Agnes Scott Alumnae Magazine [1999-2000]

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EDITOR'S NOTE

The campus is swirlinc) with change-. Strategic Directions and the Master
Plan have set us on course, and we ride the the waves into the next millennium.

Taped on the cdrncr ot my computer monitor is a
copy ol one ol those corporate lookin<^ flowcharts
with the heading "Manaf^mi; Change " Little boxes
containiny the words "Vision i Skills + Incentives +
Resources + Action plans" parade across the width ot the
paper. These criicial components "add Lip lo" well managed
"Change " As the chart illustrates, if one ot the components
IS missing, the end result is f|uite dit-
terent It yoLi have "Vision + Skills +
Incentives + Resources" hut no "Action
plans," the result is "I alsc Starts " It
you have "Skills + Incentives t
Resources + Action plans" but no
"Vision," the resLilt is '( onlusion

1 need this chart I need it in the
same wav that I need iin morning
Creed taped on niv halhroom mirror
These tiailv renssurames that grander
plans are in motion are comlorting

I he grander jilan tor Agnes Scott,
set out in our Sld/lci/n /)ira lions (see
ASAM, Spring t9')7 I and Mhkr /'Lm
(see ASAM Summer !'')) has accelerated all aai\it\ on
campus these da\s ( )||ices are moving, neu' tacultx' and stall
are coming on hoard huildings are going up and coming
down, n-novalions are umlei wav I lungs are changing so
last that Its a ehalleiige to keep up w ith uheie peoples
olhcesare

I levelopment has m(i\rd into the Rehekah ( onlereiice
Room, I'uhlH SalelN' has moxcd to the old Dcxelopment
house ruhluahons and I'ublu Relations ha\e nioxed into the
old I'lihlii Salet\' oHkc Student .Activities has moxccl into
W inship 1 iihin and the 1 ihiais is nou located in a tempo
iai\ huildmg in the Rehekah parking lot C (Uiiieis are di::z\-
b\ the time lhe\ make the lounds on campus

When the hustle bustle gc ts a hit cli.:r\ ing loi me I \\\ to
slop M\i\ tin us on a li\ecl obiec I something that remains eon-
slant like the Mam touei In this pause I m allow ed to lecall
our giaiulei plan aiu\ lealue lliai all oui daiK acti\it\ is dri-

ven by it We are focused on tenents of the plan: academic
excellence, student achievement, institutional growth institu-
tional support, community leadership and physical modern-
ization all detailed in Strategic Directions Crucial adminis-
trative services are being provided and the primarv' endeavor.
teaching and learning, goes on uninterrupted I am reminded
that not only is there a plan but the plan is working

President Man- Brown Bullock
66 offers an update on the College s
plan Its ambitious growth and building
initiatives in a special section in this
edition A Report from the President

Our cover stor\' Beaut>' and
Balance on the Eco-Campus page 7
focuses on the national environmental
work of alumna Julian ls.enir\' 89 and
Agnes Scott s own en\ironmental
etforts the organic initiatixes as well
as the strategic efforts that have
sprouted from the Mailer LvtJsuipc
f'.'.ii;.

Changing Immigration Law
(page 10> shows how the efforts of attornev La\li Nhller
liashir '>^ helped a \'oung Togo woman avoid the brutal ritu-
al ol temale genual mutilation and ultimateK' changed immi-
gration law

In Mama Drama page 2tVi Anthropologv- Associate
Prolessoi Martha Rees traces the origins ol motherhood and
111 ( )ui Ltne the Lrench" ipage 15' French Assistant
Pidlessor lulia De Pree enlightens us on the Pranco-.Amcncan
line hate relationship

In I ilestxies page 2i', well otter a look at how B 1
1 leemaiis nd \iilunteei work helped build the $47. ti million
Arizona Science C enter and in the On Campus department
(page 2^ MHi uill meet renowned religion ethicist Dennis P.
McCann the new .-Mston Professor ot Bible and Religion.

CONTENTS

Acjnes Scott Collecje Alumnae Magazine
Summer i999, Volume 75, Number i

7

The Beauty and Balance
of the Ecocampus

By Mary Alma Durrett and Sue Clites
Julian Kmiry 89 is guided by Tboreau's dictum to
"leave the earth feeling like 1 lined lightly, humanely,
compassionately. " In the process, sfce is making campuses
more eco-jnendly and environmentally attined places

Changing
Immigration Law

By Karen Hill

hotography by Manlyn Sunani
Layli Bashir '93 jought the U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service
111 a dramatic case oj a refugee woman
'acmg mutilation at home And icon

Oui Love the French?

By Julia DePree

Photography by Gary Meek

France remains one oj the primaiy places 0}
international contact jor the typical
American, and the United States exerts a
strong (if regrettable] grip on the minds
of the French people But then.
French captivate Americans, too.

A Report from
The President

In reviewing plans for campus,
ASC Presidetit Mary Brown
Bullock describes the College's
commitment to renew and preserve

The Mama
Drama

By Mary Alma Durrett
Photography by Manlyn Sunani
A contemporary play on
campus helps the ASC
community explore the many
facets of motherhood.

DEPARTMENTS

CivinK Alumna

COVER: Agnes Scott's campus will
become even greener once the
Landscape Master Plan is in place.

ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARA EMMONS

Editor: Maty Alma Durrett
Contributing Editor: Chris

Tiegrcen
Design: Everett Hulkim,

Nao Yamashita
Student Assistants:

Shelley Acevedo 02

Amy Cormier 00

Katie Turcotte 02

Publications Advisory Board:

Mary Ackerly

ICim Lamkm Drew Vii

Marv Alma Durrett

Bill Galley

Tish McCutchen 73

Lucia Howard Sizemore '65

Copyright 1999, Agnes Scott
College Published for alumnae and
friends twice a year by the Office of
Publications, Agnes Scott College,
Buttnck Hall, 141 E College Avenue,
Decatur, GA 30030, (404) 471-6301
Postmaster; Send address changes to
Ofhce of Development, Agnes Scott
College, Decatur, GA 30030 The
content of the magazine reflects the
opinions of the wnters and not the
viewpoint of the College, its t
or administration e-mail: publu
tions@asc agnesscott edu

ON CAMPUS

A major in Women's Studies, a new center to enhance writing and speaking skills,
increasing jaith commitments and religious diversity on campus are highlighted.

WOMEN'S
STUDIES

Agnes Scott's latest
major addition is
Women's Studies, Al-
though a self-designed
option has been available
for years, Women's Studies
is now a full-fledged major
and Elizabeth Hackett,
assistant pro-

fessor, is the
first full-time tenure-track
faculty member

Designed by the
Women's Studies Advisory
Committee, the major
consists of courses that
cover the breadth of the
College's curriculum,
including requirements in
social and natural sciences,
art and literature and his
torical and philosophiLal
perspectives, niul empha
sizes global diversity and
learning through intern-

ships and independent
research,

Gail Cabisius, associate
professor of Classical
I^anguages and Literatures
and a former director the
Women's Studies program,
feels that the major is the
natural product of the pro-
gram's evolution at Agnes
Scott. The experience of
helping students self-
k\ design their majors, as
well as surveying other
:ol leges' Women's
Studies programs,
has been especially
valuable in decid-
ing the composi-
tion of the
major, "It gives
It a certain
legitimacy as an
academic subject that It
didn't have before."

As at other colleges,
Agnes Scott's Women's
Studies program has been
built graduallv, as tacultv in
other areas added courses
that focused on women,
such as women's histoiy.
Todav, the program con-
sists of core coulees in the
theory of women's studies
and a large number of
cross-listed courses in
maiiv disciplines,

Hackett, who begins
her work as a faculty mem-

ber at Agnes Scott this fall,
is broadly trained in femi-
nist theory and women
and the law. She comes to
ASC from the University
of Michigan, where she
has served as visiting assis-
tant professor of Womens
Studies She received her
master's and doctorate In
Philosophy from the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania and
completed her undergradu-
ate study in English and
Philosophy at the Univer-
sity of Notre Dame.

Jaimfcr Oiioiii 9S

WRITING
AND

SPEAKING
CENTER

\A7^7^ming and speaking

W skills are the two
most sought-after skills in
the workplace or In gradu-
ate school applications,"
says Christine Cozzens,
associate professor of
English and director of the
Center tor Writing and
Speaking which includes
two peer tutoring pro-
grams, the Writing Center
and the Speaking Center.
As the center expands
to sene students needs
preparation tor the real
world " is one ol many

motivations pro[>elllng the
center to Its next stage of
development. As part of
Agnes Scott's Master Plan,
the renovation of McCain
Library will include a 24-
hour area for the Center
for Writing and Speaking.
This location Increases vls-
ibilirv' and accessiblllt\'.

The physical unification
of the two centers from
separate sites in Buttrick
Hall also emphasizes their
joint underlying concern
for the development of the
broad spectrum of students'
communication skills.

Last year we conducted
more than 900 one-on-one
writing conferences " says
Cozzens That trend Is
likcK" to continue

The Anting Center is
testing expansion through
r\\o new writing programs:

the Partners Program
matches a student with
special writing needs with
a peer tutor tor weekK'
meetings throughout the
semester and

the Course Tutonng
Program allows instructors
to request a tutor for
courses with an emphasis
on writing. The writing
coordinator, a position cre-
ated this vear and filled by
Liura Brandon ^8 iiandles

ACNES SCOTT COI HIT .TUAIMEK ,.

The Writing and Speal<ing Center promises to enhance students' sl^ills.

daily tasks around the cen-
ter in addition to tutoring.
'Tutors talk about how
much they iearn from
helping other students,
from observing how others
think about writing."

in her essay "Write for
Your Life," Cozzens high-
lights the importance of
written communication
skills after college. "A job
letter or graduate school
application that includes
strong evidence of writing
ability both in what it
says and in how it is writ-
ten will stand out above
the flood of competent but
lackluster correspondence
that employers and admis-
sion committees see daily."

Teaching students how
to "stand out" is a key con-
cern for the Speaking Cen-
ter. Oral communication
skill is first on a list of top
factors considered by em-

ployers when hiring col-
lege graduates, notes
Veronica Henson-Phillips,
new coordinator of the
Speaking Center.

"One of my favorite
sayings is, 'You never get a
second chance to make a
first impression.' As soon
as you open your mouth,
you are making a state-
ment about your abilities. '

Henson-Phillips came
to Agnes Scott with 1 5
years experience teaching
public speaking, voice and
diction. Her clients have
included actors, profes-
sional athletes and business
professionals. She notes
that many students focus
on professional dress and a
well-polished resume for
an interview, but overlook
the crucial skill of oral pre-
sentation. "You may be
brilliant, but if you cannot
express yourself in an

interview, that intelligence
will not come through to a
prospective employer"

"Agnes Scott has a rep-
utation," says Cozzens.
"Students report to me all
the time that when pro-
spective employers notice
they attended Agnes Scott,
they see that as evidence
that the student can write
well " Soon the tradition of
speaking will follow suit.
The Center for Writing
and Speaking is helpmg
greater numbers of stu-
dents build effective com-
munication skills for col-
lege and the world
beyond.

hll Ruaell '98

RELIGIOUS
DIVERSITY

As the picture ol stu-
dent life takes on
deeper, richer and
more complex
dimensions, so
does religious life
at Agnes Scott.
Evidence of the
College's growing
diversity emerges in
the most subtle ways.
Witness, for instance, the
quiet presence of the
Koran, alongside the Bible
and the Presbyterian Hymnal
on a pew in Thatcher
Chapel. The notion that
the sacred texts of both
Christian and Musli^ can

ON CAMPUS

exist peaceably in a com-
mon space serves as a
metaphor for the sort of
tolerance and understand-
ing that can transform
both the campus and a
larger community.

While the overwhelm-
ing majority of students
identify themselves as
Christian, a number identi-
fy with other religions and
many more indicate either
no religious affiliation or
did not answer the survey
question.

Of the 52 percent of
the Hrst-year class that
responded, 84 percent
classified themselves as
Christian, with Baptist,
Roman Catholic, Presby-
terian, Methodist and Epis-
copal as the denominations
with the greatest represen-
tation. Each of these
denominations has a stu-
dent fellowship group
// ^, on campus and
representation
on the Religious
Life Council,
K*^" the group that

plans campus-
Ill wide religious activities.
In addition, "New Life," a
nondenominational Chris-
tian fellowship affiliated
with Campus Crusade, has
a chapter on campus.

Six percent of the first-
year students are Baha'i,
Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim
or Taoist. A Muslim stu-

ON CAMPUS

dent association was
formed this year, providing
Muslim students a support-
ive place to examine their
religious identity. Agnes
Scott's association with
Atlanta YAD, the Jewish
Young Adult Agency,
remains strong. Jewish stu-
dents find support and
community in this group,
which meets on Emory's
campus. Agnes Scott also
works to create programs
that support Jewish stu-

Ai'^^

dents and edu-
cate the rest of
the community
to Jewish tradi-
tion

During the spring
semester, students formed
a "Spiritual Awareness
Association" to promote
awareness of alternative
religions on campus and to
create a safe community
for those who are finding a
name for their own beliefs.

TTie mission of the

C^haplain's
'iKice is to pro-
Mde campus
orship opportu-
nities for Christian stu-
dents, to encourage all stu-
dents to grow in their
respective faiths, and to
educate the Agnes Scott
community on various reli-
gious traditions

The Office of the
Chaplain works with the
Religious Life Council, a
group of 1 students repre-

senting various faith tradi-
tions, in planning chapel
services for students, facul-
ty and staff. Planning these
student-led services en-
courages students to think
theologically as they
decide on worship, prayers
and hymns. Often, the
council invites members of
the faculty and
staff to speak
on topics
such as
"How does

MCCANN APPOINTMENT

Dennis P. McCann, one of the
most influential figures in reli-
gious and business ethics in the
United States, joins Agnes Scott this
fall as the Wallace M. Alston
Professor of Bible and Religion

"1 am excited about this appoint-
ment because of his range of inter-
ests, from Reinhold Niebuhr, to his
work with both Protestant and
Catholic theologies and to his inter-
est in both Asian and western ethical
systems," says President Mary Brown
Bullock '66.

McCann comes to Agnes Scott
from DePaul University where he
serves as chair of the religious stud-
ies department, he has also sei^ved as
senior fellow at the Center for
University Studies and co-director
ol the Center tor the Studv ol
Values in Modern Society

McCann will continue as execu-
tive director of the Society of

Christian Ethics, bringing with him
the prestigious Annual oj the Society oj
Christian Ethics. Other journals to
which he has contributed are The
Reinew oj Religion ami Theolocly, The
Christian Century, Commonu-'cal and the
Journal of the American
Acaciany of Reliipon.

Widely published,
McCann has a forth-
coming book: Gld'olk
Social Thouitht in the
Third Mi//oiiiii(iii. One
of his first works.
Christian Realism anJ
Liberation Theoloify
( 1 98 1 ) is considered a
classic. Theologians at the apex ot
religious studies praise this respected
volume: lames Luther Adams, pro-
fessor emeritus. Christian ethics
Hai"vard University Divinirv School
notes The substantial, exciting
book brings about a confrontation

high on the agenda ot Christian
social ethics; it represents a marked
advance in the discussion of the pre-
sent relevance and inadequacy' of
Christian realism in relation to the
promise and limitations of liberation
theolog\'

.McCann received
his Ph.D. from the
University of Chicago
Divinitx' School.
He studied at the
Gregorian Universit>' in
Rome Italv and St.
Charles Borromeo
Seminar.' Columbus
Ohio

His professional activities and
honoiN include a visiting fellowship
at the Center tor Applied Ethics at
Hong Kong Baptist Univcrsirv as
well as serv'ice on the editorial board
of the Journal of Religious Ethics.

Dolly Purvis '89

ACNES SCOTT COLLEGE SlttlAlER i

ON CAMPUS

your faith influence your
work at Agnes Scott?" and
"What are you thankful
for?" illustrating the rele-
vance of faith to one's
study or work.

The Office of the
Chaplain and the Religious
Life Council serve an
important educational
function by helping stu-
dents learn more about
their own cultural and reli-
gious traditions as well as
those of their peers and by
exploring the connection
between faith and learning.
By hosting educational
forums during the year, the
chaplain and the council
encourage students to take
a new look at their studies
through the lens of faith.
In addition, the College
Committee on Faith and
Learning coordinates the
annual James Ross McCain
Faith and Learning
Lectures, featuring major
religious thinkers, such as
Elaine Pagels, professor at
Princeton University, and
Melissa Faye Greene, local
author and journalist.

Religious life at Agnes
Scott is strong and varied,
and continues to illustrate
the Colleges commitment
to its Presbyterian heritage,
as well as its growing reli-
gious diversity.

TIk Rev. Lihhy Inman,

Interim Julia Thompson

Smith Chaplain

THE STATUS
OF WOMEN

IN ACADEME

[Eilitoi's Note: iWaitme "Tina"
Bwumley '69, Goodrich C.
Wloite Professor oj English at
Emory University, was among
the panelists who participated in
the symposium, "Womat: The
Story of Our Cmtury, " held
during Alumnae Weekmd.
Following are her commmts pre-
sented during the session.)
I took as my part of this
panel to assess the status
of women teachers of the
humanities in our colleges
and universities today,
with just a gesture toward
the future. I'll start earlier
in our century, 1928 to be
exact, with Virginia Woolf.
Woolf is describing her
lunch at one of the all-
male Oxbridge colleges.
The meal begins with sole
drenched in "the whitest
cream"; it continues with
partridges "with all there in
a retinue of sauces and sal-
ads," a succulent roast and
sprouts "foliated as rose-
buds." Wineglasses, con-
tinually refilled, alternately
"flush yellow and flush
crimson." The meal ends
with a dessert Woolf
describes as "a confection
which rose all sugar from
the waves."

This magnificent repast
lasts well into the after-
noon, but ultimately

Woolf joins some friends
at one of the Oxbridge
women's colleges for din-
ner. When she reviews the
women's menu, it is clear
she was fortunate to have
eaten well at lunch. Din-
ner, as Woolf describes it,
begins with "a plain gravy
soup." Stringy beef and
yellowed sprouts follow
and "[t]he water jug was
liberally passed around."
Finally, for dessert, there
are prunes with some cus-
tard. Woolf comments that
'There are people whose
charity embraces even the
prune" but she is clearly
not one of these people.

Two meals, then, juxta-
posed in Woolf's inimitable
way, suggest the vast
social, fiscal and discursive
spaces that separate male
and female academics at
the beginning of this
century.

Today, at the end of
this century, women are no
longer segregated among
the prunes. In 1995, 26
percent of tenured faculty
members in U.S. colleges
and universities were
women. Now, 26 percent
isn't really overwhelming,
and it gets even more
underwhelming when you
take into account that in
1975, when the push to
put women on college fac-
ulties really began, the per-
centage was 1 8 percent.

That's 20 years to jump 8
percent, or four-tenths of
one percent a year

Despite these figures,
my own assessment of
women's prospects in the
humanities is quite posi-
tive. I think that relatively
soon, the humanities in our
colleges and universities
will be taught predomi-
nantly by women. Maybe
not in my lifetime, but cer-
tainly in the generation
after There are two rea-
sons I think women are
going to take over the
humanities,- one of them is
positive, one of them is
positively sobering.

The positive reason is
the huge numbers of
women now entering the
professoriate. In 1995, 43
percent of the faculty on
tenure-track lines were
women. Now, all those 43
percent are not going to
make it, but I think enough
will get through the sys-
tem to finally tip the scale
toward women in the
humanities.

The second reason I
think women will domi-
nate the humanities, the
less pleasing one, is the
marginal state of the hu-
manities today. Two Har-
vard professors recently
described what they call
the massive U.S. "disin-
vestment in the humani-
ties." They termed it "the

ON CAMPUS

ON CAMPUS

Tina Brownley says women
will dominate tiie humanities
in colleges and universities.

dehumanization of higher
education " They had all
statistics to back up their
contentions: a steep
decline in the number of
college niaiors in the
humanities,- shrinking
humanities graduate pro-
grams, significantly lower
professorial salaries for
humanists along with
higher teaching loads,
falling standardized test
scoies lor humnnilies sub-
jects,- and cutbacks in
humanities requirements
bolh 1(11 Lollege entrance
and for graduation, partic-
ularly in the languages

The eonelusion ol
these authors was slaik
"Since the lale l'(i(K, the
humanities have been
neglected, downgraded
ami loixeil to reln-iKh at
the sanu- lime lli.U odiei

areas of higher education
are growing in numbers,
wealth and Influence." In a
culture driven by econom-
ics, technology and pro-
fessional specialization,
the humanities are more
and more seen as "frills," or
as "women's work/'

it's pretty hard to deter-
mine cause and effect for
these two factors, the
decline in the humanities
and the increasing number
of women In the htimani-
tles. It's imclear whether
the humanities were In
decline and therefore
women were let into them
because nobody cared, or
whether the Increasing
number of women con-
tributed directly to the
decline.

I raise these questions
because we've got numer-
ous studies that show what
happens when women
enter a field In any signifi-
cant numbers. Researchers
have proved bevond the
slightest doubt that anv
area of endeavor dominat-
ed by women will lose
substantial prestige and
will have salaries tall. Vou
see this In accounting, in
nursing, in certain medical
specialties in what used to
be called clerks and are
now called secretaries.
The "feminization" of anv
Held equals declining pres
tige anil lower pa\'

Significantly, it doesn't
take many women in a
certain area before that
area begins to be per-
ceived as feminized.

For example, in 1990,
John Silber, president of
Boston University, fumed
to The Waslmtgton Post that
his English department
was a "damn matriarchy. '
His English department,
this "damn matriarchy,"
was 20 people of whom
six were women 30 per-
cent. The fact is that even
without a majorirv' female
professorial presence, the
humanities today are
Increasingly considered
"feminized '

So the good news is
that women will soon
dominate the humanities.
The bad news is that
they're going to do so
because nobody else
wants to be there.

This "ghetto effect' is
one ot the mauir reasons
wh\' women \\ill never be
able to "have it all under
prevailing conditions-as
long as cunent social and
political sti\ictuies hold
that anything women
attain, or even look like
the\ nia\ exentually at-
tain IS imniediatelv deval-
ued or marginalized

in this situation the
role ol a college like
.Agnes Scott with its long-
standiiii; commitment to

both women and liberal
arts, should be crucial. TTie
college and her alumnae
need to stand against
ongoing contemporary
attempts to denigTBte both
women and the humanities
by yoking them negatively
together. If we don't do
this, the alternative is
already clear

The authors of the arti-
cle on the decline in the
humanities point out that
the fields that have fared
best in American educa-
tion in the past 30 years
are "fields that study
mone\' receive external
mone>' or are associated

with monetary re-
wards Money has many
powers, but one power
tew would claim for it is
what Stephen Spender
calls the transtorming
power ot art which, if it
cannot save socien.' can
perhaps redeem inner life."
Well taught and well stud-
ied by enough people who
care and with understand-
ing the humanities can
redeem both.

W ithout our vigorous
support not too far into
the millennium women
and the humanities are
going to be back with the
prunes. And even if one's
chanrv does embrace the
pmnc both women and
the humanities deseivc
better

AGNI-S SCOTT COLIJ.Ci; .SUMMER .oo

THE BEAUTY AND BALANCE OF THE

ECO-CAMPUS

A colorful line of kitchenware dot-
ted the windowsills of the
Wallace M. Alston Campus
Center this past semester. Plates
cups and metal cutlery decorat-
ed the lower Alston space, which doubled as
the cafeteria while Evans Dining Hall under-
went renovation and expansion. To the out-
sider, these may have appeared to be only
clutter, but to the Agnes Scott family they
were a daily testament to the students' com-
mitment to the envi-

ronment, to keeping
their share of card-
board plates and plas-
tic utensils (used in the
interim dining facility)
out of the burgeoning
national waste stream.

These windowsill
decorations would give
Julian Keniry '89 cause
to smile.

As manager of the
National Wildlife
Federation's (NWF)
Campus Ecology
Program and author of
Ecodemia: Campus
Environmental Stmiariiship
at the Turn of the 2lst
Century, Keniry encour-
ages just these sorts of initiatives on college
and university campuses through her work
with the five NWF field offices (Atlanta,
Portland, Ore., Ann Arbor, Mich.,
Montpelier, Vt., and Washington, DC).

Applying an environmental philosophy
developed at Agnes Scott, Keniry is shaping
awareness and sparking interest in ecology
and conservation on campuses nationwide.
F4er primary, driving question has remained
the same since she was awakened to environ
mental causes as a student: "F-|ow can 1 most
strategically move things along the path

toward sustainability?" Through the NWF
network, she is answering that question by
teaching today's college students how to
address ecological issues on a local level,
which may, on a national or international
level, seem too daunting to tackle.

"Everything 1 was exposed to at Agnes
Scott led to what I'm doing now," says
Keniry, who was among the student founders
of a now defunct campus-based environmen-
tal group, Gaia. She studied deforestation,
biodiversity and soil
erosion through the
writings of scientists
such as James Lovelock,
father of the national
Gaia movement, and
the teachings of
former ASC professors
Ed Johnson and David
Orr.

"It was probably
Dr Orr who influenced
and inspired me with a
simple question: 'F^ave
you thought about the
resource flows on the
campus?' " Keniry
recalls. That single
question triggered a
lifetime of inquiry and
launched her career as
an earthkeeper

While Orr sparked Keniry's interest,
Patrick Kessler, director of the Georgia
Environmental Project, gave her a healthy
shove toward the National Wildlife
Federation. The summer after she graduated
from Agnes Scott, while working as a typist
at a law firm, Keniry received a call from
Kessler saying, "If you're not interested in
working as a campus outreach organizer for
the National Wildlife Federation, you'd bet-
ter call them up, because I forwarded your
resume and cover letter to them."

Julian Keniry '89
is working to make
campuses greener.

By Mary Alma Durrett
and Sue elites

ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARA EMMONS

RFAI ITY ANJn RAI AMCF OM THF Fm.rAMPI IS

She pursued it, got the job and began
working with campus programs, but Keniry
quickly reahzed that students didn't have a
great interest in global warming, primarily
because it is a "huge issue that's so hard to
put in terms of a local level," she says The
greening of the campus: that's where their
interest was. So we changed our name to
Campus Ecology and changed our mission
from curbing global warming to greening
college campuses"

While the Campus Ecology Program

Julian Keniry '89 lives In a man-
ner that she can "leave the
earth feeling like I lived lightly,
humanely, compassionately."

(CEP) has served mainly as a clearinghouse
of information about sustainability on the
college campus including waste reduction,
landscaping, composting, energy and fund
raising, distributing a conservation directory
of NWF projects today the program is
maturing.

"The organization is now focusing more
on environmental management, on a system
to get campuses up that cui"ve beyond single
projects to developing goals and objectives
that cover all operational areas and all disci-
plines on the academic side and then com-
munity issues as well," Kcniiy says. She envi-
sions a day when environmental policy
becomes part ol campuses overall strategic
plans.

At Agnes Scott that day has arrived.

The College's many environmental initia-
tives are being drawn into focus these days as
Agnes Scott implements the first phase of a
Landscape Master Plan drafted by the award-
winning national landscape architecture firm
of Carol Johnson Associates Inc. of
Cambridge, Mass. The Landscape Master
Plan, an outgrowth of the Colleges compre-
hensive Master Plan initiated in 1997, will
reinforce and extend the landscape character
of Agnes Scott by organizing and enhancing
the elements that make the campus distinc-
tive and memorable.

Recommendations in the Landscape
Master Plan include, among other things,
developing a storm water management sys-
tem to better direct water flow, irrigate the
campus and reduce soil erosion, a tree man-
agement program that will ensure the health
and maintenance of the Colleges signature
tree canopy and an on-campus composting
program for wood chips and leaves to pro-
vide mulching for campus greenery.

These new efforts reinforce the existing
campus ecological efforts under way for a
decade The legacy of ,ASC Caia founders
such as Kenir\' continues to be felt today
through the Colleges campus-wide recycling
programs Collection bins positioned
throughout campus buildings facilitate the
recycling of approximately 364 cubic yards
of paper and cardboard thats approxi-
mately 26 tons annually. Also 14 cubic yards
of aluminum and 3 5 cubic yards of glass are
averted annually from the waste stream.

In addition to the traditional consumables,
the College recycles between 250 and 350
gallons of used oil from vehicles lawnmow-
ers and refrigeration units each year plus an
additional 660 gallons of oil this year from
the electric transformers which were drained
and converted to argon gas use.

Strides are being made as well to system-
atically switch to using more recycled materi-
als. ^X'hen the Colleges new graphic identits'
was launched last year the entire stationer\-
order was printed on recycled lines of paper
as are all editions of Ajtin Scoff A/umrur
Miijiiriiif and Al.im froits.

