Atlanta University
9 a.m.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2
Faculty Meeting
Executive Conference Center
4 p.m.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4
President’s Crown Forum
Speaker: Dr. Robert M. Franklin ’75
King Chapel
11 a.m.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6
72nd Annual Morehouse – Tuskegee Football Classic
A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium
Columbus, GA
Kick-off 2 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased from Morehouse National Alumni
Association - 3rd Floor, Archer Hall, 404-215-2657
Cont’d from cover “Dawn of a Renaissance”
September finds the new president as busy as ever—even
though his 100 days of observation are not officially over until
mid-October. He has already given the community a foretaste of his
vision for the College: Renaissance has suddenly become a buzzword
on campus.
“You gentlemen will have the opportunity to inject new energy and hope into communities and villages that desperately await a
Renaissance,” he told students in his NSO opening address.
Walking the Walk
Franklin—a theologian, educator, author, broadcast commentator, student of seven languages and world traveler—is himself the
quintessential Renaissance man he is asking the men of Morehouse to
become. His latest book, Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in
African American Communities is being cited for going beyond identification of the crisis and putting forth an “actionable plan.”
The former ITC president and Emory University Presidential
Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics is constantly sought for his
advise on topics ranging from funding for religion and public life initiatives for the Ford Foundation to the development of a study guide for the
congregational use of the DreamWorks film, The Prince of Egypt.
Franklin graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the College in 1975
with a degree in political science and religion, and also holds a
master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School and the Ph.D. from
University of Chicago. He also studied at the University of
Durham, UK, as a 1973 English Speaking Union Scholar.
The Morehouse Renaissance
Franklin’s call for a rebirth of values, commitment and
accountability may be a global cry, but he intends for it to start at
home—the ‘House. Just as he has asked students to, he has also
asked faculty and staff to jon in the effort to save the village.
“Where are the challenges, what are the obstacles to really
move Morehouse from good to great?” he asked. “What opportunities haven’t we really seized? If you could offer advice on year-one
priorities, what would you recommend?”
Integrity on the job; a spirit of service that is conveyed from
the “smile in your voice” when you answer the phones to the customer service provided to students and visitors; being good stewards of Morehouse resources – all provide assurance that we are
committed to the Morehouse mission, said Franklin.
“Morehouse exists for the community and, more ambitiously, for the global community,” said Franklin.
“Your ‘House, at your service. I really like that.” ■
Inside MOREHOUSE
Director of Public Relations
Executive Editor
Contributing Writers
Calendar Editor
Contributing Photographer
Graphic Design
Toni O’Neal Mosley
Vickie G. Hampton
Kai Jackson Issa
Add Seymour Jr.
Julie Pinkney Tongue
Philip McCollum
Glennon Design
Inside Morehouse is published by the Office of Communications, Morehouse College.
Send ideas, questions, comments and submissions to Vickie Hampton at
[email protected].