As impressive as these efforts may be, the
most significant energA' conservation initia-
tives on campus come through the use of a
sophisticated energv management program
with a central monitoring svstem that tracks
and controls lights air conditioning, heat
and hot water The .Automated Logic system,
installed in all campus buildings in 1989,

AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE SUMMER i

employs Georgia Power Company's Real
Time Pricing (RTP) structure, which allows
Agnes Scott to maintain a predictable daily
kilowatt usage. The monitor of the campus
system, Mechanical Supervisor Raymond
Stelmachers, checks the daily kilowatt pric-
ing online and signals the system to reduce
energy use in low traffic areas to ensure that
the "kilowatt medium" is not exceeded. For
example, during the day, when students are
attending classes, the system might be
instructed to reduce energy use in residence
halls.

in the past two years the College has
begun to convert its fleet vehicles from the

gas-consuming models to electric-powered
units (see "Charged and Ready," p. II). And
future environmental initiatives will likely be
borne out in the work of the newly formed
Environmental Action Committee, a group of
faculty, staff and students spearheaded by
faculty members and supported by the
College's administration.

Efforts such as these produce the measur-
able results that Keniry outlines in her book
Ecodemia and defines as successful in the way
that writer Henry David Thoreau articulated
personal success more than a century ago, ". .
. to leave the earth feeling like 1 lived lightly,
humanely, compassionately."

Charged and Ready for the Next Century

Agnes Scott has stepped out as a leader in replacing fleet vehicles with cleaner, alter-
native fuel models. By the end of the summer, two electric vehicles will be in the
campus fleet of 22, additions that follow a successful test of an electric-powered
maintenance truck provided through a Georgia Power Company pilot program.

Rus Drew, director of Public Safety, whose area handles law enforcement, including fed
eral and state environmental laws, believes ASCs proactive approach to fleet conversion,
which began in 1996, has prepared the institution to deal with ever-strengthening environ
mental laws.

Currently, the Clean Air Act of 1990 and Energy Policy Act of 1992, as we
as Georgia's Clean Fueled Fleet Program (GCFFP), are driving the move
toward cleaner alternative-fueled vehicles.

The GCFFP requires qualifying fleets operating in the
Atlanta metropolitan area to acquire increasing per-
centages of clean-fueled vehicles. Beginning with 1999
models, 30 percent of fleets must consist of govern-
ment certified clean-fueled vehicles. This acquisition
percentage grows to 50 percent in the year 2000 and
to 70 percent in 2001 and beyond.

The tester electric vehicle (EV), a Chevrolet S-10,

has been on loan to Agnes Scott since December 1997

from Georgia Power Company, electric service provider and ener- ''''S" cures

gy consultant to the College. This summer, ASC will purchase one truck
and have another on loan from Georgia Power.

"Georgia Power is providing our customers who are impacted by federal and state legis-
lation an opportunity to evaluate electric vehicles in their daily operation prior to making a
purchase decision," says Charles Scurry, Georgia Power account executive for Agnes Scott.
"Due to the high cost of today's electric vehicles (the loaned model is valued at $33,300),
few if any fleet managers would risk selecting this technology without first proving to
themselves that EVs will work in their daily operation."

Although the electric test model was driven an average of three miles a day, the truck
could hold a charge for up to 35 miles. It also had the same power as the gas-powered S-
10s and hauled virtually the same weight (only approximately 100 pounds less than the gas
model).

Raymond Stelmachers, mechanical supervisor, notes, "The EV has no gearbox, no differ-
ential, no universal joints, crank case or gas tank. Keeping the truck charged is virtually the
only maintenance. For most purposes, I would rather have the electric truck," he says. "It
seems to have enough power. For the mission of the College, it's perfect." Sue Clites

Raymond Stelmachers, ASC
mechanical supervisor, tested the
electric Chevy S-io against a
propane model and gave the
electric truck the thumbs up.

BEAUTY AND BALANCE ON THE ECO-CAMPUS

jf-m-

Changing Immigrati

hayli Miller Bashir 'gsjou^ht
the U.S. Immigration
and Naturalization
Service in the dramatic
case oja refugee woman
facing mutilation i
home. And won.

By Karen Hill
Photos by Marily

^r

"My faith has the analogy of civilization being like
a bird man is one wing, woman is the other wing.
Unless both wings are ec^ually strong, humanity
won't fly, or soar to its highest potential."

Not yet 30 years old, Layli
Miller Bashir '93 has already
made a mark on the world,
effecting change in immigra-
tion law. Some may know
Bashir as a classmate or as the recipient of the
Outstanding Young Alumna Award for 1998.
Others may have read about a court case that
she spearheaded which brought the provoca-
tive subject of female genital mutilation
(FGM) through the media into many
American homes.

Until Bashir got involved in the plight of
an African teenager, the threat of genital
mutilation wasn't considered a sufficient rea-
son to be granted refuge in the United States.
But while a 23-year-old law student in
Washington, D.C., Bashir took the case of
Fauziya Kassindja, a 17-year-old Muslim
woman from Togo who had fled this tribal
practice

Performed primarily in Africa and Asia,
FGM is forced each year upon up to two mil-
lion children, often as young as 4. They often
receive no anesthetic before and no antibi-
otics after the torturous procedure, in which
female relatives hold them down while an
older woman cuts off their outer genitals with
a dull blade.

Proponents of the ritual contend that the
custom is designed to make sex less enjoy-
able,- therefore, the girls will be more likely
to remain virgins before marriage and faithful
to their husbands after marriage. In fact,
health experts say the custom, which has no
basis in any religion, kills between 15 and 30
percent of its victims, with survivors often
suffering side effects ranging from tetanus to
infertility.

Although FGM has traditionally been
practiced in Africa and Asia, as women from
these cultures migrate to the United States,
the procedure and the longstanding effects of
it become a concern of American legal and
medical communities.

Kassindja fled to the United States and
requested asylum, but waited for a year and a
half in various maximum-security prisons and
Immigration and Naturalization Service
detention facilities while her case wound its

Attorney Layli Miller Bashir '93
took on the formidable task of
representing a young Togo
woman who fled her country to
avoid female genital mutilation.

CHANGING IMMIGRATION LAW

way through the INS. A judge ordered that
she be deported But due in large part to the
help Bashir garnered from members of
Congress, other attorneys, reporters and
celebrities, Kassindja's case gained national
attention. Ultimately, the highest immigra-
tion tribunal decided she could stay in this
country

The decision that FCM is grounds for asy-
lum made legal history, until then, there was
no provision for gainmg asylum for gender-
specific persecution.

Kassindja and Bashir co-authored. Do They
Hear You When You Cry, published by Dela-
corte Press in 1998. With her portion of the
book earnings (approximately $40,000),
Bashir established the Tahirih justice Center

"It's not just a center for legal services we're

taking a more holistic approach. The momeyitum

is propelling the cei^ter jorward, and all oj us are

simply iporking on the obvious needs as they appear."

in northern Virginia near Washington.

"1 saw an acute need for a center that
could provide services for female refugees like
Fauziya," Bashir explains. "It's not just a center
for legal services we're taking a more holis-
tic approach. We have English tutors, volun-
teers to help these women find housing, food
and jobs, and a medical-referral network of
17 physicians and expert witnesses. The
momentum is propelling the center forward,
and all of us are simply working on the obvi-
ous needs as they appear."

The center has two full-time staff mem-
bers, one an attorney and the other a direc-
tor of its medical, expert witness and social
service programs. It has an active caseload of
more than 50 cases and in its first year helped
more than 165 women settle in the United
States

Fauziya Kassindja s stoiy

Kassindja escaped mutilation as a child
because her father abhorred it. But
alter his unexpected death, her aunt
and uncle Insisted upon it and that she not
return to boarding school, but become the
fourth wife of an older man she barely knew
According to tribal custom, Kassindia's moth-
er was powerless to intervene. But the mother
gave all the money she had inherited from
her husband to Kassindjas sister, who spirited
Fauziya out of the country, first to Germany,
then to the United States, where some rela-

tives lived.

Upon arrival in this country, Kassindja
asked for asylum. Like other refugees seeking
asylum, she was treated as a prisoner In
maximum-securit>' prisons and INS detention
facilities while her case languished for
months.

Bashir became involved when she started a
part-time job with the attorney who had
been hired by Kassindjas cousin to handle
her case.

She already had interest and some exper-
tise in the subject. Bashir had learned about
female genital mutilation \\'hile visiting rela-
tives in west Africa. At Agnes Scott, and later
at American University's law school, her
interests lay in the international arena. She
had written papers for law school about gen-
der-based persecution and the criminalization
of FCM.

Shortly after she began working as a law
clerk for attorney Eric Bowman he handed
her a thin file "See what you can do with
this, ' he said, according to her account in Do
They Hear You Wmi You Cr)'.

Bashir began by contacting teachers and
veteran law>'ers with specialties in immigra-
tion law, several offered to help. She began
contacting medical expens and anthropolo-

About Tahirih

The Tahirih
justice Center is
named for a woman
who was a renowned
Middle Eastern poet
and noted scholar of
the Qnr'iiii (Koran) in
the mid- 1800s.

Tahirih was an early member of the
Baha'i faith, which grew from Islam She
became a champion ot womens rights in
Middle Eastern socict>' She traveled
throughout Persia, stopping in towns and
villages to meet with women and encour-
age them to reject oppression.

In 1848 Tahirih became the first
woman in Middle Eastern historv' to pub-
licly discard the symbol ol the inequality
ot her gender, appearing bclore an assem-
bly of men unveiled

Tahirih the mother ot three, was put
to death tor her beliefs in 1852. when she
was 3(1

J2

,.W ;N1 S SCOTT COLLEGE SlIMAIER i

gists and started compiling statistics on
female genital mutilation difficult because
authorities often don't want to acknowledge
that it happens and victims often are too
modest to discuss it. Next, she began con-
tacting reporters, to try to convince them
to write about the case

Bowman allowed her to present the case.
But it was for naught. The immigration judge
said he simply didn't believe Kassindja's story
and ordered her sent back to Togo.

Days after that decision, Bashir traveled to
Beijing, where she was a delegate at the
United Nation's Fourth World Conference on
Women. Desperate, by her own account,
Bashir cornered anyone who would listen to
Kassindja's story. Two attorneys were sympa-
thetic,- they were the founders of Equality
Now, an organization similar to
Amnesty International but devoted
to women.

Depressed and exhausted when
she arrived, Bashir left the confer-
ence reinvigorated, armed with a
new arsenal of helpers.

When Bashir returned home,
Kassindja had given up, deciding
that what awaited her in Togo was
no worse than the nightmare she
was already in. She wanted to see
her mother and her sisters, so she
asked to see an INS counselor to
start the deportation process.

Then something dramatic hap-
pened. Kassindja dreamed that her
dead father came to her prison cell
and urged her to fight on. Other
inmates begged her not to give up
and her cousin told attorney
Bowman to appeal, ignoring
Kassindja's earlier instruction to the
contrary.

A law professor introduced
Bashir to his wife, a refugee-advocate lawyer
who had never had a client deported and
who had founded the International Human
Rights Clinic. She agreed to take the case.
Bashir enlisted the help of women in
Congress: Sen. Pat Schroeder, Rep. Maxine
Waters and Rep. Cynthia McKinney, who
had taught at Agnes Scott when Bashir was a
student.

Kassindja decided to fight.

Public relations experts with Equality Now
began their work. Kassindja's name appeared
in The New York TimeS; columnists with the
Times, The Boston Globe and The Wnsbiiitjton Post
wrote about her Twenty-six members o

Congress sent a petition to Attorney General
Janet Reno on Kassindja's behalf. There were
radio interviews, including Voice of America.
Authors Alice Walker and Gloria Steinem
took up her cause.

When Kassindja again considered aban-

The people of my tribe are good people. But good people

can do bad things. Tradition doesn't make something right.

If the people of my tribe stood together and said, 'No, this is wrong,

it has to stop, ' oh, that would make me so proud.

doning her efforts, a fellow detainee, a friend,
forced her to see what awaited her if she
went back home.

In the prison shower room, she pressed

CHANCING IMMIGRATION LAW

Want to get
involved?

Here's how to rcacli the

Tahirih Center

108 North Virginin Ave.,

Suite 100

Falls Church, VA 22046

Phone: (70S) 237-4554

1-ax: (703) 2 37-4574

e-mail:

justice(3Hahlrih.org,

Wch page:

www.tahirih.org

Kassindja to look at her mutilated genitals,
saying, "You don't know what you're going
back to. Look "

There was nothing there Nothing. She
had no genitals. Just smooth flesh with a long
scar running vertically between her legs
where her genitals should have been. And a
hole. A gaping hole where the urine and
blood would pass through.

"You have to stay here too," she told Fauziya.
"You kriow that nou\ don't you?"

She'd had children She'd been cut and
resewn before and after every birth. That's
why she so desperately wanted to stay in
America. If she went back to Africa, her
daughters would be cut too. She wanted to
protect them. "You have to stay here too, "
she told Fauziya. "You know that now, don't
you?"

When The New York Times weighed in with
a front-page story from a reporter who had
gone to Togo and found out that Kassindja's
story was true, the tide began to turn for her.

In just a few weeks lightning fast com-
pared to the progress to date of her case
she was released into the care of Bashir's in-
laws, pending the outcome of her appeal.

The Board of Immigration Appeals heard
Kassindja's case on May 2, 1996. On June 13,
the board Issued its decision: yes to asylum,
1 1 votes to one.

Now what?

Kassmdja currently attends college in
New York City. In four years she will
be eligible for U.S. citizenship.

She is adjusting well, according to Bashir,
but prefers to remain out of the limelight.
She can never return to Togo, the man to
whom she was promised has said he would
reclaim her

Her mother, who moved to Ghana to be
with her own sister, came to visit in the
United States last year, but has decided she
prefers to make her home in Africa.

Kassindja writes in her book:

Liy/i [Bashn] Uilh .il'oiil Ccili purpim. AnJ
even lliom/l.) / ihrnk I shoiiU xercr I'iiiy hui to suffer
(he may I liiii, it liocs seem thiit soiiif i)noii has come of
it. The people of my Irihe are tfooJ people Rut ifood
peopk uiti do had thiiufs. Tradition doesut make some-
thiiu] riilht If the people of my trihe stood Icifether and
said, 'No, this is wroiul, it has to stop ' Oh. that
would make me .sn proud

Bashir accepts the Outstanding Young Alumna Award
during Alumnae Weelcend 1998.

The American people need to faiou' about what
happe}\ed to me right here in Amfnw The American
people can stop the abuse and mistreatment of refu^tn
like me And they will, I think, if they loww about it.

As for Bashir after graduating from Agnes
Scott she graduated magna cum laude from
American Universitv' in 1996, with a law
degree and master's degree in international
relations. She is an associate at Arnold and
Porter, one of Washington DCs largest law
firms, where she concentrates on internation-
al law. She chairs the board of directors of the
Tahirih Justice Center and senes on the
Baha'i National Committee tor the Equailrv' of
Women and Men.

When Bashir accepted the Outstandmg
Young .Alumna Award in 1998 she said her
Baha I faith drives her work on behalf of
abused women

"My faith has the analogy of civilization
being like a bird man is one wing woman is
the other wing Unless both wings are equally
strong, humanirv' won t fiv or soar to its high-
est potential Its not about one being stronger
than another, its not about being the same
you can t put the right wing on the left side
of the bird or the left wing on the nght side
and have the bird tlv Its built that way. it's
good that way but both sides have to he
equally strong if the bird is going to fly.'

Ac.Niis SCOTT rou.rcr siimaier (

Agnes Scott College

THE WORLD FOR WOMEN

CT t^SBBBlHSBWtMinSBBBBTIi

June 1999

r\^nei Scott'ijocus on the landscape

of the larger world encompasses formal and

informal initiatives, including faculty -led

Global Awareness and Global

Connections study opportunities that

allow students to experience firsthand such

countries as Jordan fbelow).

Cover: ASC President Mary Brown
Bullock 66, the Reii Perky Daniel V) and
classmates enjoy Alumnae Weekaid 1999.

The World for Women

A Report from the President of Agnes Scott College

r\rriving in Atlanta in i995, a year before
the iOOth Olympics, I discovered a city, a
higher education community, and a College
in the process of transjormation. I came to
realize that Agnes Scott's greatest strategic
advantages were its metropolitan location,
membership in a vibrant university communi-
ty: extraordinary financial, human and
spiritual resources,
and, most of all,
an enduring tradition
of academic excellence.

Given such
advantages the chal-
lenge for the future
was to set our sights
high. At my inaugura-
tion I said that we
must prepare, as our
founders did, for a
new century, and that

"we must grow, and we must build, and we
must change," concluding, with a competi-
tive nod to the Olympics, that "we are going
for the gold."

During these past four years we have
engaged in extensive planning, completing
Strategic Directions, the Master Plan and
the comprehensive Landscape Plan. The
goals are straightforward; academic excel-
lence, student achievement, institutional
growth, institutional support, community

leadership and physical modernization
None of these stand alone,- they depend on
each other.

Central to these plans for the 21st cen-
tury is a firm conviction that a liberal arts
education prepares women for the chal-
lenges and opportunities of a tmly global
world. Our adoption of a new logo with
multi-colored linked Gothic arches within
the infinity of a circle symbolizes that con-
viction. 'The World for Women" is not an
empty mottO: it is who we are and where we
are going.

Four years ago 1 asked, "Do you see
what 1 see? Our Woodruff Quadrangle, a
global commons." With students from more
than 25 countries now in residence, that is
physically becoming a reality. But we mean
much more than international students and
study abroad. By offering "The World for
Women" Agnes Scott encourages students to
become fluent across disciplines, across con-
tinents and across centuries. And, yes,
believing in the old-fashioned concept of
vocation, we also transpose those words: we
are preparing women for the world, to serve
the world.

I am pleased to share with you an
update on implementing these plans for
Agnes Scott College.

Key Initiatives
of Strategic
Directions

Academic
excellence

Student
achievement

21st century
curriculum

Global learning

Institutional
growth

Community
leadership

Physical
transformation

'a-<^

.^^.^ ^-.-^^A

Agnes Scott College

tii^lisb Pro/fssor and Clwir
Chrii Ames, who rtcently had a
sfcoiiJ hook puhlishtJ. is im'oliifii
III curriculum phmning
Above: Soiiors ntii; tht htll m
A lijiii when ihry get a joh or are
iiccffilf J to guiduate school.

President's Report. 1995 - 1999

Academic Excellence

Faculty scholarship, student achievement remain the cornerstone.

r\g\KS Scott's traditio)] of academic excel-
lence remains our top priority. The Colleije
ranks in the top iO percent oj American
liberal arts colleges in the percentaije of
i980-89 graduates receiving doctoral degrees
between {986-95. Since {993, five of our
students have been named Fulbright scholars
and two Goldwater scholars. Numerous
graduates [including three ofthefii^e
Fulbright scholars] have been admitted to
graduate schools such as Harimrd, Duke,
Cornell and Johns Hopkins.

The students are not alone in their
scholarship,- teaching professors also contin-
ue their research both domestically and
abroad, including Catherine Scott, professor
and chair of Political Science, who travels to
South Africa this fall on a Fulbright Linda
FHodges, professor of Chemistry, is among
the 28 Pew Scholars named this year by The
Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning. She will develop
models for assessing student-centered, inno-
vative educational strategies.

Professors remain accessible, innovative,
collaborative and intellectually engaged,- and
students find working with them an inviting
challenge. Collaborations range from work
on U.S. Department of Agriculture-spon-
sored weed research with Phil Gibson, assis-
tant professor of Biology, to interviews with
women of Oaxaca, Mexico, as part of

Jfiufaif and
faculty collaho- Associate Professor of
radon are essen- Anthropology Martha

tml at Acjnes

Scott. Lilia l^ees' research on the

Harvey, assistant effects of migration on
projessor, provides

instruction in households, sponsored by

orclamc the National Science

chemistry.

Foundation.

At a time when many colleges are cut-
ting departments or faculty, we are enhanc-
ing key departments and recanting top pro-
fessors for new tenure-track positions.
Dennis P. McCann, the newly appointed
Wallace M. Alston Professor of Bible and
Religion, is one of the most influential fig-
ures in religious ethics in the United States.
Agnes Scott's first faculty member in
Women's Studies, Elizabeth Hackett, is
broadly trained in feminist theory and
women and the law, having received her
Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of
Pennsylvania. She comes to us from the
Women's Studies program at the University
of Michigan, one of the finest in the country.

Key Initiatives

Faculty of
the highest
caliber

Student-
faculty
collaborations

Faculty
development

Tenure-track
positions

Agnes Scott College

A Curriculum for the list Century

The College draws on its strategic location in metropolitan Atlanta
and its international focus to develop innovative programs.

Kjlobal kaniini; is as necessary for the list
century as technoloijical proficiency.
Building on a pioneerinij Lanijuage-Across-
the-Curriculum program, an interdisciplinary
lanijuage initiative that has become a nation-
al model, and on i)tternational study fxfifri-
ences such as Global Awareness and Global
Connections, Agnes Scott jump-staiied an
e-xpanded international focus.

Faculty members contmue to develop
programs that stress global awareness among
students by actively seeking a cross-cultural
exchange of ideas and perspectives. The
dynamic exchange of ideas and perspectives
contmues beyond the boundaries of campus
into Decatur, a revitalized community situat-
ed in one of the most diverse counties in the
state, and in the international business and
cultural center of Atlanta,

^Duill class sizes rtiiJ low stiiJcnt-f<Kuhy

rniios tec/) ihc classes iniiiiuite auil focused on l/ir

needs of the iudividuiil slidJoil.

The Atlanta Semester, a classroom and
internship experience that focuses on
women, leadership and social change, taps
the multitude of resources available in the
larger community and has influenced the
entire curriculum Students intern at non-
profit locations such as the World Relief
Refugee Resettlement Office, the Atlanta
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and
Catholic Social Services Migration and
Refugee Services, and at such global cor-
porations as CNN and The Coca-Cola
Company Since the Atlanta Semester was
inaugurated in 1996, College internships
have quadaipled

The Kauffman Internship Program for
Women Entrepreneurs, launched in 1998
allows students interested in business and
management to intern with women entrepre-
neurs in Decatur and Atlanta, Students learn
about fundraising at 7 Stages Theatre adver-
tising copywnting at Folio Z, or retail chil-
dren's clothing sales at Lemonade as one
student from Shanghai did this year.

Emphasis on critical thinking and ser-
vice luerac\' has driven a lacult\-led rc\ie\4
(il the curriculum. Resulting new initiatives
will prepare our students to think critically
about the complex luinian ethical and tech-
nological issues ol the coming era In 1999.
the lacultN approved new liiNt-vear student
seminars, an additional science requircment
and a social and cultural anaksis requirement
that \mII enhance traditional require-ments

Key Initiatives

Language-

Across-the-
Curriculum

Global
Awareness,
Global
Connections
and Study
Abroad

Atlanta
Semester

Kauffman
internships

New curriculum
requirements

President's Report. 1995 - 1999

1 be resources oj The Carter Center

ajford students access to a variety oj

international speakers, incluidnel fornter

First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

Below: Intjrid Wieshofer, professor of German,

spearheaded the innovative Language-Across-

tbe-Curriculum program at Agnes Scott.

ASC serves as a huh institution and model for

similar programs at Emory and Oglethorpe

mnversities and at Spelman College.

Agnes Scott College

7

Institutional Growth

Top students, top professors are essential to our vision.

r\gnes Scott's growth strategy combineii
with its academic traditions, location in
Atlanta, and emnahle resources position the
institution as a leading national liberal arts
college for women^

Our aggressive growth strategy includes
increasing the number of current students to
1000, broadening geographical representa-
tion while maintaining a strong regional
base, and increasing our selectivity Greater
numbers of applicants and subsequent rising
SAT scores allow us to make admission deci-
sions based on prospective students' unique
combinations of skills, interests and leader-
ship. To achieve our goals, we are increasing
national recruitment, strengthening diversity.

ASCs Enrollment

800

700

600

819.

19^

700

600

720f

Stiuicnts

'94 '95 '96 '97 '98

Applicants

94 '95 '96 '97 '98

increasing national public relations and pro-
viding merit-based scholarships as well as
need-based financial aid

Our sustained enrollment of African
Americans is approximately 15 percent for
the past five years with a growing percent-
age of Asian American, Hispanic and inter-
national students. In 1995, students came
from 33 states and nine foreign countries,- in
1998, from 37 states and Ll.S territories and
25 foreign countries.

Considerable faculty growth is neces-
sary' to maintain and strengthen the intellec-
tual and academic life of the campus.
Through a national recanting effort, we
have increased the facult>' from 70 to 85
(and will have 15 additional faculr\' positions
when the growth initiative is complete),
wrth scholars who bring impressive creden-
tials and significant research interests to the
campus. After the growth plan is accom-
plished the average class size will remain
under 17

Key Initiatives

Increase
enrollment to
1000

Increase faculty

Recruit
applicants of
high academic
standing

Enhance
grants and
scholarships

Strengthen
diversity

8

President's Report, 1995 - 1999

LLnroHment oj studmts from

western states [some oj whom

are pictured below) has

increased significantly since the
region was identified as an
important recruitment target

III (l)f institutional growth plan

Agnes Scott College

The Building of Agnes Scott

An integrated approach to expansion and renovation will reshape the campus.

i i

1 he dramatic cjrowth in the stmient ami
jaiulty populations warrants new and
improved facilities. In i997, the Collecje
completed a comprehensive Master Plan for
its campus and physical plant, and in i999,
a Lmdscape Master Plan.

These two projects provide an integrat-
ed approach to campus improvements for
the next decade and build on the beautihjl
renovations to historic buildings completed
during our Centennial Celebration in 1989.

While campus-wide technological
advancements have enabled us to make com-
puter accessibility a reality in every residence
hall room, academic and community facili-
ties remain in need of significant renovation,
expansion and upgrading to bring both
SlrniejlK Dinxtwu', and the Master Plan to
fruition.

The College plans to open at least one
new (ir ri-iiovaled buildint; each year from

1999 to 2002, beginnmg wrth the expansion
of two centers of activity Evans Dmmg
Hall due to open in August 1999 and
McCain Library in January 2001 as well as
the construction of a new 58,000 square-
foot Wallace M. Alston Campus Center, a
model for 21st century college services,
which will open in August 2000.

A major transformation of our science
facilities will be completed m fall 2002. New
and enhanced classrooms and up-to-date lab
space will encourage and support student-
facult>' collaborations. Our ongoing commit-
ment to faith and learning will be symbol-
ized in a new chapel, and the landscape plan
will enhance and preserve Agnes Scott's
extraordinan,' natural resources.

1 he first of imviy huiUiii0s

to he rawvatcd ivtd expiiiukii ds part

o( the Collcijei Miislcr Plan 15

Lflili.i P.flf EiMiis Diiiiiii) Hall. ichcMeJ

io he iiv^ciu'.l III ihc Ull I'f luo')

Key Initiat'rves

Renovate,
expand Evans
Dining Hall

Renovate,
expand McCain
Library

Construct new
Alston Campus
Center

Renovate,
expand
Campbell Hall

Preserve,
enhance natural
resources

10

President's Report. 1995 - 1999

Ti,

bis view o/A4cC(iiH Library from Alston
Center shows the cloistered reading area and
terrace. This and additions to the rear
of the building will nearly double the library space.

n

h % %

Agnes Scott College

11

Alumnae Accomplishments

Agnes Scott is known for the quality of its graduates.

1 he Colkije's historic standing as well as its
current growth course represents the culmina-
tion oj a century oj accomplishments by our
alumnae^ Alumnae contributions extend to all
sectors oj business and industry, public
service, education, religion, medicine and law.

A glimpse at the close of the decade
illustrates the gains of Agnes Scott women:
in Florida, Katherine Hams 79 is sworn in
as secretary of state, in Harare, Zimbabwe,
Ashley Seaman '95 is elected to the Central
Committee of the World Council of
Churches,- in Washington, DC, Susan M
Phillips '67 steps down from seven years on
the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve to become dean of The George
Washington University School of Business

and Public Management, Burlette Caner '82
is named associate professor of Law at The
George Washington University School of
Law, and Esther Thomas Smith '61 is chosen
"1997 Business Woman of the Year"; in South
Carolina, jean HoeferToal '65 is elected
Chief justice of the Supreme Court and
Elizabeth "Libba" Goud Patterson 68 is
appointed by Gov. James Hodges as the first
woman director of the South Carolina
Department of Social Services.

The national prominence of alumnae is
mirrored in many communities. Agnes Scott
graduates ser^e as cit\' community and fami-
ly leaders, and in the many educational
institutions where they are faculr\' and
administrators.

Recent

Alumnae

Attainments

Board of
Governors

of the Federal
Reserve

Florida
Secretary
of State

Chief justice,
South Carolina
Supreme Court

Central
Committee
of the World
Council of
Churches

/\li(iiiiiiif mirror

the (fuality

of ihc College. To

help with our recoil

rfcniihiioif efforts.

memhen of the Greitt

Scott! Rfcniitmoit

Bo.irJ (\eh\ .IS trell

lis other ijroups <iiiJ

iiuiwiiUuik. play

ii si<;iii/ic<iH(lj

iiclrpf role.

12

President's Report, 1995 - 1999

Irom novelists to eco}iomists, ahinuiae are (Jmcrous in
sharing their knowledcje at various College events. Margaret
Moses '64 (below at Alumnae Weekend) practiced with
prestigious law firms in New Jersey and was clinical director
of the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties

Union before teaching law as an assistant professor at
Loyola Llniversity of Chicago School of Law.

Agnes Scott College

13

Agnes Scott Experience

The College will clarify and strengthen its identity as a leader
in undergraduate liberal arts education.

/\( this critical jtwcture ni our history, the
challencje jor Agnes Scott is to sumnwn the
resources and the creative energy to implement
jully Strategic Directions, to move into
position as a leading national liberal arts
institution.

It is the task of Agnes Scott to achieve
our own unique stature, our own special
place m American higher education. The
role begins at home, in Atlanta, a city which
has emerged as one of the most respected
centers for research and higher education in
the United States. Within Atlanta, Agnes
Scott complements its neighboring institu-
tions. Across the Southeast, Agnes Scott rep-
resents the quintessential liberal arts college
with its high-quality undergraduate teaching,
small classes, broad exposure to the arts.

m

i

1

1^

m

kH

mm

' h

n{

n

*K '^

I

V

sciences and humanities, continuing high
enrollments in the humanities and foreign
languages, attention to religion and
community service, and vibrant residential
community.

More is required as Agnes Scott builds
on its strengths and begins to use resources
to become something more: a model of
undergraduate liberal arts education. By
remaining student centered, taking advan-
tage of our urban metropolisr focusing on
diversity and community, women's issues,
technology and globalization,- addressing
the educational needs of women of all ages
and rewarding teacher-scholars, we will pre-
pare women for leadership roles, locally
nationally and internationally.

Ai/Mfs Scott hlauh

.RiiJonics ivui

fx/ifnoicf?.

Lett: Am African

D.iiiif ivui Drum

Ensemble n\is fonneii

by <i t'isiliMi; Kirk

Sc/'oi<ir from GhvM.

Key Aspects

oftheASC

Experience

Centered on
students

Focused on:

Urban
resources

Geo-

demographic
diversity

Women's
issues

Technology

Globalization

Attuned to
educational
needs of
women of ail
ages

Acknowledging
the work of
teacher-
scholars

14

President's Report. 1995 - 1999

Strategic Directions

Affirmation and Commitment by the Board of Trustees

I AGNES I ;^'>..
\ SCOTT k^

The Board of Trustees oj A^nes Scott College is committed to excellence in all dimensions of the
mission of the College in order to prepare women for life and leadership m a global society.

Excellence at Agnes Scott is defined in terms of:
the education of women
a superior liberal arts education

outstanding teaching and distinguished scholarship in the
broadest sense

a community of ethnic, international, religious and

socioeconomic diversity
a residential community with a culture of honor, trust,

diversity and civility

a community which fosters faith and learning as well as
religious and inter-faith dialogue, hallmarks of the Presbyterian
heritage of the College

To ensure an institution of the highest national standards, the Board is committed to?

providing academic and residential facilities of distinction

securing exceptional human and technological resources

strengthening the global connections of the College

reinforcing the ties of the College to both Adanta and Decatur

The Board does hereby affirm the general directions for the College as outlined in Strategic
Directions/or A^jifs Scott College prepared by the Strategic Planning and Policy
Committee in consultation with tfce Agnes Scott College community.

Board of Trustees, Agnes Scott College, May 9, 1 997

y^^hair Joseph
R. Gladden Jr., senior
vice president and gen-
eral counsel of Tlie
Coca-Cola Company
[center, above), leads a
Board of Trustees that
has givm support to
Agnes Scott's
Strategic
Directions.

Back Cover:

The ASC Collegiate

Chorale sings at

Decatur Presbyterian

Church. Mmibers of the

church helped found the

Collecje in i889.

Agnes Scott College

15

GARY MEEK PHOTO

Agnes Scott College

THE WORLD FOR WOMEN

141 E. College Avenue

Atlanta/Decatur, Georgia 30030

(404) 471-6000

(800) 868-8602

www.agnesscott.edu

nn

By Julia DePree
Photos hy Gary Meek

Previous page: Agnes Scott
students enjoy the street
scene in Angers, France.

T(idn\s undergraduates are pursu-
ing tlieir course ot study in a
liisUirital moment defined Iw
rapidly increasing communica-
tion and contact witli other cul-
Uiies In the era ol the Internet, electronic
penpals and frequent international travel,
globalization and internationalization have
become defining concepts for students and
educators alike. At Agnes Scott, opportuni-
ties for students to work and/or studv abroad
have increased, thanks in pan to programs
such as Global .Awarencs and C.lobal
Connections

Amidst this new backdrop ot real and vir-
tual travel, the Franco- American relationship
finds itself sustained and enriched indeed,
for many Americans France continues to
have a lasting hold on the imagination.
Similarly, America remains a culaire of fasci-
nation for manv French citizens This fasci-
nation can easilv be evidenced bv the signifi-
cant importation of .American popular culture
into France and bv the ironic cibiections
staged against the verv desires that .Anieri-
canisation represents There is no better
emblem of this ironic, love-hate sentiment
than EuroDisney, that pnmar\--colored, artifi-

ACNES SCOTT COLLECE SUMMER i

cial paradise standing in total contrast to the
French countryside.

Popular cinema often revisits the theme of
Franco-American passions and tensions. Two
recent American films, "Green Card" and
"French Kiss," present stereotypical narratives
that are metaphoric in representing the
French-American relation. In both films, an
American woman (Andie MacDowell and
Meg Ryan, respectively) and a Frenchman
(Gerard Depardieu and Kevin Kline, playing
a Frenchman) are thrown together through
circumstance, only to fall in love by the film's
end. Both films are replete with cliches about

France remains one ojthe primary places of
international contact jar the typical American,
and the United States exerts a strong [ij regrettable]
grip on the minds oj the French people.

cultural differences. In "Green Card," Andie
MacDowell's character calls Depardieu a
"silly French oaf" while his character mocks
her low-fat diet and supposed frigidity. In
"French Kiss," Meg Ryan complains about
Kline's hygiene and sneers at snails while
Kline stings Ryan with critiques of her
unwomanly gait and prissy demeanor
Nevertheless, love prevails. In both films,
banter and insults were merely masks of
mutual admiration and desire,- both couples
end up professing reciprocal love.

I cite these examples not because they
have a great deal of aesthetic value but
because they are imaginative projections of
cross-cultural encounter France remains one
of the primary places of international contact
for the typical American, and the United
States exerts a strong (if regrettable) grip on
the minds of the French people. The symbol-
ic aspect of the films mentioned above
affection produced and nurtured through an
exploration of difference has its origins in
the political and historical narrative of
French-American relations.

This narrative is largely one of interde-
pendence born of fidelity to political ideals.
Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de
Lafayette formed a deep friendship in the late
1 8th century, and each visited the other's
country on official state visits. Each con-

ASC students studying on an
exchange semester at the Catholic
University enjoy the local culture,
including (left) Le Chateau built by
King Louis IX between 1228-1238.

OUl LOVE THE FRENCH?

Yaa Sarpong '99, Jessica Ulack '99
and Sarah Catherine Thomas '99
(l-r) discuss literature at the
Catholic University in Angers.

tributcd wisely to some of the founding
notions of the other's constitution. Each
expressed profound admiration for the others
culture. In the 19th century, the Louisiana
Purchase (1803) solidified the American terri-
tory but did not stamp out the effect of
French language and culture upon the region
Today, New Orleans represents one of the
most appealing tourist destinations for
Americans and French nlikc due lo its inim-
itable cultural mix

In the 20th centui-v, World War II further
defined the Franco-American alliance The
storming of the beaches at Normandv and
the American contribution to the liberation
of Paris linked the French and American psy-
ches in history Post-war French-American
weddings abounded and s\ niboli:ed a kind
of marriage of cultures.

Like any marriage honeymoons are tem-
pered by realities and certam differences are
never overcome. In my experience teaching
French in North Carolina New Mexico and
now Georgia students are otten battled bv
minor French culinar\' habits such as serving
cheese after lunch or dinner or offering dilut-
ed wine to children In addition many have
asked for some kind of btlicial statement"
concerning Parisians and rudeness to which I
respond that there are rude people the world
over. In turn, I have had French acquain-
tances tell me that thev arc too fearful of real
and perceived violence to come to this coun-
tr\' and that Americans arc wocKillv unre-
fined in matters of kiutc cuifinc tashion and
the line arts

The French-American relationship relies
upon a certain measure ot this kind of dis-

AC.NrS SCOTT COI l.rC.E .VOAIAIER io

taste or disapproval because it keeps the
debate interesting. Simply put, people find it
fun to engage in some cross-cultural teasing
performed in the right spirit.

This is the spirit of a story on the objecti-
fication of women in French ad campaigns
that aired on National Public Radio a couple
of years ago. During the broadcast, a dia-
logue was reproduced in which an American
journalist decried the preponderance of nude
female bodies on ads in the Paris metro, on
buses and in the pages of magazines. Her
interlocutor, a Frenchman, replied playfully
that it only bothered her because she is a
woman and because she is American. Hearing
his retort, the feminist in me wanted to get
mad instead I had to laugh.

If such cross-cultural teasing is fun, it is
because it belies a sense of admiration based

The French-American relationship relies upon

a certain measure ojthis kind oj distaste or disapproval

because it keeps the debate interesting.

on longing. The need for a culture to get out-
side itself reflects the individual's desire to
escape from the particularities of identity.
American tourists flock to Versailles and the
Louvre each summer for the same reason that
French tourists come to the Grand Canyon
and Disney World: the encounter with the
other enriches one's understanding of the self
to such an extent that people are willing to
exert much energy and money in order to
experience it.

Intellectual descriptions of this encounter
go beyond popular culture in communicating
the complex attitudes that have their basis in
the historical imagination. Alice Kaplan, who
teaches French literature at Duke University,
implies m her memoir, French Lessons, that her
adopted culture has offered her sorrows as
well as joys:

Why did I hide in French If hje (jot too messy, I
could take off into my second world . . . Learnincj
French did me some harm by givincj me a place to hide
. . . [yet] Fm grateful to French ..for teaching me
that there is more than one way to speak, for giving me
a role, for being the home Fve made from my own will
and my own imagination. (216)

Alongside endearing chapters such as "In
Search of the French R," Kaplan reiterates the
paradox that gains entail losses, and that
rewarding one's identity through mastering a
different culture takes something away from
that same, identity.

Similarly, Jean Baudrillard speaks of the
bewilderment and fascination that result from
cultural exploration in his book, LAme'ricjue.
With observations on what he perceives to
be uniquely American constructs {i.e., the jog-
ger, whom he sees as a suicidal figure, and
the sparkly white smile, which he sees as
supremely insipid), he presents a vision of
cultural encounter that transcends cliches:

What is new in America is the shock of the first
level [primitive and savage] and of the third type [the
absolute simulacrum]. [There is] no second degree. This
situation is difficult for us [Europeans] to grasp,
because we have always privileged the second level
the reflective, the doubling -back, the unhappy con-
sciousness. . .

Let us have the admiration for this country that it
deserves, and let us turn our eyes back to the ridicu-
lousness of our own mores, for that is the benefit and
the pleasure of travel. (101-102, my translation)

Julia De Free is assistant

professor of French

at Agnes Scott. Her book.

The Ravishment

of Persephone, was

published in November.

19^

GUI LOVE THE FRENCH?

THF

MAMA

V\ DRAMA

. 1

r 1

IP

Mama Drama lays
hare the issues oj
molherhood. The play
underscores the inner
conjlid many women
jeel between juljillment
in their professional life
and juljillment in their
personal orjamily lije.

By Mary Alma Durrett
Photos by Marilyn Suriani

lulia De Pree: "1 look at
the traditional students
and wonder how to
incorporate motherhood
into discussions. When
was a student, mother-
ing was never talked
about and it created
this huge clash after-
wards when I got mar-
ried and had children."

^0

ACNES SCOTT COLLEGE .SUMMER i

Mothers shape our lives in the
most profound ways. Few of us
can deny the far-reaching effect
good or bad our mothers
have had on our lives or the effect we are no
doubt having on our own children as we
mother them today.

We remember, in equally vivid detail, the
tender words of encouragement and the
harsh admonitions that our mothers dis-
pensed, words or actions that molded our
psyches. Motherhood is perhaps the only
station or profession with which every
human being has some experience. Feminist
author Adrienne Rich eloquently articulates
this commonality in her classic work O/
Womdii Bom Motherhood as Experience mid
InstituUoii: 'The one unifying, incontrovertible
experience shared by all women and men is
that months-long period we spent unfolding
inside a woman's bodv "

Beyond this unifying ph\'sical beginning

our experiences of motherhood var\' greatly
Even the most enthusiastic mothers approach
the periods of gestation and nurturance with
some fear and anxier\', and experience the
full range of human emotions anger, dis-
appointment, joy, love throughout the
course of their mothering For others the
reality of bearing and rearing children is in
no way attractive, a job for which the>' have
no desire or they feel ill-equipped to handle
Still others long for the experience and when
it doesn't occur they deal with the nagging
sense of being unfulfilled

Motherhoods man\' dimensions were
explored by Agnes Scotts theatre troupe
Blackfriars, in a recent production of ALjm.i
Driiiiiii, a play by Leslie A\-\azian Donna
Daley Christine Farrell Rita Nachtmann and
Ann Sachs Through a scries of short scenes
and monologues about birth childbcanng
infertilitN', divorce and dying each character
represents a different view of matcmir\'

While one character vcarns tor mother-
hood, fails to conceive and stmgglcs for
many years to adopt another character who
can't seem to avoid maternirs- gives birth to
ihrce and chooses to terminate a fourth prcg-
nancN' One character discovers the nurtu-
rance of niaternitv through her lob and m
Laring for her ailing mother One tears but
welcomes motherhood while the last
laments rciecting it in her vouth and
inguishes while tn-ing to find the child that
she gave up for adoption

The plav raised issues that nianv members
ot the audience have wrestled with tor
\ eaiN and undeiscoird the inner conflict
manv women feel bcrvseen killillment in
their professional life and Killillment in their

personal or family life.

"In the college setting we sort of send out
a bipolar message: 'Be global women,' but
many of these women will leave and have
children and stay at home," says Julia De
Free, assistant professor of French and moth-
er of two, in reflecting on the play's issues. "1
look at the traditional students and wonder
how to incorporate motherhood into discus-
sions. When 1 was a student [in a traditional
university setting], mothering was never
talked about and it created this huge clash
afterward when 1 got married and had chil-
dren."

This clash is felt by many who juggle par-
enthood and work, in 1996, the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics indicated that the percent-
age of married women with children over age
6 who were employed outside the home was
161; the percentage of single women with
children over age 6 who worked outside the
home was 71 .8.

The majority of Agnes Scott's own alum-
nae are mothers 61 percent according to
current records* and many of them work
outside of the home. A large number of the
students who matriculate today will continue
to include maternity in their list of accom-
plishments before or after they graduate.
How they will define their role as mothers
may be dramatically different from behaviors
called good or acceptable today.

For most women motherhood triggers
profound transformation and inner

Khalilah Liptrot '99 plays
the part of Leah in the
Blackfrair's production of
Mama Drama.

struggle. As writer Rich describes the experi-
ence: "1 . . . knew that I had lived through
something which was considered central to
the lives of women, fulfilling even in its sor-
rows, a key to the meaning of life,- and that I
could remember little except anxiety, physi-
cal weariness . . . and division within myself:
a division made more acute by the moments
of passionate love, delight in my children's
spirited bodies and minds, amazement at how
they went on loving me in spite of my fail-
ures to love them wholly and selflessly "

This division can be a daily tug of war. De
Free notes, "My [older] daughter has started
saying things like '1 don't want you to
teach; stay with me.' But if I stayed
at home, I'm afraid 1 would
become a bathrobe Mom
and resent that. It's hard
to juggle [work and par-
enting responsibilities],
even though 1 love
both, but I feel like
have to do what wil
make me happy pro-
fessionally and my

*Tl5Js numhir reflects only
mothers who self-report their
children to the Colli

Martha W. Rees:

"We cement relations

between partners

through sex, because

we imbue sex with

symbolic meaning

through love. Love also

gives meaning to, and

reinforces the behavior

of, mothering and

parenting in general."

"Woman to primitive
man is ... at once
weak and magical,
oppressed, yetjeared.
She is charged with
powers oj childhearing
denied to man, powers
only half-understood
. . . forces that all
over the world seem to
fill him with terror
The alliliide of ma)i
to woman . . . is
still today essentially
matjical."

Jdne Harrison,

Themis; A Study of

the Social Origins

of Creek Religion

[children] will pick up on that."

The profound nature of motherhood and
its associated struggles have shaped humanity
since the dawn of time.

Associate Professor of Anthropology
Martha W. Rees attended Aliimrt Drama with a
group of faculty, student and alumnae moth-
ers (including De Pree), led a discussion on
motherhood, and offered her own thoughts
on the origin of motherhood from an anthro-
pological perspective.

"Anthropologists look at human behavior,
like mothering, in terms of human history,"
explains Rees. "The first humans probably
lived in small groups of men and women,
gathering plants, scavenging and hunting

"The first mothers were a group of
often-related women, with maybe an elder
female. Men were there too, even though
fatherhood may not have been a recognized
status as unequivocally as motherhood.
The group survived together and raised their
children "

Throughout antiquity, and certainly in the
days preceding the emergence of monothe-
ism, when goddesses were an essential part of
the pantheon of many cultures, a womans
power to bring forth life was viewed with
awe. Frieda Fromm-Reichmann recalls a
Persian creation myth in her "On the Oenial
of Woman's Sexual I'leasurc "

In the story, "a woman creates the world
by the act ol natural creativity which is hers
and which cannot be duplicated hv men. She
gives birth to a great number ol sons The
sons, greatly puzzled bv this act which they
cannot duplicate, become frightened. They
think. Who can tell us, that if she can i/ii'f
lite, she cannot also tiiH-r life.' And so. because
of their fear ol this mysterious abilitv of
woman, and of its reversible possibility,

they kill her."

In the primitive society in which Rees
traces the development of the male-female
relationship, both of the sexes had their
respective tasks: Men were hunters or scav-
engers, women were gatherers. Women, with
the greatest investment in reproduction and
child care, held the power of selecting their
mates, a status that they likely granted or
were forced to grant; to the male who pro-
tected them from the violent advances of
other men in the group TTiis dynamic not
only affected male-female behavior [in primi-
tive society], this interaction had profound
implications for human groups, notes Rees.

"Humans 'with the possible exception of
the bonobo chimpanzees are the only ani-
mals who have sex for fun. Rees continues.
This is how we cement relations between
partners, because we imbue sex with symbol-
ic meaning through love. Love also gives
meaning to, and reinforces the behavior of
mothering and parenting in general.

While other animals do "mother their
offspring, Rees points out that humans have
been and continue to be involved in the
mothering process for much longer time: "up
to 1 8 or even 40 years. During this period,
mothers are the primary transmitters of
knowledge and values.

In the late Industrial .Age when women
were relegated to the private sphere of
domestic life, mothers acquired symbolic
[and literal] responsibilirv' for the moral edu-
cation of their children the anthropologist
explains.

Since this late I9th-ccntur\- polarization
of the public sphere which men dominated,
and the private sphere which women domi-
nated at mens insistence women have had a
continuous struggle to break out of one
sphere and attain access to all the political
and economic privileges present in the other.
In moving between the rwo spheres as most
women do todav work and the roles of
mothers have continued to change as has
socictvs understanding of what a good
mother is

"What we in this countr\- call good
mothering might be seen as gross negligence
in a culture where voung women aren t
allowed out alone before marriage reminds
Rees Motherhood is universal but what
[defines] a good mother is contingent on cul-
ture, class and historv The lesson we learn
Irom mothel^ themselves is that their vanet>'
is infinite

12

ACNES SCOTT COLLEGE SlttlAlER i

LIFESTYLE

IN LOVE
WITH BOOKS

Shari Diane Shaw '81

It was a glimpse at the
Margaret Mitchell Collec-
tion in McCain Library that
first gave Diane Shaw '8 1 an
inkling of what her life's
calling might be.

"1 saw all the memora-
bilia and it just fascinated
me. 1 thought what fun it
would be to work with rare
books. Then, when I went
to the University of Exeter
[England] in my junior year
and visited the Exeter
Cathedral Library, 1 was
hooked," recalls Shaw, who
completed master's degrees
at Fordham University and
the University of North
Carolina.

Today, Shaw is a rare
book librarian and special
collections cataloger at the
Smithsonian Institution
Libraries in Washington,
D.C., where she recently

served as co-curator of an
unusual exhibit.

The exhibit, "Science
and the Artist's Book,"
showcased ancient science
texts from the Smithsonian's
Bern Dibner "Heralds of
Science" collection juxta-
posed with contemporary
artistic interpretations of
those works.

Shaw's duties included
writing copy for the dis-
plays, selecting which
ancient works to feature
and scheduling the show-
ings. She also had frequent
contact with the 27 nation-
ally recognized book artists
invited to create works for
the exhibit.

"We were looking for
artists who were renowned
for working on scientific or
technological topics
artists who had shown a
penchant for that type of
book." While the artists
were creating their various
works, they would fre-

quenriy come to the library
to "visit" their adopted text
and talk about what kind of
meanings they were bring-
ing to their works, says
Shaw.

The interpretations were
unique and varied. One
artist recreated a 1 540
guide to chemistry by
designing glass beakers in a
variety of sizes filled with
various materials. Another
interpreted a landmark
plant-animal reproductive
text by creating a series of
cards with renditions of
plants in various stages of
growth and the sonogram
of his unborn daughter.

As Shaw explains,
"Artists' books often don't
look like books at all. They
combine text and illustra-
tions and use book forms,
but often are not traditional
books. A lot of them are
very experimental . . . using
the book as a vehicle for
their art."

Smithsonian officials
were overwhelmed at the

show's success. It ran for a
full year and "got a lot of
notice internationally," says
Shaw. "We were getting
faxes from as far away as
the Czech Republic."

Shaw recently assem-
bled a much smaller exhibit
recounting the story of how
the folios of naturalist John
James Audubon's were
printed. She hopes to direct
another major exhibit in
the future: "It's exciting and
challenging to try to com-
municate to others the
same enthusiasm we have
for these works."

For now, though, she
prefers to continue with
special collections cata-
loging. "It is such a treasure
to be able to handle these
books, and the material is
so fascinating. There's a
particular skill to cataloging
them well and creating a
record for future genera-
tions. 1 want to keep doing
that."

Joy Mcllwain

23

LIFESTYLE

A GIFT

OF SCIENCE

Barbara Jane "B.J."
Brown Freeman '66

For B I. Brown Freeman
'66, an extraordinary 20-
year volunteer project that
came to fruition recently
turned out to be the learnmg
opportunity of a lifetime
and may even spark a new
career

"h gave me exposure to
a level of leadership in the
community that 1 wouldn't
have had even with years
in a career. It enabled me
to take what I wanted to
do and really explode with
it."

The project was the
gleaming new $47.6 million
Arizona Science Center,

opened m spring 1997.

The brainchild of
Freeman and other mem-
bers of a Phoenix Junior
League committee, the
center's focus is Arizona
science.

Although fifth and sixth
graders are its target audi-
ence, the museum's color-
hjl, bilingual exhibits draw
all age groups. Among its
many features are hands-
on displays of the Grand
Canyon and solar energy
as well as a state-of-the-art
planetarium and an IMAX
theater

Freeman's odyssey
toward the science center
began in 1977 and ended
with the unveiling of the
125,000-square-foot
facility last April

Other committee mem-
bers came and went
through the years, but

B.|. and her husband

Jim Freeman at one of

the many fund-raising

events that B.|. has

organized for the

Arizona Science

Center.

Freeman remained stalwart,
providing the continuity to
see the project through.

Along the way, Freeman
got an education in public
speaking, high level budget
negotiations, local govern-
ment operations and the
"how-tos" of fund-raising.

By 1984, organizers had
raised enough to open a
museum of sorts in an
unfinished parking garage.
But they knew early on
they would need nothing
less than a new facility to
house the growing collec-
tions.

'The marketing
occurred on two fronts, "
explains Freeman. "We
were promoting at the
grass roots level trying to
get people to come to the
museum, and then we were
also out there trying to get
the larger financial support."

it was sometimes slow
going 'flat spots along
the way. Freeman calls
them but rwo singular
events proved pivotal: the
passing of a 1988 cir\' bond
Issue that netted the center
$20 million, and the
appointment of a kev cor-
porate mover and shaker
(the CEO ot Intcr-lel, the
local phone carrier) to head
the museum's board.

Soon a nimiber of cor-
porate leadei> were on

board bringing with
tliem both manage-

ment expenise and much-
needed dollars.

Still, more money had
to be raised for the dream
ever to materialize.

Racking her brain for
new ideas. Freeman hit
upon a novel concept:
Why not sponsor a lecture
series showcasing high
profile science figures?
And why not make it for
families?

That brainstorming set
in motion one of the most
successful events on the
cirys cultural calendar
the annual distinguished
scientist lecture luring
such luminaries as Jane
Goodall, the late Carl
Sagan and Titanic explorer
John Ballard

One of the biggest sur-
prises of her rv*-o-decade
effort, says Freeman has
been the professional
opportunity' it has gener-
ated

While career-building
was not her motivation and
she's not sure she II act on
any of them shes pleased
that doors have opened

I guess what Im saying
is that there is a way for
women to do both. Vol-
untcerism can actually be
like earning an advanced
degree ^bu can take those
efforts and turn them into
career and rfsum^-building
opportunities."

Joy Mc/Iuvjiw

LIFESTYLE

Esther Smith '61 (right) discusses technology growth in an Alumnae Weel<end panel.

NIMBLE
EDITOR

Esther Smith '61

Nobody had to drag
Esther Thomas Smith
'61 kicking and screaming
into the information age.
She's been at the forefront
every step of the way.

"I've always been inter-
ested in new things," says
Smith, principal in The
Poretz Group of McLean,
Va., who studied philoso-
phy at Agnes Scott and
served as editor of the stu-
dent publication Atjnes Scott
News. "And I've always been
fairly adventurous."

That combination led to
an early interest in comput-
ers and the Internet, and
burgeoned into owning and
operating a national tech-
nology industry newspaper

and a management consult-
ing business. In 1997, her
work led her to be named
Business Woman of the Year
in Washington, D.C

In 1996, Smith sold her
successful technology publi-
cations firm to the Wash-
ington Post Company and
now counsels other techno-
logical entrepreneurs.

In addition to private
clients, she works extensive-
ly with the Netpreneur
Program at the nonprofit
Morino Institute, founded
by former Legent Software
owner Mario Morino. The
program encourages Inter-
net entrepreneurship by
identifying and assisting
area business owners who
want to provide services via
the Internet.

A lot of her assistance,
she says, is "just plain
Entrepreneurship 101

finding out what kind of
help they need in finding
customers, managing and
financing. I help them do
whatever it takes to build a
company."

Smith attributes much of
her curiosity about and in-
terest in innovation to a
"forward-looking, progres-
sive" south Georgia family
and a personality more
inclined to product than
process.

"My grandmother was an
early suffragette and my
father was a small-town law-
yer who was very much of
his generation, but very lib-
eral and enlightened in his
views. Having an enlight-
ened father is one of the
keys to success for women."

It may seem like a quan-
tum leap from cub reporter
at the Atlanta Comtitution in
the days of typewriters and

hot type to management
consultant for the infotech
industry, but for Smith,
every step of the way has
been a logical progression.

Going into editorial
management at two Wash-
ington business weeklies
seemed like "a confluence of
natural tendencies" for a
writer and editor who had
been reading the Wall
Street Journal since high
school.

But it was at the helm of
TechNews Inc., which Smith
started in 1986, that all of
her career interests busi-
ness, journalism and tech-
nology coalesced. "I start-
ed out to build a company,
not just start a newspaper,"
Smith says.

Ultimately, that compa-
ny produced a bi-weekly
printed newspaper, an on-
line version, an annual tech-
nology almanac, a trade
show and numerous confer-
ences and events. A national
trade paper focusing on the
infotech industry, the firm's
flagship publication, Wash-
ington Tecbnolocjy, had a com-
pounded annual growth rate
of 40 percent when the
Washington Post Company
snapped it up.

Today, Smith is shep-
herding her new consulting
firm. The Poretz Group,
through the ever-changing
tide of technology
advancement.

25

LIFESTYLE

'The rate of change and
the rate at which one absorbs
information and deals with
it will continue to acceler-
ate," says Smith. "I don't
think you can even come up
with a five-year plan now
without being prepared to
change it constantly Being
nimble is important "

Joy Mcllwnin

COMPUTER
GURU

Leigh Echols
Cameron '90

Leigh Echols Cameron '90
thought the computer
was "a pretty cool toy" when
she was 10 years old. She
still does.

Cameron's father worked
for IBM, and her family was
the first on the block to own
a PC But even though she
knew her way around the
technology world, the
woman who maiored in art
at Agnes Scott never
dreamed that world would
become her career

It was only after "floun-
dering around" in varioLis
oltice jobs that she barkened
back to that early computer
expeiiente and decided Ui
studv lor an MBA, concen
(rating 111 lechnologv

Today, she's one ol IBM's
select e-business solutions
spetialisls, based in .Allanla
and traveling all over the

Jb

ACNES SCOTT COLlKli SUMA4ER i

Southeast to educate cus-
tomers on the latest state-of-
the-art and emerging tech-
nologies.

"I kind of look at us as
being the vision creators,"
says Cameron, explaining
that customers may know
what they want to achieve,
but don't know how to get
there. Cameron shows them
how, whether it's installing
an e-mail system, engaging
in Internet commerce, or
teaching them to use inter-
office Intranet systems to
work smarter

She may also assist with
what she calls "the most fun
part" of her job) Web page
design. 'That's where I get
to marry my art degree with
my business background.
The art degree is a special
skill 1 have that's especially
useful in that role "

It has also proved useful
in crafting customer presen-
tations. Cameron designs all
ol the graphics she uses for
industn' specilic presenta-
tions in which she projects
images directly from her
laptop onto a large screen.

Rigbt now, shes working
with numerous companies
to repair Y2K flaws that
Lould render older toinputei
systems useless on Ian, I ,
2000,

Another hot item compa-
nies are clamoring for is col-
laborative leihnolog\;, pow-
eilul mes\at;ing s\slems that

allow multinational corpora-
tions to work more efficient-
ly These systems, Cameron
explains, allow employees
who are thousands of miles
apart to collaborate on a sin-
gle document, without hav-
ing to send disks or hard
copy back and forth, "A lot
of global companies are
going to this technology
now because of the tremen-
dous time savings," she said,
citing the case of an airplane
manufacturer who was able
to cut down the develop-
ment time on a new aircraft
from years to months.

One of the bonuses of
being recognized as an
expert in her field came
recently when Cameron was
asked to help write two text-
books on emerging tech-
nologies for the McMillan
Company's technical divi-
sion One of the chapters
she wrote dealt with Web
site development, the other
with Domino, a software
that enables a PC to translate
the contents of a Web page
into a kind of code that the
compLiter undeiMands

W hile becoming a piifi-
lished author was gratiKing
and something she wants to
continue C anieron doesnt
want to do it kill-time
Instead she wants to keep
improving her skills within
the coiporate environment
so that her customeiN can
ma\imize their businesses.

"I get a lot of gratifica-
tion from crafting a solution
that really works, and seeing
my customers implement
the solution that I hclp)ed
create. It's so exciting to say,
'I had a part in that.'"
Besides, she adds enthusias-
tically, I get to work with
all the latest and greatest
stuff."

Joy McJlwain

SOUTHWEST
ARTIST

Mary "Jo" Heinz
Langston '49

When she was a little
girlMary'.lo Heinz
Langston 49 loved to wan-
der in the tall grass behind
her parents Atlanta home

Creative inspiration tor
the little girl who loved to
draw and paint still comes
from nature But now it is a
much different landscape
the striking hues and pano-
ramic vistas of the South-
west

Todav the and deserts
and soaring mountain ranges
ot Lingstons adopted state
ot Arizona arc the incubvator
for her art. In her Tucson
home studio, she creates
carefree, playful paintings in
bold acrylics, sometimes on
canvas. Kit morc often on
her own handmade paper

'Tor the last couple of
years I ve Ixrn doing interi-

ors large windows looking
out to the desert scene. I've
kind of gone back to
Matisse. I'm using bold col-
ors and I'm playing around
with perspective. It's really a
lot of fun."

As Langston's geographic
location has changed, so
have her style and choice of
subjects. Matisse and Paul
Klee were early favorites
when she took graduate art
courses at the University of
Georgia. Then, when her
husband's work as a ceramics
engineer took them to the
seacoast town of Marble-
head, Mass., she began to
emulate the brooding sea-
scapes of Maine painter
John Marin.

After moving to the
Southwest, Langston's inter-
est in Native American cul-
tures led her to study petro-
glyphs, symbols

etched on canyon
walls centuries ago by

members of the Pueblo
nation. Captivated, she
began incorporating varia-
tions of these ancient
inscriptions into her
work.

More recently, she has
been drawn to Picasso's
strong lines and differing
uses of perspective as well

as to the vivid land-
scapes of English

artist David Hockney.

Her current work is a
blend of those many influ-
ences, and it continues to
evolve. "1 know I've
changed a lot," she says.
"Unlike some people, 1
don't like doing the same
thing over and over.
Through the years, I've
become a lot more experi-
mental and 1 find myself
using stronger colors."

Now at an age when
many have retired, Langs-
ton is reaping financial
rewards for her work and
widespread critical acclaim.

She recently sold one of
the interiors to a North-
eastern collector who saw it
at a small gallery in Tubac,
an artists' colony 60 miles
from Tucson. Titled "The
Hammock," the 4' by 4'
work is a fanciful pastiche
of images summoned from
a dream world.

While financial success
is a nice byproduct, the cre-
ative process yields far
deeper personal rewards,
says Langston. "My work
has sold quite well, espe-
cially here in Tucson. Sel-
ling 'The Hammock' was
certainly rewarding. But
beyond that, 1 just have the
need to do this. When I'm
not creating, 1 feel very out
of sorts. Since 1 was tiny, it
has been my way of expres-
sing my love for what 1 see."
Joy Mdlwain

EXCERPTS

LAPSLEY SAGA
The Lapsley Saga

by Winifred K. Vass and
Lachlan C. Vass III (Franklin,
Tenn.: Providence House
Publishers, 1997) 234.

Winifred Kellersberger
Vass '38 and her
husband, Lachlan C. Vass
111, have written an insightful
book on the origin and
development of the Ameri-
can Presbyterian
Congo Mis-
sion in the
heart of the
old Belgian
Congo. The
mission was
organized in the '
lage of Luebo, at the conflu-
ence of the Lulua and
Luebo rivers in the Congo
River basin.

The authors have a per-
sonal stake in the telling of
this story, since both of
their fathers did missionary
work in the Congo, and
they spent their youth in
this forbidding part of cen-
tral Africa. The Africa they
describe is basically the
Africa of earlier generations.

This book tells the story
of the Presbyterian mission
from its founding in 1891 to
the sale of its second river-
boat steamer in 1932. The
historical tableau is the
Africa of Scottish explorer
and missionary David
Livingston, who was in

Ah-ica in the 1 860s and
1 870s. European nations
had awakened to the natur-
al resources and markets of
Africa, and were building
colonial empires in Africa.
It was an era of exploitation
and torture of native
Africans by European task
masters.

The book describes the
establishment of the Congo

Free State (1885-1908) and
its reorganization into the
Belgian Congo from 1908 to
1960.

Although the authors
keep a special focus on the
needs and dilemmas of the
American Presbyterian
Congo Mission, there are
frequent comments about
the other religious groups
who were also expanding
into the Congo: Methodists,
Mennonites, Swedish
Baptists, American Baptists,

27

EXCERPTS

Christian and Missionary
Alliance, and the Belgian
Christian Missionary
Society

The enthusiasm and
dedication of these early
Christian missionaries are
amazing to the modern
reader. They endured sick-
ness, insects, wild beasts, a
tropical climate and severe
logistical problems in their
efforts to bring Christianity
to Africa. Many, of course,
died in the process.

The Vasses tell their
story by focusing on two
boats and one man: the Rev.
Samuel N. Lapsley, a
Presbyterian minister and
founder of the Presbyterian
Congo Mission in 1891

Born in Selma, Ala., m
1 866, he graduated from
the University of Alabama
in 1884, studied at Union
Scminaiy in Richmond and
subsequently graduated
from McCormick Seminary
in Chicago in 1889 In that
same year, he was appoint-
ed by the Comniitlec of
Foreign Missions of the
Presbyterian Church in the
Llnited Slates to begin
work In Africa

He sailed to Africa with
an African American co-
worker, (lie Rev VCilliam
Sheppaid, ami logelhei
they lounded the mission
station in Luebo in 189]

Lapsley is presented as a
warm person with keen

^8

ACNL-S SCOTT COLllCE SlIMAIER i.

interests in languages and
native music His health,
however, was fragile, and
he died of blackwater fever
in 1 892, a few days short of
his 26th birthday.

Sheppard lived to serve
many years at the station
and in 1917 published a
book, Presbyterian Pioneers in
Con^o, which is still a major
source for those who wish
to understand the period.

Lapsley's importance,
however, was not just that
he co-founded the mission
station. Missionary groups
in central Africa quickly
realized the rivers linked
villages, tribes and mission
stations with each other

The first major goal of
the Presbyterian Congo
Mission was thus to get
some type of steamboat
that could traverse the cur-
rents and shoals of the
Lulua, Luebo and Kasai
rivers

With financial help from
American and European
sources, a steamlioai named
the Samuel N. Lapsley was
built and dedicated in Rich-
mond, Va , in 1911(1, then
disassembled and shipped
to the Congo A faulty
design caused it to capsize
I in l')()^

I he real hero ol the
book is the second steam-
boat built tor the Congo
mission Named S.iiiiurl N
I Lifisliy II It was btiilt 111

1905 on the banks of the
Clyde River in Scotland.
Like its predecessor, it was
dismantled and shipped to
the Congo.

Tliis ship served the mis-
sion for 27 years (1905-
1932), until it was finally
sold to a commercial com-
pany. In those years, it
transported missionaries,
supplies, medical materials
and visiting dignitaries
through much of the
Congo River system. It
served as a hospital ship, a
worship center, a language
school and a play place for
children, as well as a float-
ing point from which vari-
ous forms of wildlife were
observed

For those who knew and
loved the Presbyterian
Congo mission the Siimuel
N Lipsley II embodied its
courage and outreach The
pereonalities who served
the mission have their sto-
ries told in relationship to
what they did for, and with,
this colorful and gritt>'
steamboat

The authors draw on the
letters, iournals and diaries
of the various people who
helped found and sustain
the Congo mission. Letters
written to his parents by
1 apsle\ offer insight into
his fiiNt impressions of
Africa

It will be ot inteirst to
Piesbx tenaiis and otheiN

who want to learn about
early Protestant mission
work in the Congo. ' Many
Presbyterians, in fact, may
learn for the first time why
there is a presbytery named
"Sheppard and LafKley,'
that is headquartered in
Birmingham

Woven in and through
this story of one man and
two boats is a narrative
about the faith, courage and
heart of these late 1 9th and
early 20th century women
and men who left the
United States and Europ>e
to do Christian work in
Africa

In this book, we feel the
mood and vision of earlier
generations of American
Presbyterians. Agnes Scon
can be proud that its alum-
na and her husband have
shared that stor>- so elo-
quently with a wider circle

Revitwtr Jolm Carry

is Professor Emeritus of

RWii/ious Studies

GIVING ALUMNA

A Gijt to Benefit Those Who Follow

LINDA
HUBERT '62

Linda Lentz Hubert '62
has demonstrated over
the course of her career a
commitment to English edu-
cation. So has the College
which she attended as an
undergraduate and returned
to as a teacher in 1968. It's
no surprise, then, that
Hubert has found it a worth-
while endeavor to give to
Agnes Scott College gener-
ously and consistendy dur-
ing her 30 years as an
English professor.

The class of 1962 alum-
na gives a large portion of

her contributions to the
George P. Hayes Fund,
which benefits a student in
English who plans to attend
graduate school. The desig-
nation seems appropriate,
given the fact that both she
and Hayes, chair of the
English department when
Hubert was a student at the
College, spent nearly their
entire professional careers
at the same institution.

Hubert is greatly inter-
ested in advancing the
College's Master of Arts in
Teaching English (MAT)
program, which she helped
initiate in 1992 as chair of
the English department.

"I'm very proud of it and
excited by it," she says.
'Though there are many
teachers of English on the
secondary level, there are
not as many good ones as
one might wish. Agnes
Scott, with its commitment
to producing the best sort
of graduates for teaching,
seemed to me to be just the
place to do this program."
Hubert admits that she
has asked herself why
Agnes Scott, with its large
endowment, would need
her continuing contribu-
tions. She says she has
come to realize the value in
giving to an institution with

an endowment that can per-
petuate that gift. 'This
money goes on and on,
benefiting young women in
myriad ways. I think it's a
kind of gift that is enor-
mously important."

In addition, as the College
is "poised at a moment of
growth," she gives with an
eye toward "keeping the
College on the cutting edge
of academic experience in
the country. We want it to
be one of the places that
people come to because it
has a reputation, and we
want the reputation to remain
honest and legitimate."

Chris Tieijreen

29

GIVING ALUMNA

Agnes Scott College

THE WORLD FOf

141 East College Avenue, Atlanta/Decatur, GA 30030-3797

Nonprofit

Organization

US Postage

PAID

Decatur. CA J0030

Permit No 469

A Special
Report

Campus changes abound.
All around Agnes Scott,
buildings are being reno-
vated, landscaping is being
enhanced, offices are being
relocated and faculty are
preparing for the coming year.
The changes come in response
to a growing student body and
the challenges of a world on the
eve of a new millennium.
Read about Agnes Scott's ejjorts
to meet the challenges oj tomorrow in
"A Report from the President."

ACNES SCOTT COUU

o

i RtCVCUO PAPER

Agnes-'Sco'tt

ALUMNAE MAGAZINE

Fall 1999

A Matter
of Honor

JeanHoeferToal*65

First Woman
Chief Justice of
tlie South Carolina
Supreme Court

EDITOR'S NOTE

On transformations and reflections at the "close of the century" and amid
diverging life-paths-. What a difference Agness Scott has made for all of us.

For cif^ht autumns I have witnessed the colorful
transtormatlon ot Woodruff Quadrangle from an
msider's perspective From my offices in Buttrick
and Rebekah, I have watched the trees take their
natural turn toward fall, bringing the year to a
close in shades of yellow, orange, red and brown I have
delighted in the spirited competition between the classes
that unfolded each October durmg Black Cat Week, paint-
ing and repaintmg the Quad KATHRyNKOiePHiv
(and virtually every other
corner of campus) in vivid
strokes of yellow, blue,
green and red. And I have
marveled at the figurative
colors, both subtle and
bold, that have emerged in
the students themselves as
they converged from around
the country and globe, and
advanced toward intellectual
and personal maturity

What a wonder it has all
been in this final decade of
the 20th century, I am
happv to have witnessed it

But this fall, I am seeing these shades from a different
perspective as I have officially left the College I am serv-
ing this stmt as magazine editor liom a freelance desk in
mv home on llie east side of campus ^'ou nias' see m\'
bvline on stones at some point m the future but another
editor will usher Aijncs Suotl Ahimiuu Muliizinc into the 2 1st
century. So this final autumn of the 2()th centuiA' serves as
both a personal moment of passage lor me and a public
moiiH'iit ol passage lor the C ollege

I ike main', I lind nnsell pausing to reflect
I have thought about how my lile has been enriched by
my expeiieiKe at .Agnes Sioti shaped in am number of
ways bv the alumnae lauilt\' lecturers stall and students

that 1 have encountered here I have seen the great poten-
tial that is unleashed when women are encouraged to lead
and have seen more clearly the difference that women
(particularly Agnes Scott women) have made locally,
nationally and internationally since the turn of the last
century when Agnes Scott College was in its infancy. Few
need to be reminded that at the turn of the last century
women were barred from voting, owning property, work-
ing at the same jobs as men
or retaining custody of their
children in divorce proceed-
ings It is true that many
things have changed during
the 20th century but much
remains to be accomplished
in terms of attaining equalirv'
and reversing the countless
destructive forces that thwan
the efforts of justice and
peace in our world.

I am reminded of a tru-
ism that I learned at another
Southern liberal arts college,
m\' alma mater Spring Hill
College in Mobile It is the
responsibility ot educated men and women to bring a rea-
soned response to the critical issues of the day and by so
doing to traiislomi the world into a more just place

1 have seen so main- examples of this at Agnes Scott.
and I leave here with the knowledge and certainty that
this course will continue. As the vivid banners on the
Quad announce so succinctly, the next great "Transfor-
mations" have beyun

'^^^:&^J^L^^^^

CONTENTS

Agnes Scott College Alumnae Magazine
Fall 1999, Volume 76, Number i

Remembering Ireland

By Christine S. Cozzens

A Global Awarmess siudy trip to the Emerald hie helpi
studatts discover beauty in the majestic and the mun-
dane, a cfuestioninc) spirit, a soise of mystery, the value
of cooperation ... and a little more about themselves.

A Matter
of Honor

All interview with Jean
Toal '65, first woman
chief justice of the South
Carolina Supreme Court
Interviewed by
Richard Parry
Photography by Caroline Joe

f^

Reflections on Alston Center

By Mary Alma Durrett

Photography by Marilyn Suriani

Sayint) good-bye to an old friend and preparinij

for the next cjmeration campus cmter at ASC

The Johnson
Lectureship

Bonnie Brown Johnson's
le(Jacy offers the community
a stimulating exploration
of women's health issues.

Blackfriars

85th Anniversary Celebration

By Dudley Sanders
Photography by Gary W. Meek
Blackfriars' anniversary reminds us that
"theater is our most democratic of the
peifonning arts. It makes artists of us all.'

DEPARTMENTS

2

On Campus

COVER: In an exclusive interview,
Jean Toal, chief justice-elect of the
South Carolina Supreme Court,
talks about Agnes Scott's tradition
of honor

PHOTOGRAPH BY CAROLINE )0E

Editor: Mary Alma Durrett
Contributing Editor:

Chris Tiegreen
Design: Everett hJullum,

Kazuko Ashizawa
Student Assistants:

Shelley Acevedo '02

Amy Cormier '00

Kristine Trias '01

Publications Advisory Board:

Mary Ackerly

Kim Lamkin Drew '90

Mary Alma Durrett

Lewis Thayne

Tish McCutchen '73

Lucia Howard Sizemore '65

Copyright 1999, Agnes Scott
College. Published for alumnae and
h-iends twice a year by the Office of
Publications, Agnes Scott College,
Buttnck Hall, 141 E College Avenue,
Decatur, CA 30030, (4041 471-6301.
Postmaster; Send address changes to
Office of Development, Agnes Scott
College, Decatur, CA 30030 The
content of the magazine reflects the
opinions of the writers and not the
viewpoint of the College,

radrr

lil: publK

is@agnesscott.edu

ON CAMPUS

Admissions are up, ASC a "best buy" college ranks eighth for "best cjuality
oflije'i internships extend to nonprofitS; and sex habits oj grasshoppers

ADMISSIONS
ON TARGET

Agnes Scott has hit a
record for enrollment,
with 887 students report-
ing to class this fall. Of
that total, 241 are first-
year students. That's a high
for the past three decades,-
the College last reported
incoming classes of that
size in the mid-1960s

In addition, there are
about 60 other GA.vWttKPHo

new students
such as trans-
fer, RetLirn-tii
College and
international
exchange
students.

The nLimhcrs
mean that the
College is right on
target in reaching
its goal of 1,000
students, says
Stephanie Balmer,
associate vice presi
dent 1(11" liiiollmciit
and director ol
Admission.

Most ol the new
students come Imm ih
Soulhcnst Ail told,
however, ihey represent 30
states, two US. territories
and 12 other nations

Twentv-eiglit pen. cut

of the first-year class
comes from underrepre-
sented ethnic groups,
which breaks down to
approximately 19 percent
African American, 5 per-
cent Asian American and 3
percent Hispanic Overall,
more than 25 percent of
the student body now
comes from underrepre-
sented ethnic groups.
Agnes Scott is ranked

number 10 among national
liberal arts colleges tor
diversitx' according to LI S.
iVci/". .iii.i W'ciU R(poii

ICAUFFMAN
EXPANDS

As It enters its second
year, the Kauffman
Internship Program for
Women Entrepreneurs at
Agnes Scott is adding a
second focus: social entre-
preneurship, or working
for nonprofit organiza-
tions.

Last year's pilot
program focused
on for-profit com-
panies owned by
women.

By adding a
tocus on non-
profits, the
internship pro-
gram also
expands b\-
two -thirds In
addition to
the 15 stu-
dents work-
ng as
litems at
tor-profit
i-ompanies
111 the
metro
Xtianta
area this
lall or spring there will be
another 10 students mtem-
ing at nonprofits

"Agnes Scott has a long
tradition ol students and

alums doing things that
have social goals as well as
profit goals," says
Rosemary Cunningham,
chair of the Department of
Economics at Agnes Scott
"TTiis fits in well with our
sense of community ser-
vice. "

Cunningham profxjsed
the internship program
and received a $17,000
grant from the Kauffman
Center for Entrepreneurial
Leadership in Kansas Cit\'
Mo to launch the ASC
initiative last year

Tlie Kauffman Center
is named for a Kansas Cit\'
family that made its for-
tune in pharmaceuticals.
The family owns the
Kansas Cits- Ro\als base-
ball team which pla\s in
Kauffman Stadium

Tlie nonprofit interns
will work for Cool Girls
and Girls Unlimited rwo
programs exposing at-risk
teenagers to career possi-
bilities and positive role
models with the Atlanta
Hospital Hospitality
House, which houses rela-
tives of patients at several
hospitals in metro Atlanta
and with Seven Stages
Theatre founded b\- a
woman and the Atlanta
W omens Rind a gniup

ACNES SCOTT COLLECU FALL (

SUE CLUES PHOTO

Gregg Rosenthal (left) mentors Arjana Mahmutovic at Kauffman Internship site, Wired and Fired.

that finds funding for a
variety of other women's
organizations.

Adding a focus on non
profits, Cunningham says,
"expands the number of
students who are thinking
about the internships.
There are some students
who would just never
think, about becoming a
business entrepreneur,-
what they want to do has a
social goal.

"But the two actually
are run very similarly, 'for-
profit' and 'nonprofit' are
basically just tax defini-
tions," Cunningham con-
tinues. "You still have to
get the company to grow,
keep costs down, get rev-
enue up so that you can do
whatever is your goal,
whether that is maximizing
profit or njnning pro-
grams. The two are more
similar than different,
although not everyone sees
that."

Last year, interns in the
for-profit program worked
with a pottery studio, a
children's clothing bou-
tique, an interior design
firm and a marketing com-
munications firm, among
others.

In addition to working
150 hours with their
assigned companies, each
social entrepreneurship
intern will attend class
with Cunningham for one
hour a week and attend
lectures with speakers from
a variety of nonprofit
backgrounds.

Also, "Each will have a
project to help the social
entrepreneur succeed,
maybe building a Web
site, reaching out to a new
market segment or design-
ing a newsletter," Cun-
ningham says.

Social entrepreneurship
interns will receive the
same four academic credit
hours as the for-profit

interns and the same pay.
The only difference,
Cunningham says, is that
grant money will comprise
a greater portion of the
nonprofit interns' pay-
checks.

"Firms contribute more
in the for-profit programs
it depends on their abili-
ty to pay," she says.

Cunningham said she
selected the companies
where the nonprofit
interns will work aher
soliciting suggestions in a
campuswide e-mail.

"There was an incredi-
ble response with a lot of
people telling me about
really good organizations,"
she says. "1 picked ones
that are trying to address
issues of concern to
women. And except for
Seven Stages Theatre,
which has a more general
focus but was founded by
a woman, we stuck with
that."

ON CAMPUS
RANKINGS

In The Princeton Review'i
recently released The Best
} 3 < Colleges, 2000 Edition,
Agnes Scott is ranked
eighth for "the best quality
of life." And in U.S. News
and World Report's annual
ranking for the year 2000,
ASC is a "best buy" among
national liberal
arts colleges.
U.S. News
noted that
68 percent
of students
at Agnes
Scott
receive

d. =-;-..,...

based grants, placing the
average cost of attending at
$1 3, 184. The magazine
also placed ASC in the sec-
ond of four tiers of national
liberal arts colleges, based
upon several factors that
include instruction and
education-related spending
per student, student-faculty
ratio, SAT scores, and the
proportion of full-time
professors.

In the most recent edi-
tion of Kaplan/Newsweek
College Catalog, Agnes Scott
is listed among schools rec-
ommended from a survey
of guidance counselors.

The College ranks in
several categories:
Schools for the academ-
ically competitive student.

ON CAMPUS

ON CAMPUS

Schools that are "hid-
den treasures,"

Schools offering the
maximum amount of indi

vidual academic attention,-
Schools providing a
good liberal arts education,
and

Schools with notable
"Study Abroad" programs.

The book also notes,
"Southern guidance coun-

selors recommend Agnes
Scott for its high stan-
dards, great social life and

special majors "

LARGER ANSWERS

develop gender differences.

their eggs in sandy soil, using little

FROM SMALL

"What is special about female

structures (on their body) as exca-

DIFFERENCES

nervous systems that enables them
to do what males can't?" Thompson
asks.

vating devices and extending their
abdomen after them. They'll go
about 10 centimeters four or five

^ o, Agnes Scott Biology

i. ^ Associate Professor Karen

Answering that question has uni-

inches in the ground, lay their

Thompson did not obtain a

versal applications, she says, because

eggs, then flip each egg so the little

$150,000 grant to study grasshopper

a neuron is a neuron is a neuron

hatchling will be pointing up.

sex. It is more complicated than that.

whether it is in a human, a grasshop-

"She will lay about 100 eggs, all

"I'm interested m how the ner-

per or any other animal

glued together, then put out this

vous system controls behavior," says
Thompson, who recently received

Squid would have worked, but

bu

bbly, foamy stuff so that when the

that is what

1 little babies hatch after three

the three-year award from the

most ner-

fjg^f^^^^^^^^B

I

5 weeks, they can squirm up to

National Science Foundation. Her

vous-system

I

1 the surface through the little

continuing research focuses on "how

researchers

m^ ^9

I

pathway that Mom has kept

you get diversity in a nervous sys-

already use.

^/Jftfl

I

open, then hop away."

tem, how a common plan can give

Lobsters

I

Thompson says she is still

rise to differences "

would have

I

working on basic research, not

The sex angle comes because all

been just as

I

yet ready to answer her ques-

animals have sexual differences, the

good, but
they are

^

tions. That means watching

grasshopper angle simply because

Si

many grasshoppers, male and

their cells are easy to see under a
microscope and they are cheap.

expensive

J

female and recording informa-

even for

'hompson studies fier subject

tion about the structure and

Other researchers are trying to

those who order them for science.

function of their nerves and muscles.

answer questions about the role of

not dinner "You can get hundreds of

After they die, they go under the

the nervous system in behavior,

grasshoppers for what you pay for

microscope so that Thompson and

Thompson says, but she is the only

one lobster, about $25," Thompson

her assistants can find, study and

one examining sexual dillcrenccs as

notes

label individual nerve cells.

the way to find the larger answeiN.

The grant money will help

Finding the answers to her ques-

Specifically, she is looking at

Thompson pay research expenses

tions will take thousands of grass-

those neuron circuits ihnl are "hard-

and salaries foi students who help

hopperN. and several more years of

wired" the ones that let insects fly

her scrutinize the "oviposition," or

work, says Tliompson, but she is

without having to learn how, for

egg- laying behavior of female

patient. "1 did the very Hrst part of

e\aniplc, or (h.il nK\in huinnns do

grasshoppers.

this for my dissertation in 1983,

iiol Iwvc to he l.iughl to hienlhe

"This IS an incredibK- elaborate

then I've done other things and

cinti h()v\' those (.iiciiils, KleiUical

beha\ loi" 1 hompson explains

come back to it," she says. This will

among males ,iikI lem.iles M biilh.

" I lie\- stand on the gnnind and lav

he ongoing throughout mv career"

AGNB SCOTT C:01.mC.U FAU. i

WORLDVIEW

REMEMBERING IRELAND

During our first days in Dublin, I worried-. Would the students mind the cold, damp
weather/ would they meet Irish people or remain isolated by their tour bus, would they
love the places I loved; would theyjind their own places to love? By Christine Cozzens

REMEMBERING IRELAND

WORLDVIEW

January 3, 1999. Our gargantuan red and wbik C/ bus, already a
jamiliar home, pulls into the carpark oj Jerpoint Abbey, a ruined
Cistercian monastery in County Kilkenny. Leaden skies darken the land-
scape, making it seem later than it is, and spew rain at unpredictable
intervals. Having dozed off in ff^e warm bus after lunch, the students
grumble most of them to themselves as they stand up, stretch, pull on
hats, gloves, and wrap scarves around collars before climbing down from
the bus. "Oh no. . what are they dragging us to this time," I imagine them
thinking. I wonder if it was all a mistake, this trip to Ireland with 27
students depending on me and my co-leader Linda Hubert for their three
weeks of entertainment in the dead of January, when the sun only shows
itself between nine in the morning and four in the afternoon, and most of the
places we visit open up especially for us.

My spirits begin to lift as our guide starts the tour Sheila Walsh is a
descendant of the family that ruled this part of the country eight or nine
hundred years ago. She knows Jerpoint like an old friend. The abbey's
roofless chambers and stone carvings spring to life with the stories sfcf tells,
knowledge rooted in the study of history, archeology and architecture, not
just legend. We troop along the cloisters, huddling around the delicate
carving of the Ormond Knight with his look of suppressed mirth, craning
our necks to catch the details of the arches. I see in the brightness of the stu-
dents' eyes and in their cfuick silence whenever Walsh begins to speak that
they know we are on to a good thing.

Though we have to dodge (fee cloudbursts and are chilled to the bone,
we linger in the cloisters long after the tour is over Later, the students' con-
versations, journals, photographs and essays tell me how much they loved
Jerpoint Abbey. Three months after the trip 1 find one of them in my office,
gazing lovingly at a postcard of the Ormond Knight that hangs on the
wall.

Before last winter I
had traveled to
Ireland many
times, but our
Global Awareness
trip in December and
January of 1998-99 was a
new experience for me, a
chance to see the countrv' I
loved so much through the
eyes of Agnes Scott stu-
dents.

The trip drew its partic-
ipants from two fall cours-
es, a creative writing
course on the travel narra-
tive called "Writing
Ireland," which I taught,
and a literature course
called "The Drama of
Ireland: Its Poetry and
Politics" taught by Linda
Hubert, also a veteran of
travel in Ireland.

For 18 days, Linda and 1
watched each of these 27
women discover Ireland
for herself. Each learned to
find a place in the group,
as well new friends, a
better understanding of

old ones, a different kind
of relationship with her
teachers. With their sur-
prising adventurousness,
growing openness to new
experiences and passion
for the countr\' and its cul-
ture, the students created
memories that changed
Ireland for me.

But it didn t happen all
at once During our first
few days of sightseeing in
Dublin, I worried about
everv'thing.

How much did the stu-
dents mind the cold damp
weather that we had tned
to warn them about but
that only seems real when
you are taking a walking
tour of a cemeten.' m the
pouring rain, the day so
gray that at noon pho-
tographs require flashes?

^'ould we meet any
Irish people or would we
remain isolated by our tour
bus and our American
accents?

Would they love the
places that I loved the
brightK' colored marble
statue of Oscar Wilde in a
quiet comer of Memon
Square, the broad strand at
Inch on the Dingle
Peninsula where the surf
rolls across the sand in
hundreds of crisscrossing
layers, the cloisters at
lerpoint Abbey'

Would thev find their
ow n places to love?

I learned to be patient,
to watch the students Irish
experiences develop at a
pace each would deter-
mine tor herself

On our first Kill day of
sightseeing in Dublin after
a morning heax-v with
guided toui^. of litcrarv'
shrines a group of stu-
dents announced thev

ACNES SCOTT COLLEGE FAU.

WORLDVIEW

wanted to visit the Guin-
ness Brewery. "Why don't
you walk?" I suggested. The
sun had come out, and it
would be about a three or
four mile trek through the
oldest part of the city.
They looked at me with
expressions of horror It
was too far! How would
they find their way? What
if it got dark?

That night at dinner Lee
Hayes, the instigator of the
Guinness expedition, came
up to me with glowing
eyes. "We did it!" she said.

students made plans to cel-
ebrate in pubs and hotels all
over the city,- but a rag-tag
10 or 12 of us, Linda and
me included, united only in
our wish to avoid crowded
parties, decided to attend a
production of Rostand's
Cyrano it Bergerac at the
Gate Theatre. The play
turned out to be marvelous,
its bittersweet love story
exactly fitting our slightly
melancholy, end-of-the-
year mood. Afterward,
unable to get taxis or to
find a restaurant to take us

"We found our way! It was
a great walk! I felt so com-
petent finding my way
around Dublin!"

After that first day, inde-
pendence spread like a
fever among the students,
and at breakfast or during
long stints in the bus, Linda
and I would hear tales of
their adventures.

Like the afternoon at
Jerpoint Abbey and Lee's
walk across Dublin, there
were many moments of
unplanned joy on the trip,
moments that turned out
better than anyone expect-
ed and that brought us new
understanding of Ireland
and each other. On New
Year's Eve, about half the

without reservations, we
walked the long way back
to the Mont Clare Hotel in
the dark and rain, warmed
with the panache of Cyrano
and the vitality of the play.
About two blocks from
the hotel ^just where James
Joyce met his future wife,
Nora Barnacle we spotted
an Italian restaurant.
Peering in over the curtains
in the window, we could
see that only two of its can-
dle-lit tables were occupied.
The owner and staff greet-
ed us at the door, eager for
the business and for the
added merriment we were
sure to provide. Wet and
hungry after our long walk
and grateful to be taken in

at this late hour, we shed
our dripping coats and
filled two tables, laughing
and talking more freely
than we had all evening.
After making friends with
the other customers and
toasting our good fortune,
we tucked into plates of
salad, spaghetti, and ravi-
oli with ferocious energy.
As midnight approached,
we joined the staff and
customers for the tradi-
tional countdown, open-
ing the door to let in
echoes of celebratory out-
bursts across the city.
One of the guests began
playing Irish and
American songs on the
piano. Our group of for-
merly sedate playgoers
joined in with great glee.
Heather Leigh Owens
delighting the mostly
Irish audience with her
ethereal rendition of a
Thomas Moore song she
had learned for Linda's
course. We couldn't have
planned a better celebra-
tion, we all agreed as we
walked home, and the lit-
tle group that had formed
so awkwardly earlier in
the evening will always be
united in the memory of
that wonderful New Year's
Eve.

Those are the mo-
ments of the trip I
will remember
best, the unexpected
coming together of peo-
ple and places, the sur-
prise of a student's initia-
tive or insight, the ordi-
nary moment that became
something more, in addi-
tion to all we saw of
Ireland, the trip gave us
time to get to know each
other in ways our hectic

Agnes Scott lives rarely
allow. Some of these
encounters filled an after-
noon or an evening, others
were only as long as a con-
versation in the back of the
bus as it sailed along a
country highway, or as
short as a glance exchanged
when irony, or humor, or
some shared understanding
brought two or three of us
together One morning
over breakfast in our hotel
in Kilkenny, several of us
got to chatting about par-
ents. My father had just
died six months earlier, and
I was a still a bit raw about
it. It turned out that three
of the students at the
table Amber Pipa, Rachel
Balog, and Deirdre
Donohue had all lost
their fathers at an early age,
and we talked about loss,
memories and change, the
middle-aged professor
learning from the experi-
ences of the 20-year-old
students.

Even the weather creat-
ed moments of drama or
surprise, reminding us
every time the sun came

REMEMBERING IRELAND

WORLDVIEW

out to savor the unexpect-
ed. Linda and I had warned
the students to be prepared
for sightseeing in rain, mud
and even snow. There were
two or three days of pretty
solid rain, like the day we
visited Kilmainham Gaol,
the 18th-century prison
where most Irish patriots
spent some of their life,
and Clasnevin Cemetery,
where many of them are
buried At Clasnevin, the
rain made the perfect back-
drop for the gallows humor
of our guide and the stu-
dents' somber photos of
their heroes' and heroines'
graves. Later, Kelly Ber-
nazza wrote movingly
about the Kilmainham-
Clasnevin day in her essay
about the political charac-
ter of the Irish landscape
As she told me, "The rain
made that day "

But for most of the trip
it was astonishingly sunny,
the low-slung winter sun
lighting the landscape with
photogenic shadows and
nuances of color The day

we drove out the Dingle
Peninsula, we saw an array
of rainbows along the way,
including one that sprang
up over a rundown filling
station and that seemed to
catch fire and intensify as
we watched, a moment lov-
ingly referred to from then
on simply as "ah . . . the
rainbow." Just as we reached
Inch Strand, the sun finally
emerged from the clouds to
stay Tired of being cooped
up in the bus for so long,
the students burst out onto
the beach, running in all
directions as the surf lapped
their feet. "Ah . . . the rain-
bow" and Inch Strand, two
chance stops on the way to
something else, were proba-
bly the two most pho-
tographed moments of the
trip.

Sligo, where William
Butler Yeats spent his child-
hood summers, was the
scene of a spontaneous
Yeatsian moment created by
Linda, a moment of inspira-
tion, hilarity and pure poet-
ry. Linda had been the

Yeats champion throughout
the trip, reciting his beauti-
ful lines at appropriate
places and steering us
toward sights where he had
visited or lived The first
stop on our Yeats day was
"Under bare Ben Bulben's
head / In Drumcliff church-
yard," where the poet lies
buried with the famous epi-
taph he wrote carved on his

tombstone: "Cast a cold eye
/ On life, on death.
Horseman pass by!" As the
students gathered around to
take pictures of their ^'eats
professor paying homage,
Linda suddenly lay down
on her back on the grave,
her arms folded across her
chest, a saintly but mischie-
vous smile on her face. As

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cameras flashed, workmen
on the scaffolding of the
church tower called down
good-humored insults, and
stretching out her arms like
Dracula wakmg in his cof-
fin, Linda rose from the
grave.

Like Linda and her pas-
sion for Yeats the students
soon began to develop their
own loves and obsessions
sometimes connected with
the essays they would write
on their return, sometimes
connected with the Ireland
they were beginning to
know. I remember Cassie
Castillo getting out of the
bus ever>'%*here there \ere
stone walls she could pho-
tograph for her project In
Calway, I ran into an exu-
berant Ruth Hartness being
escorted around the city by
two children she d met near
the river: she had unexpect-
edly fallen in love with the
city and was planning her
essay as she walked.

We hadn t been 10 min-
utes at the serenely beauti-
ful Muckross House in Kil-
larney when .Amy Likovich
exclaimed "I m doing mv
paper on this place:"

Ever>' time we went to a
rocky beach cliffs a hill or
a tower Mazie Lawson
could be found at the top
waving to the rest of us
below Exploring Blarnev
Castle together one dav
Sharon Strickland and
Mazie built a friendship on
their love of "trails and
comers, and cliffs, and
staircases " and "going
places where you re not
supposed to go ' Our dri-
ver was alwa\s read\- to
notice and accommodate
these consuming passions.
Deirdre Donohues desire
to sec CountA- Donegal for

ACNES SCOTT COLLECE FAU i

Deirdre Donohue, Hillary Wiggfn, Caroline IVIitchell,
Kristen Whirley at Inch Strand on the Dingle Peninsula.

her paper on the playwright
Brian Frie! convinced
Michael to drive 30 miles
out of our v/ay so she could
take pictures and stand on
the very soil. He gave up a
morning off to take Rachel
Lackey and Holyn Ivy to
see the megalithic tombs at
Carrowmore, and on our
last day of sightseeing,
drove us from Belfast to
Dublin at an efficient pace
so that Rachel Balog could
get a photograph of the
General Post Office for her
paper on the Easter Rising
before the sun set.

On our trip to Ireland
we took in an astonishing
amount of information
about history, literature,
politics and culture,- we
traveled the country from
Dublin to Waterford,
Galway, Sligo and Belfast;
we got to know the repub-

lic and the province
green, orange and all the
shades of political opinion,-
we saw the mountains of
Wicklow, Killarney and
Mourne, the coastline at
Slea Head, Moher, the
Giant's Causeway and the
Glens of Antrim. We fol-
lowed in the footsteps of
Yeats and Joyce, Lady
Gregory, Patrick Kavanagh,
Peig Sayers, J. M. Synge,
Maurice O'Sullivan, and
Somerville and Ross.

But the moments cap-
tured in pictures, writing
and memory will be the
trip's legacy, glimpses of
Agnes Scott students dis-
covering Ireland, each in
her own way: Jamie Chilton
imitating a swan for us at
Coole Park while Amber
Pipa recites Yeats' "Wild
Swans at Coole",- Kelly
Bernazza and Dallas Brazile

gamely learning Irish danc-
ing at the Shannon Ceili at
Bunratty Castle,- Rebecca
Norman running on the wet
sand at Inch Strand,- heads
together chatting on the
bus or nodding off after a
long day's sightseeing,
Laurie Boggs on her feet,
clapping and singing to the
grand hnale at the Abbey
Tavern singalong on our
last night in Ireland.
To see

ed delight,- to make a cold,
rainy day at a ruin into a
turning point for a trip or a
life. We reach for this in
the seminar rooms, labora-
tories and performance
halls at Agnes Scott, but we
live it when we travel
together to the classrooms
of the world.

Christine S. Cozzens is associate professor
of English at Agnes Scott.

REMEMBERING IRELAND

WORLDVIEW

HISTORY
IN STONE:

Ireland's Rock Walls ami
Dry-Stone Structures

As we left the crowd-
ed yet comfortable
streets of Dublin
and made our way into the
countryside, not only the
beauty of Ireland, but also
its vague familiarity struck
me. Perhaps years of expo-
sure to this highly stereo-
typed land from calen-
dars to PBS travelogues
led me to expect Ireland to
be a green place with miles
of artistically crumbling
stone walls and quaint cot-
tages. When we stopped at
our first stone monument,
however, 1 knew that this
feeling of connection was
much more than a vague
remembrance of some-
thing I had seen on televi-
sion 1 felt like I belonged
there.

Perhaps my Irish ances-

try predisposed me to the
quiet, solemn hulk of
Newgrange that loomed
suddenly before me
Maybe the sheer age and
intricacy of this marvelous-
ly constructed passage
tomb simply draw people
in general. Whatever the
reason for my attraction,
Newgrange impressed
upon me the extent and
richness of Ireland's histo-
ry, and what an important
role stone plays in preserv-
ing that history.

An architectural master-
piece, Newgrange embod-
ies Irish history and cul-
ture. The amazing com-
plexity of its planning and
construction is evidence of
its importance and mean-
ing. From the precisely
built quartz walls to the
carefully laid corbel
stones, which ensure that
the tomb remains water-
proof, every inch of
Newgrange astounds. The
tomb's architects situated it

so precisely that once a
year, at Winter Solstice,
light from the dawning sun
enters a "light box" above
the door brilliantly and
illuminates the tomb's inte-
rior. Incredibly, Neolithic
builders constructed
Newgrange, and its sister
tombs Knowth and
Dowth, using only stone
tools.

Ancient stone structures
abound throughout
Ireland, serving as graves,
monuments and vessels of
historical knowledge
Ireland's story can be, and
often has been, read in its
stones. Archeologists have
traced the use of stone in
Ireland back to it earliest
inhabitants, Mesolithic
people who lived circa
7000 BC. Ireland's most
recognized stone work,
however, did not appear
until the Neolithic era,
approximately 4000 BC.
Most notably, the
Neolithic people con-

structed a variety of mas-
sive burial tombs, referred
to collectively as mega-
liths. From the mound-like
coun cairns and passage
tombs such as
Newgrange to the long
rectangular wedge-tombs
and the upright stones of
the portal-tombs the
Neolithic people com-
bined art, ingenuity and
sound architecture into
their structures. As a result,
many of these structures
still exist today in nearly
perfect condition despite
the passage of several mil-
lennia

Following the tombs,
the first known stone walls
in Ireland began to appear
during the latter part of
the Neolithic Age approx-
imately 3000 BC Sites
such as Ceide Fields in
CounD.' Mayo and several
ruins found in bogs across
Ireland bear examples of
these earK' walls. As we
continued our trek across
Irish countryside I began
to notice just how many
stone walls Ireland has
Most of the walls I
obsened during a da\' of
catalogmg in Counrv
Clare appeared to serve as
boundapk" markers
although other functions
for these walls later
became apparent Our
lour guide on the
Coastlme Road pomted
out the scarred mountam-
side turf of old potato
tields now barren careful-
1\- suiToundcd by precisely
built and squared dr\-
stone walls

Walls also appeared as
protective devices along
cliff edges and around
cemctenes monasteries

ACNES SCOTT COLLEGE FAU i

WORLDVIEW

and castles. Instead of see-
ing these low, naturalistic
walls as barriers, I per-
ceived them as weaving a
safe, connecting grid of
commonality throughout
Ireland. America's barbed
wire and chain link fences
hardly have the same
effect. While our fences
separate, Ireland's walls
unite. It seems that no
matter where we jour-
neyed in Ireland, who
lived there or what values
they held, one consistency
existed: the presence of
stone walls. Still, not until
I looked down upon
Ireland as we began our
journey home did I realize
the true extent of its stone
network. From thousands
of feet in the air, the only
readily apparent man-made
structures on the island
were thousands of stone
walls.

Roughly 250,000 miles
of mortared and dry-stone
walls weave their way
across the country. Mainly
the walls serve a farming
purpose, either to keep
animals out or to keep
them in, or to divide one's
crops from a neighbor's.
Ireland's earliest walls are
dry-stone, but not all dry-
stone walls have their
foundation in ancient
times. Although requiring
some skill to master, dry-
stone masonry survives
today because it has sever-
al advantages over mortar
techniques. Dry-stone
walls require very little
foundation work, and no
mortar, which makes them
cheaper and easier to
build. 1 have seen entire
dry-stone entranceways
and walls constructed in

less than a day. Ability to
survive cold, damp weath-
er and an innate aesthetic
value add to the desirabili-
ty of dry-stone walls.
Many of Ireland's walls
both mortared and dry-
stone, have been built
within the past 150 years.

Irish stone structures
commonly utilize materials
such as sandstone, lime-
stone, basalt and granite.
Sandstone, a soft sedimen-
tary stone, often appears in
walls, buildings and elabo-
rately carved Celtic high
crosses. Unfortunately, it
weathers poorly.
Limestone appears mostly
in monuments and in dec-
orative and facing work.
Often, highly polished
limestone served as a less
expensive alternative to
marble. Basalt, an igneous
stone, creates impressive
natural structures, like
Giant's Causeway on the
Antrim coast of Northern
Ireland. Builders incorpo-
rate it into boundary walls
and rough buildings.
Granite containing
quartz, feldspar and
mica plays an important
role in stonework because
of its hardness and high
quality. Skilled builders use
granite to create structures
with precise dimensions.

Most dry-stone walls
fall into four categories:
single stone, double stone,
combination single and
double or feidin, and
retaining. Single stone
walls measure one stone
deep. Their construction
involves placing increas-
ingly smaller stones on top
of one another in pyramid
fashion. Most commonly,
single walls exist in

Donegal, Down and the
Aran Islands. The areas in
which we traveled, howev-
er, had few examples. One
variation of a single-stone
wall does stand out in my
mind though. A waist-high
barrier composed of single
depth gray stone slabs
stood as the sole barrier
between us tourists and a
650 foot plunge off the
Cliffs of Moher in the west
of Ireland. Facing winds
that almost knocked me
off my feet, 1 rejoiced in
the presence of such a pro-
tective boundary.

Double stone walls con-
sist of two faces and a core
of smaller stones. Slightly
more difficult to construct,
these walls require a firm,
flat foundation and depend
on proper stone place-
ment. Coping stones, laid
across the top of the wall,
serve not only as decora-
tion, but as a necessary
stabilizer I noted a great
number of decorative dou-
ble stone walls in front of
businesses, state buildings
and high-class housing
developments throughout
County Clare.

Feidin walls have bases
constructed in the same
manner as a double wall,
with an additional section
of single stone wall built
on top. Very few examples
of this type of wall exist,
mostly in County Galway
and the Aran Islands.

Retaining walls help
prevent erosion and their
uses extend from roadsides
to railways to harbor
banks. The most notable
examples that I encoun-
tered lined the harbor
banks, including those of
Cobb, historical center of

Irish emigration activity
and Titanic's final port of
call.

Ireland's dry-stone walls
hold another interest for
me, beyond their beauty
and architectural exquis-
iteness. Last summer, as 1
prepared for my journey
to Ireland, I made an
exciting discovery: Irish
influences in my own
howntown of Franklin,
Tenn. Many of the stone
walls scattered throughout
the area have roots more
ancient than our country
itself. Irish immigrants to
middle Tennessee brought
with them the art of dry-
stone masonry practiced
since Neolithic times.
These dry-stone walls,
unbeknownst to me, had
brought an Irish influence
into my everyday
American existence. This
revelation emphasized to
me that we, as citizens of
the world, do not realize
how connected we really
are.

My trip to Ireland gave
me the unique opportunity
to study first hand the ori-
gins of the walls that make
up such an important part
of my historic town.
Living surrounded by
these dry-stone walls
added to my feeling of
connection with Ireland.
The commonality gave me
something to latch onto in
an unfamiliar land, a feel-
ing that part of Ireland
belonged to me too.

Rebecca Normnn 00 trav-
eled with a Global Awareness
group to Ireland in January.
This article is abridijed from her
award-winning essay for
English losG.

REMEMBERING IRELAND

:'-;'?S.-

4;^

<lli3Sf

A MATTER OF

HONOR

AN INTERVIEW WITH JEAN HOEFER TOAL '65

FIRST WOMAN CHIEF JUSTICE Oft"F|E SOUTH CAROLINA SUPR^"' '^

n June i, ajter serving
I H. Toal 65 became th-
oj service begins in Mi
Magazine invited Justice Toal ai
cuss the relevance of honor in toda
that show the relation between ^'
some educators have begun to: ,

cimemstice of the South Carolina Supreme Court since i988, Jean
" fljMM the history of the state to he elected chief justice. Her term
Tptnarle this historic occasion, Agnes Scott Alumnae
^l wry, the Fuller E. Callaway Prof essor of Philosophy , to dis-
P, fry, a Plato scholar, has directed workshops and seminars
jg funts of virtue and contemporary character education, which
I curriculum in primary and secondary schools.

chard Pany: How would you explain the notion of
inor to the students entering Agnes Scott College

jTOAL: Honor is the giving of
_/antee of ethical conduct. At its
Gore, tlie honor system under which I hved, and under
f|tir community at Agnes Scott still hves, is a sys-
tem whereby members of the community are trusted to
abide by a set of agreed upon values and regulations
without the necessity of being supervised or surveilled.
In other words, there are two components of a system
of honor under which a community lives. First, the
community must agree upon a shared system of values.
Second, the individuals in the community must pledge
their honor to abide by the community's values.

1 believe honor systems flounder sometimes because
they're used too broadly. Every honor system must be
developed around a core system of important, shared
community values. Community members live by those
shared values in an atmosphere of trust. If an honor sys-
tem in a college community is used to enforce every
minor regulation, whether the community agrees with
the regulation or not, then the honor system will floun-

der in my view. This is particularly true in the so
area. ' =>

When I went to Agnes Scott in the sixties, the
Honor System was used very broadly to enforce not
only the academic and personal values at the core of
what we thought about ourselves and our community,
but the system was also used to enforce late time limits
and all kinds of minor social regulations. Sometimes an
entire community can't agree upon minor regulations of
that sort. That doesn't mean you shouldn't live by them,
but it means your system for enforcing them can be dif-
ferent. Your system for enforcing and living by the core
values needs to be a system based on complete and
unconditional trust of each other.

Parry: Did you have that sense of being surveilled on
some of those minor points when you were a student?

Toal: 1 think I had the sense of being a surveillor and a
surveillee because I served on the Judicial Council. At
that time, members of the Judicial Council struggled
with a great debate about our Honor System. The
debate focused on some of the social regulations, par-
ticularly those with respect to drinking alcohol or visit-
ing young men in their living quarters.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAROLINE JOE

It was a very healthy debate, because
out of it came the feeling on the part of the
students, perhaps for the first time, that
they were real participants in developing
the community's shared system of values
and the shared system of regulations under
which they lived. 1 learned that a real and
workable honor system, functioning in a
community of shared values, is the bulwark
of individual freedom. In my view, you have
the maximum individual freedom when you
have shared values enforced by a workable
system of trust. You have the least individ-
ual liberty and freedom when you have an
imposed system of communal regulations,
which must be enforced by the "mailed
fist", by surveillance. Surveillance is some-
times necessary for the safety of society,
but the communities that work best to pro-
mote maximum independence and individ-
ual liberty are, in my view, societies where
the ability to enforce agreed upon values
by that system of trust is maintained. That's
the ultimate.

Our system [at ASC] wasn't perfect,
but I saw a vision of perfect, the
ideal that we studied in the works of
Plato and Aquinas. I saw their vision
of the ideal as very perti-
nent to what we
were

attempting as a community to
develop. I thought it remarkable for
a group of young people to prize so
highly the creation of a community
built on trust. I concluded that the
best system is not a system that is
imposed by the broader college
worthies, but rather a system that is
collaboratively developed by all
members of the community, whether
they be the students, the faculty, or
the administration.

Parry: Do you have a favorite story which
illustrates the importance of honor
to oneself?

Toal:

In my profession, I see lawyers on a
daily basis who stand against the eas>-
tide of public opinion, judges who
make the hard decisions, and law>'ers
who tell their clients "no." Its very
easy to facilitate unethical conduct,
and lawyers are often asked "how can
I do what I want to do." To stand
against the wishes of the client, to
rule against the opinion of the major-
ity, and say "these are the core values
of our society and they translate into
this kind of conduct and they say no'
to that kind of conduct."

That kind of approach, to me, is
honor in its purest form. Tlie ability
to say, "In order for the shared values
that you and I have agreed to for this
community to really be promoted,
this particular course of conduct,
though it's popular and easy, though
someone may say its legal or its not
clearly illegal, this conduct is not
right, it does not promote integrity,
mutual trust, civility and decency."
The popular media portravs our legal
profession in a negative light, partic-
ularly in the late 20th centur)- televi-
sion and films. This negative charac-
terization has become vcr\ prevalent,
and yet the profession I see ever\day
is a profession in which a deep sense
of core values informs the coura-
geous stance that a lot of law^e^s
take.

If you think about it, the legal sys-
tem in America is unique even
among the democracies of the
globe. The notion that the law and
our Constitution can be universal
guidelines for conduct among all

Americans, as diverse as we are, is a
remarkable national commitment.
Respect for enforcing the dictates of
the Constitution by a legal system
that depends very heavily on public
acceptance of the limitations the
Constitution imposes is unique
among the nations. Regulation in
most other countries is a bit more
dictated, not collectively agreed
upon. Self regulation is not valued,
even in most democracies. It very
much is in the United States. The
system we have devised for enforcing
our community values, our American
court system, is very much depen-
dent on the public's confidence for
its vitality. That's why I worry some-
times that a few high profile trials
might undermine the public confi-
dence. The public sometimes sees
jurors who vote their ethnicity or
vote their religious preferences or
their biases and 1 think we as judges
are very much responsible for this
outcome.

Judge [Lance] Ito [in the O. J.
Simpson trial] is in my personal judi-
cial hall of shame for letting the
lawyers take over his courtroom.
Those poor jurors, it's no wonder
they voted as the did. It took months
to select them. They were asked the
most personal questions about their
beliefs, their backgrounds. The juror
selection process gave them the mes-
sage that the courtroom was not an
objective playing field in which you
are supposed to follow the rules as
they are given to you and render a
fair decision. Their selection was
programmed toward picking juror
advocates. No wonder they felt
they were selected to vote their
biases and personal feelings about
an issue.

And yet, that is so contrary to the
American system of justice and to the
idea that jurors are honor bound to
put aside personal feelings and as 1 2
people be objective and take the
explanation of the law as the judge
gives it to them and render a fair
decision about controversies involv-
ing their own fellow citizens. That is
a uniquely American approach to
enforcing our social compact with
each other.

Parry: Do you think that the majority of
people as jurors carry that out?

Toal: Yes 1 do. That's why it worries me

when the exceptions get all the head-
lines. The Susan Smith case in South
Carolina is a good example of a high
profile trial that worked. [Smith was
convicted of drowning her two chil-
dren.] The death penalty was sought
in her case. The case was intensely
covered and the jurors came from
one of the smallest counties in South
Carolina. They set aside the high
community emotion about the situa-
tion and rendered a verdict that they
felt was just, based on the evidence
they heard in that courtroom and
according to the law the judge in
that courtroom explained to them.
Their verdict was respected even by
those who disagreed.

My confidence that such a social compact can work,
that the majority can protect the rights of the individual
is rooted in my experience as a student at Agnes Scott.

When you have a country that is
diverse and celebrates and promotes
its diversity, when that's its strength,
as is the case with this country, the
compact that we have with each
other becomes very fragile. We make
a social, spiritual and political com-
pact with each other.

Frankly, my confidence that such a
social compact can work, that the
majority can protect the rights of the
individual, is rooted in my experi-
ence as a student at Agnes Scott. I
have read about the good communi-
ty and the just society in philosophy
books and Constitutional law classes,
but I think I first really felt, in a
practical way, that a community
could operate like that at Agnes
Scott even with all the imperfec-
tions in the system that we had at
that time.

Pany: What is the relation of our sense of
personal honor to our obligation to
others?

Toal: I think a sense of personal honor is

15_

MATTER OF HONOR

the very foundation of one's ability
to have any kind of relationship of
meaning or value. Personal responsi-
bility is the baseline of a successful
relationship with a stranger, a friend,
a family member, whether as a moth-
er, as a wife, as a sister, as a law part-
ner, or as a fellow judge. I think any
relationship is very much informed
by a sense of personal honor.

Parry: Let's talk about honesty then.

Toal: Honesty is the byproduct of a per-
sonal code of conduct based on
honor. You're honest because of your
personal belief in honor, in self-con-
trol, in the importance of following a
shared system of values observed
even when the only person to whom
you answer is yourself. Your honesty,
in those conditional terms, is the
result of that sense of personal
honor.

jrmiom when you have shared values
I by a workable system

Parry: It would seem then to be harder to
be honest within a relationship that
lacked honor?

Toal: I agree completely. You can't have a
relationship of importance, of can-
dor, of decency and civility, of open-
ness with any other person, much
less with a community of persons,
unless that personal sense of honor
and integrity is there.

Parry: in your experience on the bench,
how has the concept of honor,
learned at Agnes Scott, been rele-
vant?

Toal; I think it has impacted my vision of
what a working social compact
means. I'm haunted by the paradigm
of the honorable person operating
within a framework of fair laws. 1
have not only been in the position to
enforce societys rules, but alsn to
enact them. For I 3 years I was a
state legislator. In that role, I helped

formulate the community's frame-
work of rules and regulations. A
belief that a community can fairly
arrive at and enforce a group of reg-
ulations based on shared values has
really been central to my lifes work.
That doesn't mean that you can only
have rules that are popular with
everyone. For a community to exist
in safety, for an ordered society to
survive, those shared values have to
be enforced in a series of regulations
that have to seem fair and be fair.

The judging profession is a lot like
that; I not only have to be fair, my
process has to appear to be fair to
the public. That doesn t mean the
public has to like what I decide or
agree with what Im doing, but they
have to have a sense that there is a
fairness about the process.
Fundamental to my reverence for the
Constitution and our American legal
system is my sense that it is, at its
core, fair. My Agnes Scott years
taught me to prize honor as the
foundation of a just, and therefore
fair, society.

Parry: Over the years what changes have
you seen in the way people view
honor?

Toal: As our society has gotten more com-
plex, the notion that there is individ-
ual freedom in a shared system of
order, or community order, has
become harder for people to accept.
Sometimes, it's a tough sell to con-
vince modem Americans that a
shared system of values is best pro-
moted by a system which prizes pro-
tection of individual liberty. If we
conducted a public referendum on
whether or not to adopt a prohibi-
tion against the search and seizure of
a citizen's home without probable
cause, the Fourth Amendment might
go out the window because we are
so scared of people who violate the
rules of society. ^X'e re fearful of vio-
lence and therefore some of the
basic values of the Constitution
equal protection of the laws for all
the people^ due process, the right to
remain silent, the requirement that
the government, if it accuses, must
bear the burden of proving the accu-

je

A MATTER OF honor'

sation are unpopular in late 20th
century America. Some Americans
seriously believe that the Bill of
Rights is a collection of mere techni-
calities which protect only the worst
predators in society. The truth is that
if we ever abandon our
Constitutional values, we'll turn our-
selves over to those very thugs. Their
violence will be the only thing that
does control.

I'm more convinced every day that
real freedom, individually and as a
society, is based on an ordered soci-
ety, where stability is achieved by
enforcement of agreed upon values in
a fair way. I think we have gone
through a period in this country
when many citizens did not view
honor as the gateway to freedom as
they did in the past. I see that chang-

ing a lot; I think we've sorted
through a lot of things in this coun-
try and have accepted a more diverse
society. Our Constitution has talked
about opportunity for all people
since the Revolution, but it hasn't
been until the late 20th century that
we really confronted what equal
opportunity means in a truly strong
and diverse society.

Today, 1 believe we are moving
toward a collective national accep-
tance of the responsibility to ensure
equality of opportunity, a belief that
our real national strength derives
from equality of opportunity. And
most importantly, 1 think our people
are moving back to the belief that
personal honor is the way to achieve
personal freedom, order, and liberty
in a society of diverse people.

Jean Hoefer Toal '65

Chief Justice-elect, Supreme Court of
South Carolina, assumes this position,
March 2000.

Associate Justice, Supreme Court of South
Carolina 1988-present. First and only woman
to serve as a justice,- first native Columbian
and first Roman Catholic to serve on South
Carolina's highest court.

Member, South Carolina House of Represen-
tatives, 1975-88, Chair, House Rules Com-
mittee, 1982-88; Chair, Constitutional Laws
Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Com-
mittee, 1977-88. First woman to chair a stand-
ing committee.

- Floor led rules changes which modernized the
operation of the House, eliminated the hli-
buster and shortened the legislative session.

- Floor led legislation including restructuring of
the court system in South Carolina, reform of
the Public Service Commission, the State
Ethics Law, State Pornography Law, State
Probate Code, Model Business Corporation
Act and State Local Government Home Rule
Act.

Associate and partner in the firm of Belser,
Baker, Ravenel, Toal & Bender, Columbia,
S.C., 1970-88.

Associate, Haynesworth, Perry, Bryant, Marion
& Johnstone, Greenville, S.C., 1968-70.
Significant published cases tried: Peterkin v.
Peterkin 1987,- Tall Tower Inc. and SCETV v.
South Carolina Procurement Review Panel
1987; Charleston Television Inc. v. S.C.

Budget and Control Board 1988, 1990;

Catawba Indian Tribe v. South Carolina 1986,

1984, 1983; Able v. S.C. Public Service

Commission 1986.

Member, South Carolina Commission on

Continuing Legal Education and

Specialization, 1992-present.

Chair, South Carolina Rhodes Scholar

Selection Committee, 1994.

Chair, South Carolina Juvenile Justice Task

Force, 1992-94.

Parliamentarian, South Carolina State

Democratic Convention, 1970-88.

Co-chair, South Carolina Jimmy Carter for

President Committee, 1976.

Affiliate, Richland County, South Carolina and

American bar associations.

Recipient, Honorary Doctor of Law, The

Citadel, 1999.

Recipient, Honorary Doctor of Laws,

Columbia College, 1992.

Recipient, Honorary Doctor of Humane

Letters, College of Charleston, 1990.

Recipient, Agnes Scott College Outstanding

Alumnae Award, 1991.

Recipient, University of Notre Dame Award,

1991.

Member, Agnes Scott College Board of

Trustees, 1996-present.

Recipient, Juris Doctorate, University of South

Carolina, 1968.

Recipient, Bachelor of Arts, Agnes Scott

College, 1965, Phi Beta Kappa.

RICHARD PARRY,
Callaway Professor of
Philosophy, is an authority
on the subject of Plato's
moral theory, exploring It
extensively in his book.
Craft of Justice, published by
State University of New York
Press In 1996. He has also
written about the ethics of
physician-assisted suicide,
the death penalty, war and
nuclear deterrence.

]7_

A MATTER OF HONOR

FLECTIONS ON

Good-byes arc often bitter-
sweet. The Wallace M.
Alston Campus Center,
which opened as the
George Bucher Scott
Gymnasium and Frances Winship Walters
Annex in 1925, has formally moved into
the annals of Agnes Scott history.
The 75-year-old Collegiate Gothic

Photos by
Marilyn Suriani

building was razed this summer to make
way for the state-of-the-art Alston Campus
Center, designed hv PcrPv' Dean Rogers
with architects-of-record Thompson,
Vcntulett, Stainback Associates of Atlanta.
Although the bricks and mortar of the
rugged old structure are gone, fond recol-
leclHins ol the da\s an^\ nights spent there
will leniaiii in the nieinoiies ol the hun-
dreds ol women who passed through its
ivy-covered entrance Stories of midnight
swims by faculty members have made iheir
way into Alston legend, as have the numer-
ous larger-than-life Black Cat skits per-
loriiied there each (\tobei until the the-
atrics moved to Gaines C liapel

AGNUS SCOTT COLLEGK FAU i

ALSTON CENTER

FROM AGNES SCOH PHOTO ARCHtVE

s w

^ ttAm* . JP

''- M:'/y^

><^.<-^

20

AGNUS SCOTT COLLEGE FALL .

The new Alston
Campus Center will
provide, among other
things, space for campus
events and numerous student
services such as Career
Planning; a cybercafe and
technology commons,- and a
business center and lounge
for commuter students, fund-
ed in part by a gift from
Patricia Collins Buder '28.
There's every hope and
expectation that the new
Alston will become, as Vice
President for Student Life
and Community Relations
Cue Hudson '68 says, "the
heartbeat of the campus."

Kay Manuel, retired physical education
professor, remembers Alston Center in
its heyday when swim classes were so
full that students had to swim their laps across
the width of the pool rather than the length.
She also recalls a few times when the ivy that
ascended the exterior walls took on a life of its
own. "Sometimes the beautiful ivy covered a lit-
tle bit too much," she
says, noting the days
when vigorous pruning
around the windows was
in order, just "so we
could see outside,"

Having served in numerous capacities
for more than seven decades, Alston
Center took on added roles when it
was converted into a student center in 1988. Its
multiple spaces and annex building served as
the Martha Kessler Dance Studios, the Mary
West Thatcher Chapel, Student Activities
office, snack bar, student organization meeting
space, faculty commons, collaborative learning
center, post office and last spring, while Evans
was being renovated, as a dining hall.

CHRIS TIEGREEN PHOTO

2j_

REFLECTIONS ON ALSTON CENTER

With wit, charm and

grace, newswomayi

Linda Ellnbee inaui]u-

rates the Bonnie Brown

Johnson Lectureship

with a tone and message

that provides a fitting

memorial to the new

program's namesake.

THE JOHNSON^
LECTURESHIP

By Tish Young McCutchen '73

Photographs by Caroline Joe

'^r "W "W "JThen television producer
^ % X / and journalist Linda
^ jf / Ellerbee strode onto the
^/%/ stage in Gaines Chapel
T last November to inaugu-

rate the Bonnie Brown Johnson Women's
Health Lectureship, she delivered what the
lecture planning committee expected. With
wry humor, she talked about being a sun'ivor
of breast cancer She set exactly the right
tone matter-of-tact, blunt, pragmatic, posi-
tive for subsequent events that would fol-
low: discussion by a panel of men and
women personally affected by breast cancer
and a medical panel ot experts in breast can-
cer care and research.

lust as Bonnie Johnson 7() did duruig her
liletime, the Bonnie Brown Johnson Women s
Health Lectureship will connect Agnes Scott
College to its constituencies in manv differ-
ent ways. "Science education is one ot the
keystones of the College's strategic plan and
the leitureship will be an integral part ol sci-

ence education for our students." says Adelia
P Thompson, assistant vice president for
Development, who was hired by Johnson
when Johnson was Agnes Scotts vice presi-
dent for Development and Public Affairs

"Bonnie had long telt that developing an
expertise in women s health issues was a role
that Agnes Scott should take on as part of its
educational focus. And she saw this as a ben-
efit not just for students but tor the Decatur
and Atlanta communities for alumnae facul-
ty and staff In other words for all the con-
stituencies of the College "

"We thought the lectureships should be
lar reaching in scope addressing a wide array
ot issues of women's health and well being '
said Sandra Bowdcn the Charles A Dana
Professor ot Biology who was among the
planners of the event "It was important for
the first lecture to focus on breast cancer but
we felt Kiture lectures could address a num-
ber ot issues We hoped that this first lecture
would infomi and help those who have been

^2

ACNES SCOTT COLLIiCE FALL c

affected by breast cancer or who have loved
ones affected by the disease. We also felt it
important to tie the events to the learning
experience so we made sure to include com-
ponents of education, prevention, diagnosis
and treatment, and prognosis."

The genesis of the lectureship provided an
unexpected connection among many alum-
nae. Along with a solicitation for funds, the
College sent out a solicitation for survivor
stories information from and about alumnae
who themselves had confronted breast can-
cer. "We had wonderful contacts with alum-
nae," says Betty Derrick '68, special assistant
to the vice president for Student Life and
Community Relations, and a key organizer of
the event. "Alum after alum wrote, or called,
or e-mailed, and said how glad she was that
the College was paying attention to such an
important, life-changing experience. They
were more than willing to share their experi-
ences in any way they could."

Thompson sees the lectureship as an
example of development at its best. "The
whole purpose of the Office of Development
is to connect people their hopes and
dreams with the hopes and dreams of the
College," she says. "This lectureship is the
result of a woman of vision who made that
vision known to people who loved her and
who could make the vision come true."

Discussions of the lectureship became a
glimmer of hope for Johnson when she was
struggling with leukemia that eventually
proved fatal. Cue Hudson '68, vice president
for Student Life and Community Relations,
recalls their earliest conversation on the
subject.

In a familiar booth at El Toro, a venerable
Mexican eatery near Agnes Scott and Emory,
old friends Hudson and Johnson shared
chips, chili con cjueso and a dream they both
had of a new Agnes Scott-sponsored program
that would spotlight women's health issues.

"By 1996, we knew that for Bonnie we
were fighting against time," remembers
Hudson. "Bonnie and 1 had been talking for
years about the great potential Agnes Scott
had to make a significant contribution, to
both students and the community, in the area
of women's health.

"We wanted a program that included a
really top-flight speaker, plus a first-rate med-
ical panel. We wanted to draw people in,
then give them absolutely the latest and best
information we could.

"1 guess we were both frustrated doctors.
What we both had gone through in our per-

sonal lives heightened our interest in medi-
cine, and made us both aware of how impor-
tant it is to provide information on health
issues." One of Hudson's sons has dealt with
multiple medical challenges,- Johnson had
struggled with Crohn's disease and, later,
breast cancer Despite her fragile health,
since graduating from college Johnson had
served Agnes Scott as an admissions coun-
selor and director of Financial Aid before
becoming the College's first woman vice
president for Development and Public
Affairs. She was also director of special gifts
at Georgia Tech and the Emory medical
school's chief development officer.

Over many lunches, as Johnson veered
between precarious health and trips to the
hospital, the two women mapped out their
plan. Johnson would be the fund-raiser,-
Hudson would put together the program.
Together, they would be quite a team.

As 1996 ended, Johnson learned not only
that her breast cancer had recurred,- but also
that, possibly as a result of the ensuing
chemotherapy, she had developed leukemia.
A bone marrow transplant in early 1997 was
unsuccessful. Still, she and Hudson contin-
ued their conversations about a women's
health series.

"It gave us something positive to talk
about given the tragedy of the situation,"
says Hudson. "Bonnie would say, 'This is
what I'm getting well for.' And we would
agree that she definitely needed to get well
so that she could get the money raised we
both knew that was something I'd never done
in my life."

Bonnie Brown Johnson died in April 1997.
Hudson had to learn how to be a fund-raiser
after all.

Agnes Scott College shared with
Johnson's husband, Dave, a determination to
honor this remarkable alumna in a way that
would commemorate both her strong interest
in medicine and her indomitable spirit.
Hudson worked with the College's develop-
ment staff, including Thompson and Director
of Major Gifts Andrea Swilley '90, to deter-
mine how best to channel the outpouring of
memorial gifts from alumnae, friends, family
and professional colleagues of Bonnie. Dave
Johnson provided the seed money. As a result
of this collaboration, the Bonnie Brown
Johnson Women's Health Lectureship Fund
topped $100,000 within a few months.

"This was Bonnie's dream to make sure
that young women's education at Agnes Scott
included the very best knowledge about con-

BONNIE BROWN JOHNSON '70
served as the first woman vice
president of Development and Public
Affairs at Agnes Scott. She also
served the development community
at Georgia Tech, and until the time
of her death from leukemia in April
1997, at Emory University.

23_

JOHNSON LEADERSHIP

Linda Ellerbee (right) tall(s to sem-
inar attendees after her speech.

^^Linda Elkrhee exem-
plified so numy oj the
(Qualities that Bonnie
Johnson admired, and
many ihat Bonnie
exhibited. Ellerbee has
()one down an indepen-
dent path and created
thinijs that people said
wouldn't work. Her
standards oj excellence
and professionalism
certainly mirror what
Bonnie stood for."

During the lectureship events, a medical panel shared the latest information on breast cancer and treatment

ditions and diseases thai primarily affect
women," says Derrick, who, with a planning
committee of faculty, staff and alumnae, took
on the challenge of making Johnson's vision a
reality,

"Linda Ellerbee exemplified so many of
the qualities that Bonnie admired, and many
that Bonnie exhibited," says Derrick. "Eller-
bee has gone down an independent path and
created things that people said wouldn't
work. Her standards of excellence and pro-
fessionalism certainly mirror what Bonnie
stood for."

"Bonnie was a woman who wanted to
make the world better. There are many
Agnes Scott women just like that creative
and visionary women who have wonderful

hopes and dreams. ^X'ed love to talk about
their ideas, to see if they link up with the pri-
orities of the College " notes Thompson

With the lectureship successfully
launched its future is under discussion. ViTiat
should it address next? Depression and men-
tal health" Lupus" Osteoporosis or arthritis?
Menopause and the reproductive s\'stem7
How often should it be held: Annually?
Every rwo years? What format should it take?
There are many questions on the table but
one thing on which everv'one concerned
agrees: "We will do it as often as we can do it
exactly right," says Thompson "That was
Bonnies way, and that is Mar\' Brown
Bullock's way. For Agnes Scott, that is the

Survivor's List

A Partial List of Agnes Scott College Alumnae Breast Cancer Survivors

Harriett Graves-Beckly '76, Vero Beach, Fla.

Dorothy Travis Joyner '41, Decatur, Ga.

Elizabeth Bean Burrell '74. Spartanburg, S.C.

Marilyn Breen Kelley '66, Norman, Okla.

Anne McWhorter Butler '58, St. Louis, Mo.

Lorton Lee Lewis '49, Gainesville, Ra.

Ayse llgaz Garden '66, Tucker, Ga.

Anne Elcan Mann '48, Lake Park, Ga.

Blaine Garrison Cooper '66, Camming, Ga.

Mollie Merrick '57, Decatur, Ga.

Anne Foster Curtis '6/f, Chattanooga, Tenn.

Harriet Higgins Miller '61, Atlanta, Ga.

Julie Johnson Danner '86, Kennesaw, Ga.

jan Reming Nye '59, Parker, Colo.

Leland Draper '63, Avondale Estates, Ga.

Cheryl Winegar Mullins '63, Atlanta, Ga.

Barbara Martin Dudley '86, Atlanta, Ga.

Joyce Munger Osbom '54. Erie, Pa.

Frances Bailey Graves '63, Atlanta, Ga.

Christina Yates Parr '47, Columbia, S.C.

Virginia Corry Harrell '53, lacksonville, Fla.

Jane Norman Scott '60, Culpeper, Va.

Muriel Gear Hart '52, Hendersonville, N.C.

Margaret Shirley '81. Tucker, Ga.

Emily Tyler Harton '65, Thomaston, Ga.

Susan Gamble Smathers '75, lacksonville.

Janice Lynne Henry '61, New York, N.Y.

Fla.

Julia Slack Hunter '45, Atlanta, Ga.

May Day Folk Taylor '66, Chevy Case, Md.

Jayde Daniel Joseph '90, Lawrenceville, Ga.

Caroline Gray Truslow '41, Reidsville, N.C.

24

AGNES SCOTT COLLUCIi FAU. .

BLACKFRIARS

AN 85TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Allies Scott's theatre troupe,
Blackfriars, the oldest continuously
performing group in Atlanta, traces
its origin to 19 i 5 when an enthusi-
astic huddle oj thespians was shaped
and directed by the able Frances Gooch. Gooch
passed the theatrical torch to Roberta Winter, a
formidable dramatist whose presence continues to be
felt each time we enter the Winter Theatre of Dana

Fine Arts. From Winter to Jack Brooking, the
torch passed, with Brookings vision and the studi
performers' energy sustaining Blackfriars.

In marking the 85th anniversary of
Blackfriars, ACNES ScOTT AlUMNAE
Magazine invited the current chair of the
Department of Theatre and Dance, Dudley
Sanders, to address the relevance of theater in
today's video and movie-driven society.

Theatre is our most
democratic oj the
performing arts. Two
people and $20 will
get you "The Zoo
Story" on a park
bench. Theatre makes
artists ejus all.

By Dudley Sanders

25

BLACKFRIARS a5TH ANNIVERSARY

Raising the lights.

Ij it did happen, then
the performer's name
was Thespis, and he
is credited with being
the very first actor

Picture this: Mediterranean sun beat-
ing down on the south slope of the
Acropolis, the sea a hazy blue in
the distance, a March wind whip-
ping at the hem of your chiton and
the chitons of several thousand of your fel-
low citizens. Below you, in a circular space
carved out of the hillside, a chorus of 50 men
chant sonorously and dance in intricate,
interlocking steps like a
Busby Berkeley musical,
only with masks and reli-
gious content, since the
hymn, or dithyramb, is
intended to honor
Dionysus, god of fertility
and progenitor of the
sacred grape. And so they
sing, 50 voices strong,
"Dionysus, he's our man,
if he can't bring wine, no
one can." Or words to that effect.

The year is 534 BC, and, unbeknownst to
you, theatre is about to be invented.

Now dithyrambs are fine. Zeus knows you
like dithyrambs as much as the next
Athenian. In fact, you and your friends and

neighbors have gathered together this after-
noon for the sole purpose of hearing dithy-
rambs. "Dionysus did this. Dionysus did that.
. " So you are understandably astonished
when one of the performers steps out of the
chorus, lifts his masked chin, and says, "I am
Dionysus, and I want everyone to drink up:'

NX'hoa. . . You're a little shaken. Did he
)ust say he was Dionysus? You turn to your

nearest spectator for con-
firmation, and he nods,
nudges you in the ribs
and says, "Hey, this is
new." New indeed.

Did any of this
actually happen?
Probably not But if it did
ippen, then the per-
i^mers name was
I hespis. and he is credit-
ed with being the ver>'
first actor the first performer to impersonate
a character, the first to take the depiction of
a protagonist's exploits from a third-person
recounting of past events to a physical imita-
tion set in the perpetual now of the drama
And for a too brief moment vou were in the

Play List

1915 THE KLEPTOMANIAC

1916 A AfllDSUMMER NIGHrS DREAM
DEAD ERNEST

THE OXFORD AFFAIR

1917 CUPID'S PARTNER
ENDYMION

PHILOSOPHY VS. CUPID
THE BRACELET

1918 BREEZY POINT
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

1919 RISE UP )ENNIE SMITH

WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE
THE NARROW PATH OF GOOD
ENGLISH
WOULD YOU BREAK A PROMISE?
TWELFTH NIGHT
THE SIX WHO PASS

WHILE THE LENTILS BOIL

1920 IF I WERE KING
AS YOU LIKE IT
THEUDIESOF
CRANFORD
THE GREEN MOTH
THREE DEAR
FRIENDS

1931 OUR AUNT
FROM
CALIFORNIA

SOCIETY MANNERS

(TWO RUNS)
EVERYBODrS HUSBAND
THREE PILLS IN A BOTTLE
PRUNELU

THE RISING OF THE MOON
THEOLDPEABODYPEW

1922 MISS MARIA

SURPRESSED DESIRES
THE MAN WHO MARRIED A

DUMB WIFE
BEHIND A WAHEAUPiaURE
THE WILL 0' THE WISP

SIR DAVID WEARS A CROWN

1923 FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
THE CHINA PIG
LIMA BEANS
A MIDSUMMER NIGHrS

DREAM

(SELEQIONS)
THE RECOMPENSE
TWELVE GOOD MEN AND TRUE
LIMA BEANS
THE WONDER HAT
THE RESCUE

FOURTEEN

192 LITTLE WOMEN

THE BEADED BUCKLE
A MIDSUMMER NIGHrS

DREAM
NEIGHBORS
THE ROMANCERS
lOINT OWNERS IN SPAIN
CONFLia

1925 THURSDAY EVENING
THE BEADED BUCKLE
FOLLWERS
NEVERTHELESS
WILL 0' THE WISP
DADDY LONGLEGS

1926 THE CHARM OF THE

HAWTHORNE
THE DARNED DRESS
AUNTTENNIE
VALUES
TWEEDLES
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES

1927 TRUMPETS
BLACK MOUNTAIN
TIN KEY TOYS

BISHOP WHIPPLE'S MEMORIAL
AS YOU LIKE IT
FIGUREHEADS
TRYSTING PUCE
THE PURPLE DREAM

1928 VICE VERSA

Kimr SEE IT THROUGH
HERO WORSHIP (TWO RUNS)

presence of the living god.

Fast forward 2,500 years: Georgia sun
beating down on a split-level ranch in
Dunwoody, the Mall of Georgia a distant
rumor, the air conditioner purring. And
you've just returned from Blockbuster with a
bag of microwave popcorn and a guaranteed-
to-be-there copy of Titanic. You pop the tape
in the VCR, settle back on the sofa, and not
even the pedestrian love triangle keeps you
from being wholly absorbed in the tragedy
of the doomed ship. As the grim story
unfolds, it's not hard to imagine the camera
has somehow miraculously recorded the
events of that night, so realistic are
the images that have been captured
on film.

If you really wanted to be
wowed, witness The Phantom
Menace at the local multiplex
theatre, with scenes that seem no
less real, despite the fact that
they could never have taken
place, and existed for the most
part as bits and bytes inside a
computer before their eventual
transfer to celluloid. The man in

the Dionysus mask seems a little less com-
pelling.

Or does he?

Certainly film and video are able to pro-
vide a multiplicity of images with which the
theatre can never hope to compete. They
can take us to the tip of Everest, the Battle of
Agincourt or the deck of the Starship
Enterprise indeed, all manner of places that
are nigh impossible to get to, no longer exist,
or never did and depict them all in the kind
of exquisite detail that only a production
budget in the millions can permit.

To add flash to the fire, film and video
can shift from one image to another with the
flick of an editor's knife. We can watch most
of the Normandy invasion zip by onscreen
n the time it takes a single scenic wagon
to rumble onstage. And realistic? While
Agincourt is on the table, compare
Kenneth Branagh's stage version
of Henry V, Act I some verse,
10 guys marching across stage
with banners, a little sword-
play with the film ver-
sion some verse, 600
armored knights on

PINK AND PATCHES

DUST OF THE MINES

PINK AND PATCHES

HERO WORSHIP

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

GRANDMA PULLS THE STRING

EVER YOUNG

THE WILLO' THE WISP

1929 FAR AWAY PRINCESS
CINDERELLA MARRIED

SAVED
THE GRATE

ONCE IN A BLUE MOON
ACHILLES' HEEL
EXPRESSING WILLIE

1930 WISDOM TEETH
CABILDO
GYPSY
SOUTHERN UNLIMITED

RUSSIAN ANTIQUES
ME AND GALAHAD
ALL IN A DAY'S WASH
THE WREN
WHAT THEY THINK
NO GOOD

THINKING MAKES IT SO
THE IVORY DOOR

1931 LIHLE WOMEN
OP-O'-ME-THUMB
LOVE IS LIKE THAT
MEN FOLK
IN LOVE WITH LOVE
THE KING'S FOOL
AT THE

WEDDING

REHEARSAL
A POUND OF
FLESH

1932 PYGMALION
LORENA
NINE 'TIL SIX

1933 QUALITY
STREET
(TWO RUNS)
HAY FEVER

1934 THE LADIES OF CRANFORD
ONCE THERE WAS A PRINCESS
HER HUSBAND'S WIFE

YOU NEVER CAN TELL

1935 CRAIG'S WIFE
CHOEPHOROE

MR. PIM PASSES BY

1936 BRIDAL CHORUS
PLAYING THE GAME
DOUBLE DOOR

1937 SPRING DANCE
MOOR BORN
MRS. MOONLIGHT

1938 PYGMALION

THE TROjAN WOMEN

STAGE DOOR
)UST WOMEN
HOW HE LIED TO HER HUSBAND

1939 DREAM OF AN AUGUST NIGHT
THE GREEN VINE
SEVEN SISTERS
A WOMAN OF JUDGMENT

1940 I'LL LEAVE IT TO YOU
(TWO RUNS)

EPISODES IN THE LIFE OF
LUCY STONE

1941 BRIEF MUSIC
THE DISTAFF SIDE
LADIES IN WAITING

1942 DEAR BRUTUS
HEARTS
LEHERS TO LUCERNE

1943 TIME FOR ROMANCE

SHUBERT ALLEY

1944 REHEARSAL

WOMEN WHO WAIT
QUEEN OF FRANCE
THE CRADLE SONG
SPIDER ISLAND

1945 AS YOU LIKE IT (SCENES)
ROMEO AND JULIET (SCENES)
TWELFTH NIGHT (SCENES)
WILLO' THE WISP

BE SEATED

THE PRINCE WHO WAS A PIPER
FEAST OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Certainly jilm and video
are able to provide a
multiplicity oj images
with which the theatre
can never hope to com-
pete. Yet can the projec-
tion ojjilm compare with
the jlesh-and-hlood
intimacy oj live theater?

T7_

BLACKFRIARS 85TH ANNIVERSARY

Eastern and western
perspectives emerge
in costuming as well
as play content.

horseback galloping through a field of muck
while tens of thousands of arrows ram down
upon them, bloody corpses littering the ter-
rain. Surely poor Thespis doesn't stand a
chance.

Except for one thing. Hes really there.
And he's there just for you. Film is only shad-
ows on a wall, video a stream of electrons in
a cathode ray tube. But Thespis is flesh and
blood and bone. When you watch the image
of Leonardo DiCaprio go down with the
image of the ship, the Leonardo is off some-
where in Palm Springs and what passed for
the ship is divided between a scrap heap in
Mexico, a model shop at Industrial Light and
Magic, and a very large computer file (while
the real ship still sits at the bottom of the
Atlantic). But when you watch Thespis, you
and he occupy the same space, you breathe
his air, you share his inescapable humanity.

Whatever their visual or narrative
dynamism, even at their best, film and video
remain essentially passive entertainment. At
their worst, their saturation of image and
sound generates a measure of numbness in
their viewers, and the filmmakers' impulse to
ratchet up the asteroids, the car crashes and

the villains- who- won't-stay-dead-at-the-end
only adds to the hollowness of he experi-
ence. Even our language makes it clear: we
"veg " out in front of the TV, we turn into
'couch potatoes "

But there are no theatre potatoes. You
enter the world of the play as a panicipant,
not just as a spectator. Each performance
becomes a confrontation, demanding your
attention, your commitment, and your pas-
sion for it to succeed. Your response feeds
the actors work, gives it life and shape and
makes it possible. Without you in front of
the film screen or television set, moving pic-
tures roll implacably onward, ignorant of and
indifferent to your absence. But without you
In the theatre, Thespis is only in rehearsal.

Speaking of which, who is this Thespis
anyway? Figuratively speaking, he is you.
Our emotional Identification with the pro-
tagonist is one of dramas most profound
strengths we become Hamlet, we become
Antigone But literally speaking he can be
you, too.

Consider for a moment the resources it
takes to make a film Production budgets rou-

1946 HOTEL UNIVERSE

LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN

19^7 KIND LADY

BLITHE SPIRIT (SCENES)
CYRANO DE BERGERAC (SCENES)
OUR TOWN (SCENES)

PULLIVIAN-CAR HIAWATHA

1957 CHALK GARDEN

FASHION OF LIFE IN NEW YORK

THE WORLD WE LIVE IN

1948

THE GREAT DARK
TROIAN WOMEN

1958 THE TEMPEST
THE ENCHANTED

OUR HEARTS WERE YOUNG
AND GAY

1959 TRIFLES
, ^ SOMETHING

1949

NO WAY OUT
EASTWARD IN EDEN

/\C/UCS SCCTtI UNSPOKEN
BMCKfflr/DcT ARIA DA CAPO

1950

PYGMALION
LADIES OF THE lURY

K

^"'"sfvJS HAPPY lOURNEY
I \ |=- THE HEIRESS

1951

HEARTBREAK HOUSE f
THE SERVANT IN THE
HOUSE

^fM

/j__ i960 THE BIRTHDAY OF THE

l^l INFANTA

Izul ELECTRA

IFl THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH

1952

1 REMEMBER MAMA
TAKE TWO FROM 1
ONE L

isl '9*>'''HEILLUMINATIDE
^ ' LIBRE

1953

CHOEPHOROE
THE GRASS HARP

UNCLE SAM'S CABIN
REFUTATION OF AN

1954

MOOR BORN

FAMILY PORTRAIT

SCENES FROM SHAKESPEARE

OLD THEME
SOMETHING THAT LASTS
THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA

THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH

1955
1956

TWELFTH NIGHT
ANTIGONE

THE WOULD-BE GENTLEMAN

1962 RING ROUND THE
MOON
THE BALD SOPRANO
THE MEASURES TAKEN

PYGMALION (SCENES)

THE GUSS MENAGERIE

(SCENES)

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

(SCENES)

EVERYMAN

THE CREATION OF

THE HEAVENLY BEINGS AND
THE FALL OF LUCIFER

THE CREATION OF MAN

THE GARDEN OF EDEN

THE FALL OF MAN

1961, BLITHE SPIRIT
ROYAL GAMBIT

196; MAIOR BARBARA

THE LOVE OF DON PERLIMPUN
AND BELISA IN THE GARDEN
MASKS OF ANGELS

1966 THERE'S SOME MILK IN THE

ICEBOX

URFAUST

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF

TOM THUMB THE GREAT; OR
THE TRAGEDY OF TRAGEDIES

1967 THE CHILDREN'S HOUR

1968 THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT

1969 BECAUSE

THEIR
HEARTS
WERE
PURE

1970 THE CRUCIBLE

1971 THE PRIME OF

MISSIEAN
BRODIE

1963 THE GARDENER'S DOG

THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT

^8

AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE FAU. 1

tinely crest $50 million for studio releases,
and Titanic and The Phantom Menace easily
spent more than twice that. Even a low-bud-
get wonder like The Blair Witch Project cost in
the neighborhood of $75,000, and while
that's bus fare by Hollywood standards, it's a
good deal more than most of us have in our
pockets. Watch the credits of a feature film
or television show and you'll see an army of
trained artists and technicians roll by, all of
them necessary to the endeavor (with the
possible exception of Mr. Willis' hairstylist).
But you and a friend can do The Zoo Story
right now, and all it takes is a park bench, a

rubber knife

and a check
made out to
Edward
Albee for

arts. Its history is made up of civic communi-
ties, religious orders, trade guilds, runaway
apprentices, college students amateurs all
gathering together to craft drama from little
more than the proverbial two boards and a
passion. And with that inclusion comes
power the power to engage, the power to
move, the power to transform Theatre
makes artists of us all.

Blackfriars will begin its 85th season with
a production of Jean Anouilh's Antigone, a
contemporary re-telling of a story that was
old when Thespis was young. The women in
the cast will all be Agnes Scott students, the
men members of the
community. For some of
them, perhaps, it will
be their first appear-
ance on a stage.
Another dozen stu-
dents will serve as
crew. My colleague
David Thompson will
direct, and 1 will
design the set. And our
budget will be much less
than The Blair Witch Project.

SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER

1972 A MIDSUMMER

NIGHFS

DREAM
FIRST

IMPRESSIONS
SKIN OF OUR

TEETH

1973 RIMERS OF

ELDRICH

LADY FROM

THE SEA

1974 BLITHE SPIRIT
THE GRASS HARP

1975 EARNEST IN LOVE
ROPE DANCERS

1976 HOUSE AT POOH CORNER
THE MILKTRAIN

DOESN'T STOP HERE
ANYMORE
RING 'ROUND
THE MOON

1977 OPQRS
TARTUFFE
THREE SISTERS

1978 PUSS IN BOOTS
PALPITATING PASSIONS
LADYHOUSE BLUES

1979 CINDERELLA
BABES IN ARMS
TROjAN WOMEN

1980 ANNABELLE BROOM, THE

UNHAPPY WITCH

UNCOMMON WOMEN AND

OTHERS
APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

19S1 TAKEN IN MARRIAGE

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

STEP ON A CRACK

THIS PROPERTY IS CONDEMNED

THE DIARY OF ADAM AND EVE

DEAR LIAR

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU

1982 THEATRICAL POTPOURRI
THE CHALK GARDEN
SALAMANDER TERMINAL
LATE LATE ... COMPUTER DATE
FEATURING FREDDY

1983 ALADDIN

THECONGRESSWOMEN
GODSPELL
LUDLOW FAIR
TO BURN A WITCH
MAGGIE AND THE BIRD GO
FISHING

1984 WILEY AND THE HAIRY MAN
THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES
GEHING OUT

THE BALD PRIMA DONNA
WHERE HAVE ALL THE

LIGHTNING BUGS GONE?
ABRAHAM AND ISAAC
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING

EARNEST (GARDEN SCENE)
DAUGHTER TO NUN

(ADAPTATION OF RICH

MAN, POOR MAN)

OUT OF OUR FATHERS' HOUSE
THE SAINTS IN CAESAR'S
HOUSEHOLD

1985 WINNIE THE POOH

ALL THE WAY HOME
THE GOOD PERSON

OF SZECHWAN
CHINAMEN
THE WOMEN

SCORNED

1986 ANDROCLES AND THE LION
BLITHE SPIRIT

CRIMES OF THE HEART
THE GOLDEN FLEECE
ANTIC SPRING
PLEASE, NO FLOWERS

1987 THE INSEa COMEDY
THIRTEEN BELLS OF

BOGLEWOOD
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
THYMUS VULGARIS
LILLIAN HELLMAN:

PORTRAITS AND

MEMENTOES

1988 THE MARRIAGE OF BEHE AND

BOO
CINDERELLA

OUT OF OUR FATHERS' HOUSE
HOPSCOTCH

APPROACHING LAVENDER
GRACELAND

1989 THE DINING ROOM
RUMPELSTILTSKIN
THE WAR BRIDES

A DOLLHOUSE (AQ III)

Over the years, Blackfrairs'
plays have often called for
elaborate costumes and sets.

Theatre remains the most
democratic and inclusive
oj the performing arts.

29_

BLACKFRIARS 85TH ANNIVERSARY

Author Remembers
Days As A Blackfriar

By Terry Kay

When I meet people from Agnes Scott College,
I like to tell them, "I used to be a Blackfriar"
Their expression is smile-edged and polite,
but quizzical, I think they are expecting a slightly off-
color follow-up

"It's true," I say. "I did a number of plays there as an
actor "

And 1 name some of them The Glaa Menagerie, The
Crucible, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Their expression relaxes.

Still, I think many of them doubt me.

It was a very long time ago, yet it remains a joyful
memory.

Roberta Winter was the director, a grand lady I
remember thinking of her when I had the privilege of
meeting Jessica Tandy during the filming of my novel. To
Dance ti'ill' the White Dog. Same regal bearing. Same dignity.
Same uncompromising respect for art

During that period the 1960s I was the film and
theatre editor for The Atlanta Jouryial, and something of a
natural target for criticism from anyone associated with
theatre in Atlanta.

Roberta Winter was not bothered by the potential for
booing from the audience, or the retaliatory heaving of
tomatoes by disgruntled actors and directors who had

been stained by the ink of my r\'pewnter ribbon She
knew that I loved the theatre, and that mattered

It is also wh\' I enioyed working with the
Blackfnars It uas not a club of silly young girls
padding their college resumes with frivolity. It was a
gathering of gifted young ladies discovering themselves
through dedication and discipline and 1 feel honored
to have worked with them.

Being a Blackfriar was my proudest experience in
theatre.

Terry Kay. an awarii-wmnmg novtlisi aiui scrcatwnlcr. hcijan
his icnliii^ career iii (05P at a weekly neu^papcr m Decatur. Ga.

THE UND OF ENCHANTMENT
IVIY CUP RANNETH OVER

1990 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
SISTER MARY IGNATIUS

EXPLAINS IT ALL FOR YOU
ANTIGONE
LUDLOW FAIR
THIRDS. OAK
MARGARET'S BED
THIS PROPERTY IS CONDEMNED

1991 SONGOFGUENEVERE
ABINGDON SQUARE
MS.TRIAL

THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES
ARIEL BRIGHT
PENGUIN BLUES
WOMEN ON WOMEN

1992 COME BACK TO THE FIVE AND

DIME )IMMY DEAN. IIMMY
DEAN
THE ODD COUPLE

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL

PATIO

THE STRONGER

SUPPRESSED DESIRES

1993 A RECONSTRUCTED

VERSION OF SPOON RIVER
ANTHOLOGY

PHAEDRA nSBSOorTiuB*!

THE DREAMNIBBLER 1 ^^

199Z, THE VISIT

THE SEARCH FOR

SIGNS OF

INTELLIGENT LIFE

IN THE

UNIVERSE
AGNES OF GOD
OVERTONES
THE NIGHTINGALE AND NOT

THE LARK
OPEN WINDOW

1995 RUMPLESTILTSKIN
ELEEMOSYNARY
GRACEUND

AMY BANKS DRYDEN'S ONE
WOMAN SHOW

1996 PARALLEL LIVES
ANDROCLES AND THE LION

LOOSE KNIT PERFORMANCE ART
EXTRAVAGANZA (INCLUDING

THE FIFTEEN-MINUTE

HAMLETl

1997 THE VIEW FROM HERE

AMA AND THE WHITE CRANE
THE LEARNED LADIES
PATIO

SKETCHES OF THE
"DURANG'ED"
WHY WE HAVE A BODY

1998 MAMA DRAMA
CLOWNS' PUY
VINEGAR TOM

DEARBORN HEIGHTS
THE WINGED MAN
CHICKS

J999 TOP GIRLS

ONCE UPON A BRUTEBEAST
PORTRAIT OF MADONNA
THE MAGENTA SHIFT
ANTIGONE

SOURCES: LEST WE FORGET. AN
ACCOUNT OF AGNES scon
COLLEGE BY WALTER EDWARD
MCNAIR AND RECORDS FROM THE
DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND
DANCE.

* Some perfor7r>ances are listed as by
Blockfriars. some by faculty play-
ers; some plays were presented
on campus, others in homes and a
few in competitions nationally.

JO

ACNES SCOTT COLLEGE FALL .

LIFESTYLE

Discovering Romanian children artists,- a wedding veil for all ages, a lover of words-, a
long and circuitous journey home, excerpts from an alumna-authored hook.

ROMANIAN

ARTISTS

DISCOVERED

Sarah Davis Adams

Sarah Davis Adams '56 is
a family therapist living
near Los Angeles far
removed from the Romanian
children whose champion
she has become. Yet Adams
has established an educa-
tional charity to sponsor
study and travel for them in
this country and keep
them awash in paint sup-
plies back home.

Fifteen to 20 students, 9
to 1 7, and their art teacher,
Elena Stoica, traveled to
Atlanta this summer to
teach U.S. children at the
Woodruff Arts Center for
two weeks. The Atlanta trip
was headed by Randy and
Jamie Merrill and supported
by their foundation, which
is supported by U.S. sales of
the children's bright, fanciful
paintings plus donations
Sarah Davis Adams, left

from foundations and busi-
nesses. Last year, the group
visited Santa Fe, N.M.,
through the efforts of Sarah
Tucker Miller, class of 1950.
Before that, the group visit-
ed California for two sum-
mers. Adams notes that
another ASC alumna, Judy
Brown '56, "has been surro-
gate mom to the Romanian
children," traveling with
them on the trips.

Adams became involved
with the young artists when
they came to Los Angeles.
A friend showed her 35 pic-
tures the children had been
unable to sell on their own.

"They were beautiful,"
Adams says. The work typi-
cally has a fairy-tale or folk-
story motif. "We arranged a
one-night sale at the library
and raised $1,200."

The children's teacher
invited Adams and her hus-
band to visit their village at
the base of the Carpathian
Mountains.They went, and

were hooked.

"These students win
prize after prize" in interna-
tional competitions, Adams
says. "They learn good color
and line perspective in the
structured way they're
taught." Their teacher,
Stoica, who holds a degree
in fine arts from the Univer-
sity of Timisoara, has been
teaching in her home village
for 25 years.

Stoica has formed a
club where they paint when
not studying. The younger
ones go to school in the
morning, but the older ones
don't start until one in the
afternoon, so they often
paint all morning.

"Their ability to paint for
a long period of time is real-
ly quite unusual," Adams
continues.

Because Romania is a
poor country, Adams says,
the teacher depends on the
sale of paintings in other
countries primarily the
United States to finance
the club's work and travels.

Word is spreading. The
headmaster of a small school
in Sante Fe was so
impressed, Adams says, that
he invited them to return to
Santa Fe. "Next year, we
hope the children will be

able to visit another area of
the country."

At a later sale Adams and
her husband handled for the
children, buyers snapped up
$25,000 worth of paintings
a 2 1 -fold increase over
the first sale. Karm Hill

WEDDING VEIL

Sarah Jones
Cheatham

AA/^Tlien Sarah Jones '36
W traveled to Europe
with a group of friends from
Agnes Scott, she wasn't
interested in getting married.
But just in case and to pla-
cate her mother she
bought a simple veil of hand-
made lace while in Brussels.

A year-and-a-half later
she needed that veil, when
she manried Robert Cheat-
ham. The couple settled
down, but the veil didn't.
Over the next 60 years, it
would parade down the aisle
on the heads of 27 brides in
1 1 cities, traveling as far
west as Phoenix and as far
north as New York City.

In addition to Arizona
and New York, Mississippi,
North Carolina and South
Carolina have seen the veil
grace the heads of family
members and friends. In

31

LIFESTYLE

Georgia, it has traveled to
Dawson, Nelson, Rome,
Atlanta, BarnesviJIe and
Macon.

"Mostly, it had to do
with sentiment," Cheatham
says. "It goes back to 'some-
thing old, something new,
something borrowed and
something blue,' the tradi-
tional items a bride is sup-
posed to wear

"Borrowing a veil let a
bride have something lovely
and sentimental that really
didn't cost her anthing "

The chapel-length veil is
made ot Bmssels rosepoint
lac appliqued with La
Duchesse lace. Its charm,
Cheatham says, comes from
the flowers scattered along
the bottom, stuffed so that
they look two dimensional.

Despite its light weight
and delicacy, the veil re-
mains in good condition,
necdmg only an occasional
washing and ironing. Cheat-
ham has assigned it to the
care of one daughter, the
sixteenth bride to wear
It I Ici plain satin dres^
only borrowed by
seven brides is in
the care ol another
dauglilei, nuiiiher
sevenlet'ii on the
veil lisl

"As lar as 1 km
the veil's onK' been diY
cleaned once, when lone

of the women] got married
on St. Simons Island beach,"
says Cheatham. "My only
rule was. Do not cut it."

While planning her own
wedding, Cheatham asked
her brother if she should
invite the woman he had
just started dating. No, he
said. Six months later, that
woman became the first to
borrow the veil, when she
married the brother. Next
was a former college room-
mate, followed by the bride
of her husband's brother

The veil was almost lost
when it was mailed to her
husband's sister, working at
Carfinkels department store
in Washington, DC. It was
mistakenly addressed to
GarfinkeFs in New York
City, where it languished in
the basement The bride
wore another veil, Carfin-
kels found the errant
package and sent it
back home
During
World War II,
the veil

I

friend of her husband's sis-
ter, her father's stepmothers
granddaughter ... You get
the picture.

The second generation
of brides dusted off the veil
in 1961, when Cheatham's
daughter Sally wore it
""Somehow, it had turned the
color of tobacco, but a good
wash and ironing turned it
back to a lovely creamy-
white, Cheatham says.

Other children, nieces
and nephew's brides wore it
throughout the '60s and
'70s. The third generation
started taking their turn in
1984, when Cheatham s
granddaughter wore the
veil. It was last worn in
November 1998.

The veil probably will
get a decades rest, or so.
while the fourth generation
grows out of childhood,
Cheatham says.

She waffles on the sug-
gestion that the veil is a
good-luck charm. "It seems
to have perhaps not so
much to do with the veil as
n has the t%'pe person who
usualK' wants to do some-
thing like that, " she savs.
Still sonic Iclt It niigln
bring lusi a teens> bit ol
luck \ou know, I'm not
supeiNtitious, but I will knock
on wood "And as mv
mother said theirs no use
flying in the face ot Provi-
dence, or taking chances "

Karen Hill

A LOVER
OF WORDS

Elizabeth Stevenson

j Eliiabtth Stevcnion died oj canca
in Pcachtm Hospictjust aftw
w(eks after ibis inlewiew.

Even as Transaction Press
at Rutgers LIniver^it>' \-as
reprinting five of Elizabeth
"Betry " Stevenson's books,
the retired educator was forg-
ing ahead with a new one a
memoir of her youth in
Montana.

"I grew up in two distinct
Americas, the true West and
the true South said Steven-
son 41 in a phone conversa-
tion from her Atlanta home
"I lived in Montana until I
was 13, then came South

Stevensons parents, both
from Georgia farm families,
married in Atlanta But they
were living in Panama
where her father worked for
the US government when
Stevenson was bom. Soon
after, oil production work
took the family to Montana

Thev lived in Great Falls
on the .Missoun River

Montana was lust lovelv
vcr\- unspoiled," she said
W'e would go camping
spending all ixir summers
outside

The move back to
Georgia introduced Steven-
son to the farming lifest>'les
of her forenrs kin.

Aithoush Stevenson

32

irsJifitfBiBGLECE^filU it>:

INIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHY

remained in Atlanta after
graduating from Agnes
Scott, teaching at nearby
Emory University, she re-
tained her parents' rolling-
stone tendencies. Research-
ing her books took her back
to the American West, to
Japan, and many times to
Washington, DC. Her
favorite a biography of
landscape architect Frede-
rick Law Olmsted took
her from Montreal to San
Francisco to New York,
exploring parks and private
gardens he had designed.

"I always worked to sup-
port my writing habits," she
said with a chuckle. 'These
books don't make a lot of
money."

At Emory, Stevenson
taught American Studies
and later became assistant to
the dean. She retired 12
years ago as a Charles
Howard Candler Professor

It helped, she said, that
the dean often gave her
three-day leaves, which she
usually spent deep within
the Library of Congress,
researching her subjects.
That was where she found
Olmsted's letters.

In addition to the Olm-
sted book, Stevenson wrote
a book about the Bohemian
movement of the 1920s, a
biography of writer Henry
James, for which she be-
came the first woman
awarded a Bancroft Prize, a

Bancroft Award-winning autlior

book about great figures in
the history of the American
West and a biography of
Lafcadio Hearn, who trans-
lated Japanese fairy tales
into English, all published
by MacMillan.

She admits that there
was no rhyme or reason to
how she picked her subjects,
'They're just interesting
people," said the author
whose works were nominat-
ed for a Pulitzer Prize and a
National Book Award. "I do
not have a gift for fiction. I
try to make biography as
interesting as possible."

Karen Hdl

CIRCUITOUS
JOURNEY

Julia Murray
Pensinger

It has taken Julia Murray
Pensinger '66 three decades
to return home from college,
on a circuitous journey that
included stops in Delaware,
Chicago, England and five
years in the Caribbean
aboard a sailboat she helped
build.

Now back in Greene-

Elizabeth Stevenson.

ville, in the mountains of
East Tennessee, she and her
husband, Jim, are building
their own house and rais-
ing cows just to keep the
grass clipped in the pastoral
valley that surrounds them.

"I expected to go to the
State Department or United
Nations,- I wanted to travel,"
Pensinger says of her plans
after graduating from Agnes
Scott, where she studied his-
tory and political science.
"In a sense, I've done exactly
what I wanted to.

"But I did tell my mother
she shouldn't have sent me
to Agnes Scott trade
school would have been bet-
ter," she adds, laughing. "I
don't know that Agnes Scott
was designed to prepare me
to use nail guns, but it did
give me self-confidence."

TTie first curve in Pen-
singer's path came when she
married Jim, a Georgia Tech
engineering student. The
second came when she and
her husband, also an ama-
teur pilot, were stranded
while flying in the Bahamas.

'The little island we land-
ed on had sunfish sailboats

LIFESTYLE

and my husband figured out
how to rig one up. He said
it worked just like an air-
plane wing," Pensinger
recalls. 'That was so much
fun, we bought a small boat.
Then we moved from
Adanta to Chicago, and
decided we needed a bigger
boat."

Soon, the Pensingers,
who now had a son and
daughter, moved to Ports-
mouth, England. While
there, they sailed to the
Mediterranean.

Next on the itinerary
was a layover in Florida,
where Jim left engineering
to open a printing business.
In 1989, the Pensingers built
a sailboat and sold the busi-
ness. Their children now
grown, they moved onto
the boat and spent the next
five years in the Caribbean.

Only the lure of grand-
children brought them back
to Creeneville They have
three granddaughters and
one grandson.

Today Pensinger
spends her days hammering
on the new house or substi-
tute teaching at a nearby
school.

"I really get a thrill out of
building the house and I
substitute teach just to keep
myself entertained," she
says. "It's been a very differ-
ent life than I expected, but
certainly a good one."

Karen Hill

33

EXCERPTS

HIS OWN
DEAR NATIVE
PLACE

The Salem World of
Nathaniel Hawthorne
by Margaret B. Moore
(University of Missouri Press,
Columbia, 1998)

The Scilem World 0}
Nathaniel Hawthorne by
Margaret Moore '46 is a
work of scholarship that is
clearly a labor of love.
Moore, who is secretary of
the Nathaniel Hawthorne
Society and is also the wife
of Rayburn Moore, professor
emeritus at the University of
Georgia in Athens, has en-
joyed a distinguished career
as an independent scholar
with a special interest in
Hawthorne Her many arti-
cles on Hawthorne and his
times have been published in
such lournals as SliicJi 111 the
American Rmaisiance, The
Nathaniel Hawthor}te Rwiew,
Poitanpt and The Essex Institute
Historical Collections.

The present work is the
culmination of years of ded-
icated and assiduous re-
search on an often over-
looked aspect of Haw-
thorne's background: the lit-
craiA' and personal influ-
ences of Salem, Mass., the
town where he spent his
childhood and \(iung adult-
hood It IS this exclusive
locus on the particular geo-
graphical l(xus and Us hisUv

34

ACNES SCOTT COLLEGE fAU (

ry and legacies, as well as
on this particular period of
Hawthorne's life, that distin-
guishes it from the biogra-
phies by George Lathrop
(Hawthorne's son-in-law),
Robert Cantwell, Newton
Arvin, Hubert Hoeltje and
the more recent account by
James Mellow. Working
from primary sources, many
previously unavailable,
Moore sheds new light
on Hawthorne's forma-
tive contexts, reveals fas-
cinating details about the
nature of life in Salem and
America in the 19th centu-
ry and, in tulfilling one of
the great functions of biog-
raphy, provides privileged
glimpses of Hawthorne as a
human being

Moore's study focuses
upon the periods ot Haw-
thorne's residence in Salem:
from his birth on kily 4,
1804, until his departure for
Bowdoin College in 1821,
from 1825 to 1842, the 17
years consisting mostly of
his famous period of with-
drawal from the world; and
from 184."^ to 1850, aher he
returned to Salem to be-
come sui"veyor at the Cus-
tom House In 1840, he was
liied Ironi this post tor
political reasons, an experi-
ence he writes about quite
scathingly in "The Custom
House" in TIk Scarlet Letter. It
was also the \ear ol his
mothers death He Icit

Salem, never to return, but
Salem would follow him,
never losing its hold over
his literary imagination

The most important facts
of life in early 19th-century
Salem were the legacies of
the 17th century', namely
the witch trials of 1692 and
the persecution of the
Quakers. The long memory

of these events
haunted the town and also
the mind of Hawthorne

Moore substantiates this
legacy by making the con-
nections to Hawthorne not
merek cultural and histori-
cal, liut personal. Through
detailed genealogical inves-
tigation and exposition she
establishes the diixxt partici-
pation of vanous membciN
of the Hathome las the
name was spelled in earlier
generations! family in the
witch hunts and the treat- j
mcnt ot the Quakei-s \\"il- I
liam Hathome Nathaniels

original progenitor, was
known to strip Quakers,
including women, and whip
them through the streets
His son John. Nathaniels
great-grandfather, was a
judge at the witch trials.

Moore traces this legac\'
to Hawthorne's writing, how
he draws upon it as material
and also as mood. These
traces can be seen in such
stories as "Etherege " 'Cnm-
shawe " and "Main Street '
the latter being his most
direct and sustained treat-
ment of Salem. Longer
works such as Graniijatheri
Chair. Tin House of Stven
Gables and The Blillyijlf
Romance are also a part of
this list These works
rely not merely upon
histoncal facts but also
on an oral tradition. In
such a process, the natures
of the teller, the telling and
the audience are essential
for an amval at truth at
least for Hawthorne His
method of histoncal hction-
alizing is one based on com-
plication and ambivalence
as is his basic attitude
toward Salem. He hated it
and he loved it Moore
quotes him as writing "Let
us thank Crtid tor having
gnen us such ancestors and
let each successive genera-
tion thank him, not less fer-
vently, for being one step
further from them.'
Despite Hawthomes

wish to distance himself
from "his own dear native
place," Moore places him
entirely within it. Through
thorough examination of let-
ters, documents, newspapers
and other primary sources,
Moore reconstructs daily life
in Salem. She discusses what
was culturally available to
Hawthorne during his for-
mative years and how these
cultural and social institu-
tions and practices might
have influenced and inspired
him. Salem was a commer-
cial port through which
passed people and goods
from around the world. This
made for a community that
was curiously worldly and
provincial at the same time.
There were annual circuses
complete with Indian ele-
phants and exhibitions of
wax figures. There were
public lecture series which
brought in leading scientists,
thinkers and poets. Traveling
theater companies perform-
ed Shakespeare as well as
popular melodramas. Salem
mounted shows of such
artists as Benjamin West and
nurtured the talents of many
painters. Salem was home to
many bookstores.

Pointing to these facts,
Moore argues that Haw-
thorne was not an anomaly,
but the product of a particu-
lar culture and that he had a
wealth of resources which
helped form his mind and

sensibility.

Moore also offers a fasci-
nating view of 19th-century
American preoccupations
and social emphases and
how they differ from today's
customs. For instance, there
was the importance of
church membership as a
marker of status and even
identity. The activity of
dancing was far more impor-
tant, not only as a social
skill, but as an integral part
of educational curricula.
There was a difference of
holiday observances: a week
for Thanksgiving and only a
day for Christmas. Moore
points out the invisibility of
sex as a matter of public dis-
course, but on the other
hand, the ubiquity of death
as a subject.

In addition, certain top-
ics of controversy in Salem
are indicative of the period,
such as serpent sightings,
although Hawthorne was
skeptical of the marine crea-
ture's existence. A major
phenomenon was the mur-
der in 1830 of Captain
Joseph White and the subse-
quent trial. This event, rela-
tively rare for its time and
place, traumatized the town
and certainly had an effect
on Hawthorne as can be
seen in the echoes of this
case in Jlje House oj Swm
Gables. These details illus-
trate the interest in daily
existence that could inspire

such an acute observer as
Hawthorne.

Amid these social and
cultural events and trends
were individuals who had
an effect on Hawthorne.
Moore brings onstage virtu-
ally every relative, friend
and acquaintance.

The personal side of
Hawthorne is also well doc-
umented. Chapters are
devoted to his politics and
his faith. He was a life-long
Democrat and a firm sup-
porter of two not particular-
ly popular presidents:
Andrew Jackson and his for-
mer college classmate
Franklin Pierce

Growing up in Salem, he
was exposed to religious
conflicts and controversies
among the Puritans, the
Quakers, the Unitarians and
the Free Enquirers. Institu-
tional religion was taken
seriously, but not by Haw-
thorne who, though influ-
enced by "the instinct of
faith," kept his distance
from churches and "stopped
listening to sermons as soon
as he could dictate his own
actions."

Moore does a judicious
job of handling problematic
personal issues, such as
Hawthorne's attitudes
toward women and minori-
ties. WFiile he proved to be
marvelously understanding
and domestic as a husband,
he nonetheless took a rather

dim view of female writers
("scribbling women") and
held women in general to a
higher and unforgiving stan-
dard as regards their charac-
ters and accomplishments.
He was vehemently anti-
slavery, but he could not
tolerate abolitionists. As far
as the American Indian was
concerned, he has admitted
that he could not see the
value of Indian culture. In
many ways, Hawthorne,
being a genius of sensitivity,
was ahead of time, but in
other ways he was not.
Moore renders these
details of Hawthorne's falli-
bility with admirable hon-
esty, and it is this human-
ness that makes him live
within the text. These pic-
tures of Hawthorne the man
are especially valuable in
that they are contrary to the
legend of the recluse who
took his meals from a tray
left by his door or of the
misanthrope, who, when
walking the streets of Salem,
would speak to no one and
keep his eyes firmly focused
on the ground. There is the
image of him escorting the
Ingersoll sisters back to their
house from a tea, only to
stop off at his own house
where he, as was his custom,
chatted with them in the
dark. Tliere is also the
image of Hawthorne on the
verge of fighting a duel with
John Louis O'Sullivan to

35

EXCERPTS

defend the honor, such as it
was, of the manipulative
Mary Crowninshield Sils-
bce, with whom he was
temporarily smitten. Moore
also uncovers another pic-
ture of Hawthorne. In a his-
tory of the Derby-Ward
House, a passage discloses
the fact that Hawthorne
was a frequent guest there.
In fact, he had his own
room on the premises where
he took his meals. He also
did his early writing in a
summer house in its garden.
Moore's facts counter the
conception of Hawthorne
during his Salem period as
locked away in a darkened
chamber struggling and suf-
fermg with his art.

This is just one virtue of
Moore's scholarship. She is
thus able to make fine dis-
tinctions in the name of
accuracy. It is remarkable
the way she establishes the
exact date of Hawthorne's
entry into the Archer
School in 1819 for college
preparation (luly 7, not July
5) or identifies the Benjamin
Oliver who tutored
Hawthorne lor his college
entrance exam as a local
lawyer and not his uncle of
the same name the care
with which she silts, weighs
and twiances her evidence
cannot be emphasized too
greatly, nor can the reason-
ableness ol her conclusions

llllimalelv, what Moore

JO

ACJMES SCOTT COLLEGE FALL .9

achieves with her contextu-
alizing biographical enter-
prise is to refute Henry
James' claim in his 1879
biography of Hawthorne
that America was not fertile
ground for the breeding of
world-class novelists. He
claimed that early 19th-cen-
tury America lacked a deep,
rich culture and a long,
nuanced past that is neces-
sary to engage the artistic
imagination. Moore, on the
contrary, demonstrates quite
amply that Salem served as
an excellent resource and
formative influence for
Hawthorne. Out of the life
around him, he created
enduring art. In having done
so, he fulfilled James' own
highest requirement for the
artist: to cultivate one of
those exquisite minds on
which, finally, nothing is
wasted or lost.

LETTERS

Rn'ioi'cr M''illir Tollim iv
iissisdiiil l>rofcssor of Eiii/lisl)
<i( Ai/HR Scott.

Dear Editor:

I want to express to you my
appreciation of the sympa-
thetic review of The LapsUy
Saga (pages 27-28, summer
1 999 Acnes Scott Alum-
nae Mac^AZINE). Please
express to Dr. John Carey
my gratitude for his careful
assessment of our t)ook.

Only one thing is amiss.
The map of
Africa on
page 27
designated
Congo-
Brazzaville,
the former French
Equatorial Africa, as the
"Belgian Congo." I am
enclosing a map, which
shows the former "Belgian
Congo," the land of my
birth, in its proper dimen-
sions. It has an area of
2,345-million-square kilo-
meters, which occupies the
entire Congo River basin,
with 14,000 kilometers of
navigable waterways in
Central Africa. [Sec comctd
nuifi above. ]

Tliis large area of Central
Alrica has had a variety of
names as foreign powers
have sought control of its
fabulously nch mineral re-
sources It has had a sad.
hlo()d\' tempestuous histoa'.

Hut the stmng Chnstian
taitli ol several million
Bantu speaking Ix'lievcrs is
vibrantly alive! Tine Siimuf/
hi Lipiley, the American
Pa'sbvterian Congo Mis-
sion's paddlcwhcel steamer,
pla\ed an important role in

the establishment of the
Church in Central Africa
today.

Once again, please
know how much we appre-
ciate your including the
book review in ACNES

Scott Alumnae
Macj^zine.

Winifred KeHenhrrger Vasi 38
and The Rev Lachlm
Cumming Vasi lU

Dear Editor:

Thank you
for a verv

interesting,
educational and
intriguing
edition of the

Agses Scott
Alumnae Magazine
(summer 1999). It made me
proud to be an alumna of
such a progressive forward -
thinking eco-campus with
such amazing graduates.

You presented some
long overdue agendas that I
hope are bicing whole-
heartedlv embraced tor the
long run

A fnend ot mine, who
had never heard of Agnes
Scott, read the magarine
cover to cover and ga\e
me and Agnes Scott
quite a compliment hv
commenting, "You went to
school with a hunch ot
over-achievcrsl' Yes I did
and am glad to see that tra-
dition being earned on

I look forssard to the
next inspinng edition. Keep
up the quality work.

HoUy Demuth '95

GIVING ALUMNA

A Gift to Benefit Those Who Follow

Betty Lou
Houck Smith

35

"A:

gnes Scott College
Lgave me a foundation
for living thie rest of my life,"
says Betty Lou Houck Smitfi
'35, stressing that the words
are neither an exaggeration
nor a superficial expression of
college loyalty.

And the words do seem to
be heartfelt. Smith recounts a
life filled with explorations in
the world of drama and enter-
tainment, hunting for shells
on faraway shores, collecting
oriental antiques, and, most
important to her, teaching
phonics and music to numer-
ous children and youth.

"Agnes Scott prepared me
magnificently," Smith says. At

Agnes Scott, she majored in
psychology, took courses in
drama and participated in
theatre productions, was busi-
ness manager of the year-
book, and received what she
considers a well-rounded edu-
cation and a foundation of
knowledge and discipline on
which she built the rest of her
life.

She attended Yale Uni-
versity's drama school after
graduating from Agnes Scott,
but didn't stay long. "1 had
such a good grounding at
Agnes Scott, the require-
ments at Yale were boring."
In her professional pursuits in
theatre, she found drama and
entertainment to be "a selfish
field," and chose not to con-
tinue in it. 'You can't get
ahead in entertainment with-

out climbing on the backs of
other people. ! just couldn't
do that," she says.

She married P. L. "Bealy"
Smith, an Emory graduate
who built a highly successful
insurance agency. The couple
had six children, to whom
she taught phonics, which led
to a spontaneous mini-career
in education. "I taught over
750 kids to read when they
weren't getting it in school,"
she says. She has also taught
music in church youth choir.
Those experiences teaching
phonics and music are what
Smith considers her greatest
contributions to society.

Smith's life has been filled
with a variety of passions
drama, malacology (the study
of shells), oriental antiques,
phonics and music, to name a

few for which she credits
Agnes Scott for helping her
pursue. That is why she has
become one of the Annual
Fund's more consistent con-
tributors and the benefactor
of the Betty Lou Houck Smith
Scholarship Program for
Theatre Students (begun in
1996). She also cannot recall
a monetary campaign con-
ducted by the College in
which she has not been
involved.

"1 just want as many girls
as possible to get the educa-
tion that I've had," she says,
"and I love asking people for
money. Agnes Scott gave me
knowledge, not just of sub-
jects but also of myself. It
gave me everything to go on
with."

Chris Tiegreoi

37

GIVING ALUMNA

lllt|eAvtnue,Alltnt(/0*ca(ur,GA 300 30

A Global Awareness trip to the Emerald Isle offers ASC students a
unique opportLinity "to see all around and in everything beauty,
mystery, a reason to ask questions, a source of new ideas, cause for
unexpected delight." First-time visitors and seasoned travelers alike
found much to explore and many reasons to look back fondly.

Remembering Ireland

Agnes Scott

ALUMNAE MAGAZINE Spring/Summer 2000

THE

BUSINESS

OF

EQUITY

AND
JUSTICE

EDITOR'S NOTE

In the milieu of "transformations," Acjnes Scott is opening worlds
and a new director of creative services will help usher the way.

Springtime arrived at Agnes Scott with whirl and hum.
As the student body continued to grow, record num-
bers from the community attended cuhural events on
campus during the special Millennium Series, "Transforma-
tions/'

While the campus returned to its long-missed Evans
Dining Hall, hammer and saw buzzed nonstop, bringing tin
construction of Alston Center and
McCain Library nearer completion,
shovel and spade brought about a
relandscaping of the front lawn, mak
ing it greener than anyone remem-
bers in recent years

The bustle and growth on campu^
serve as an apt metaphor for the
community, as a sort of symbolic
dynamic bridge connecting the 2(lth
ccntLiiy to the 21st Details of
improvements in academic program
as well as the quality of student life
on campus are inclLided in a special
insert in this edition: "Agnes Scott
College: Opening Worlds" (scf anki 0/

l/ic miKjiTZiMc). We hope vou tind it, and die othci lealures in
this edition, informative, and that you will share the news
with friends as well as potential students in your communities
Among the main' ihangcs leconlcd this season was one in
our own litllr coiner ol campus, lennilei Hi\ on ( )wen has
loined us as diivc loi ol creative sei"vices and editor ol llie
ACNIiS Scory Al UMN.M M,'U,.\/lNr. Owen's various career
experiences converge in her responsibilities at Agnes Scott
"I enjoy working with a body of information and conimu-

ASC's new Creative Services Director Jennifer Owen

nicating that through the appropriate media to various audi-
ences," says Owen. The process is challenging and reward-
ing, and 1 look fonvard to working with this magazine and
Agnes Scott alumnae.

While on staff at The Universit\' of Mississippi Owen
edited an award-winning magazine. I'isioiis She has also
worked with the Mississippi State Institutions of Higher
Learning, where she edited its
newsletter and helped promote the
states public universities. Owen has
written for numerous magazines
authored and edited books publi-
cized books authors and bookstores:
and conducted a varierv' of public
relations activities for clients. Most
importantly, she is an avid reader
Owen, her husband John and
Ib-year-old son Jordan lived in
Roswell Ga before living in
Oxford, Miss

Owens considerable energ\' and
expertise will benefit the College
greatly as she works to establish con-
tacts with our alumnae for future stones and to revive the
Publications Editorial .Advison.- Board I hope vou will join us
in welcoming Jennifer to campus and will feel free to share
with her \iiui ideas about this :w\i.\ other College publications

99A^i^du^

Mary C. Ackerly
Director of CoiiimihiiiciiIioiis

CONTENTS

Agnes Scott College Alumnae Magazine
Spring /Summer 2000, Volume 76, Number 2

The Business

of Equity and Justice

A Conversation iH^.

Photography by Marilyn Suriani ^iW

Dfiinis McCann, Wallace M. Alston Professor
oj Bible and Reli()ion, and seminarian/World
Council of Churches representative Ashley
Seaman '95 discuss the moral, social and eco-
nomic implications of ijlohal business on the
health and welfare of the planet's "least of these.

With Grace and Wit

By David Thompson

Photography by Caroline Joe

Alumna Nancy Charles steps in at the last minuted

to pve audiences a stellar performance in Wit

Evans Reborn

By Mary Alma Durrett
Photography by Marilyn Suriani
A grand old building is revived
and is hustling with activity ...
and good smells

Blood, Sweat and Cheers

By Jennifer Bryon Owen and Pat McArthur
Life-long fitness begins at Agnes Scott, where physical activites are part
of a well-rounded college education. "We want the student -athlete to have
a valued experimce that benefits the total person," says Page Remillard.

DEPARTMENTS

On Campus

COVER: Wallace M. Alston
Professor of Bible and Religion
Dennis McCann and alumna/
seminary student Ashley Seaman
discuss ethnics and economics.

MARILYN SURIANI PHOTO

Editor: Mary G Ackerly
Contributing Editor: Chris

Tiegrccn
Production: Mary Alma

Durrett
Design: Everett Hullum
Student Assistants:

Shelley Acevedo '02

lla Atkins '03

Amy Cormier 00

Katie Turcotte '02

Copyright 2000, Agnes Scott Col-
lege. Published for alumnae and friends
twice a vear bv the Office of Publica-
tions, Agnes Scou College, Buttrick
Hall, 141 E College Avenue, Atlanta/
Decatur, CA 30030, (4041 471-6301.
Postmaster: Send address changes to
Office of Development, Agnes Scott
College, Atlanta/Decatur, CA 30030.
The content of the magazine reflects
the opinions of the writers and not the
viewpoint of the College, its t
administration e-mail:
publications(3agn

ON CAMPUS

An unexpected career in philosophy, the continued greening oj campus,
jump starting Habitat for Humanity on campus, admission gains

BROADENED
HORIZONS,
AWAKENED
POTENTIAL

Tamnra Wilson '0(1 was
pretty sure that her
philosophy major would
never lead to a career in the
field That is, until a Sum-
niei" InstitLite in Philosophy
at Rutgers University last
AugList exposed her to some
new ideas and broadened
her outlook on her studies.

Wilson was one of 15
students in the United
States selected to participate
in the program, which is
designed to kindle an inter-
est in philosophy as an aca-
demic career among minori-
ties who are underrepresent-
ed in the held.

Wilson had ap|ilR
tor the program at
the encouragement
of Professor Richaul
Parrv, but didn't
have her heart set
on being accepted
She was in the mid
die ol a live- week
tup to C hina p.irtu i
paling in a sUid\-
abroad program
tiirough Clark Atlanta

University with partial fund-
ing by Agnes Scott, when
she found out that she had
been accepted.

"1 got back from China,
was here a week, and then
off to Rutgers," she said. "I
had my mind on other
things."

When she first found out
she had been selected,
WilsiMT considered not even
attending the institute. "1
thoLight 1 wasn't interested
in philosophy as a career

But I am so glad 1 went. It
was wonderful."

That few minorities pur-
sue careers in philosophy is
apparent, both to Wilson
and to the organizers of
Rutgers Summer Institute.
TTie reason for this phenom-
enon, however, is less clear.
'It could be that traditional
Western philosophy domi-
nates academe, " she propos-
es. "Maybe some (minori-
ties) don't feel a connection
there "

Wilson's own path into
the field supports that theo-
r>' Her interest lies less in
Western philosophical
thought than in Asian, par-
ticularly Indian, philoso-
phies. She lauds Parrs' as a
kev figure m getting her
interested in philosophy as a
major, primarily through
one of his introducton'
classes she took as a
tirst-\ear student

J.

AGNliS

or some rea-
n until then
didiit think
there w as a

Tamara Wilson

big connection between
Indian philosophy and
Western philosophy. Now I
see a lot of overlap, she
says. "I don t think 1 would
be a philosophy major if it
weren t for him

Still, the thought of phi-
losophy as an academic
career did not take root until
her Rutgers experience.
'The summer was one of
those experiences of broad-
ening horizons," she recalls.
"As a senior I was getting a
little worried about what I
was going to do after gradu-
ation Last summer helped
me focus on some options
It was such a great ex[>eri-
ence

That experience com-
bined with the one-on-one
relationships with profes-
sors she has experienced at
Agnes Scott has drawn her
to an academic career one
in which she already has a
number of contacts. "Its
girat to hear from them,
\\ hat the\- are doing and
what classes they are tak-
ing ' she says of her tcllow
participants in the Rutgers
program, noting that she has
already received an invita-
tion from another student to
visit India I hope we will
keep in touch for a long
time Cl'ns Tift/rwii

ON CAMPUS

GREENING
THE GAMPUS:
A SEARGH
FOR RENEWAL

While recent landscap-
ing on campus has
beautified Agnes Scott's
north lawn, the efforts of
the newly formed Environ-
mental Action Committee
(EAC) should make the
College community even
greener

A group of students, fac-
ulty and staff with a pen-
chant for the Earth was
appointed last semester by
tlie president to chart an
ecologically friendly course
as the Environmental Action
Committee.

As its mission, the EAC
identifies environmental
issues on campus, works to
address these issues includ-
ing those that relate to the
campus Master Plan and
landscaping plan, increases
knowledge and awareness of
environmental issues, and
coordinates with student
groups that have environ-

mental concerns,
explains Lt. Amy C.
Lanier, the campus envi-
ronmental occupation safety
officer who co-chairs the
new group with Professor of
Mathematics Myrtle H.
Lewin,

Serving with Lanier
and Lewin are faculty
members Linda Hodges
from the chemistry depart-
ment, Phil Cibson from the
biology department and
Robert Leslie from the
mathematics department,
staff members Crystal
Steadham, Tim Blankenship,
Beth MacEachin, Janann
Giles, Elvis Parris and
Monica Bertram,- and stu-
dents Brigitte Hogan '00,
Charity Livingston '03,
Susan Miller '00 and
Michelle Freeman '01.

EAC has set up a com-
puter Web site: ECOcerns
agnesscott.edu that serves as
a forum for discussion of
environmental issues, which
includes the campus land-
scaping initiative that
entailed thinning trees from
the front lawn.

B08BRAUN ILLUSTRATION

The group has tackled
the subject of smoking on
campus by educating the
campus to the non-biode-
gradability of cigarette butts
and has affected a move of
outdoor smoking zones
away from the main
entrances of buildings. The
group's primary and ongoing
project this year has been to
reactivate and expand the
campus-wide recycling pro-
gram (paper, cardboard, alu-
minum, etc.)

Lanier notes that many
past vendors with whom the
College contracted to dis-
pose of recyclable materials
are no longer in business,
and replacements have been
hard to find. But she's con-
vinced that new vendors will
be commissioned.

EAC differs from the stu-
dent organization GEO, in
that GEO has more of an
outward focus, raising
student consciousness to
global environmental con-
cerns, notes GEO immedi-

ate Past President
Brigitte Hogan '00. And
while the student group
looks beyond the bound-
aries of Agnes Scott, GEO
has also taken the lead on
some on-campus initiatives
and works with EAC to see
them through. Lanier notes
that GEO began the suc-
cessful push to switch from
Styrofoam takeout contain-
ers to paper ones and from
smaller condiment contain-
ers to larger ones in Evans
Dining Hall.

Who knows, maybe
together the two groups will
revive the old tradition that
many alumnae remember:
cloth napkins.

Maiy Alma Durrett

HABITAT
REBUILT

Thanks to the enthusi-
asm and drive of a
group of students led by
Callie Curington '00, the
campus chapter of Habitat
for Humanity enjoyed resur-
gence this year

Curington, a senior from

ON CAMPUS

ON CAMPUS

St. Leo, Fla., energized the
homebuilding organization
after studying the issues of
poverty and homelcssness in
a religion and social justice
course.

After Curington explored
the realities of homelcssness
approximately 760,000
people are homeless on any
given night, according to
the National Law Center on
Homelcssness and Poverty
and the Christian impera-
tive to "walk among the
poor" in order to combat the
forces that produce social
injustice, she was quickly
moved to action.

With the help of Lucia
Sizemore '65, director of
alumnae-student relations,
Curington invited anyone
interested in reviving the
campus Habitat chapter to
attend a reorganizational
meeting on campus. Seven-
teen people came, and the
group soon began exploring
the possibility of commit-
ting to an Alternative Spring

Curington: A class project sparks
"further direction and purpose."

Break week of building.

The revived group spon-
sored a "Sleep Out On the
Quad" to raise awareness of
the issue of homelcssness in
America and to raise money
for the Alternative Spring
Break project. Nearly 20
people braved near-freezing
temperatures in December,
and bunked in sleeping bags
and cardboard boxes on
Woodruff Quadrangle to
generate almost $ 1 ,000 for
the project.

The Student [Develop-
ment Fund, supported by
the biannual Exam Care
Baskets Project, provided
additional money for the

building trip to New
Mexico, and alumna Patty
Cambrell '56 helped the
group secure discounted air-
line tickets out west.

In April, Curington was
among the 1 I students who
traveled with Sizemore and
Mary Cause, coordinator of
religious life, to Belen,
N.M., near Albuquerque, for
a week of homebuilding and
communion with other col-
lege students who shared
the same commitment to
battling homelcssness.

For many in the group,
the experience was trans-
forming.

In a paper prepared for
her religion and social
justice course, Curington
notes: "My experience
working with Habitat for
Humanity opened my eyes
to the world of social justice
in a ver\' different way." By
studvmg the philosophy of

Habitat for Humanity, com-
ing to understand the social
justice movement, and
reflecting more deeply on
the various images of Christ
that exist within the Chris-
tian church, "I now feel
empowered to actively join
the social justice efforts of
the world. While I was
never inactive before in
[terms of volunteering], it
was never a priority in my
life like it is now. Through
Habitat ... I have found fur-
ther direction and purpose I
never expected this much
attention [for something],
that began as a class project.
I am amazed at . . . how
many people are willing to
donate their time and
money.

It is unlikely that Curing-
ton's commitment to social
justice will end with this
experience. She plans to fur-
ther her religious studies this
fall as she attends Pnnceton
Theological Seminaa- on a
full scholarship.

iKUry Alma Durrrtt

ON CAMPUS

ADMISSION GAINS,
ALUMNAE CONTRIBUTIONS

By May of this year, Agnes Scott had passed its previous
record for applications 720 in August of 1998 and was
sprinting toward a new record: 771.

With the fourth year of the College's enrollment growth plan
coming to a close, the Office of Admission is noting the high aca-
demic standards of the applicant pool and projecting an accept-
ance rate of 72-73 percent with an enrollment yield of more than
45 percent.

The targeted number of first-year students for fall 2000 is
250, says Stephanie Balmer, associate vice president for enroll-

ment and director of admission, and the total new student tar-
get is 315 to 320. This would be up from the fall 1999 figures of
241 first-years and 297 total new students.

Another notable trend emerging from this season's recruit-
ment pool is that legacy applicants are way up. There are 26
legacies, notes Balmer, which are daughters, sisters, grand-
daughters, cousins or nieces of alumnae, in the group. This fig-
ure is more than double the number of legacy applicants of just
three years ago.

Alumnae efforts are paying off in other ways as well.
Members of the Great ScottlRecruitment Board and Alumnae
Admission Representatives are directly responsible for recruiting
more than 37 students, approximately 65 percent of whom are
accepted applicants. Mary Alnm Dunett

A student leadership conference in the fall offered training in how to serve Agnes Scott's growing population.

ON CAMPUS

THE BUSINESS OF
EQUITY AND JUSTICE

Recall clashes between lilans oj global fmaitce aiui business the World Bank IntenuiUonul MoneUir)'
Fuihl iiHti Worhi Trdtie Organization iiiij a growing contingent of eiwironnimtalists, advocates oj
indigenous people and organized labor, again jocus our attention on codCfnis prominent in American
debate since the Industrial Age began. ACNES ScOTT ALUMNAE MAGAZINE invited Domis
McCjinii, Vt^(il(i?cf Al Alston Professor of Bible and Religion, and alumna Ashley Seaman 95, a student at
( olumbia Theoloi)ical Seniinaiy and a member of the (.entral Committee of the World Council of Churches [WCC),
to fxf)/orf the subject of corporate wealth and social-economic lustice as this new era dawns

Dennis McCann: I m interested m what religious commitment can contribute toward making the
world a better place, especially regarding economic relationships. My concern goes back at
least, to the mid- 1960s As a Catholic seminarian In Columbus, Ohio, I was involved in an ecu-
menical Inncr-city project tiymg to empower people by organizing neighborhood associations to
work on Issues regarding emplovment, neighborhood improvement, relations with the police
and other things Tins was a wonderful experience We were thinking about the theological
implications of our work.

Ashley Seaman: In l'')(i, I spent a semester at the Ecumenical Institute of Bossev' in Celigny,
Switzerland liossey is affiliated with the LIniverslty of Geneva and the World Council of
Churches. Many refer to Bossey as a laboratory tor the international ecumenical movement.
Imagine! For four months, 50 people from .^5 different countries and all Christian confessions
spent eveiv dav together .Altliough we were there to learn conflict resolution and the

A discussiou oj the role ami rcspousihiliiy of the Christian

conscience ni n worhi of social mui fintinciiil inecpiities.

Pfiotography by IMarilyn Suriani

ACNlHS StOlT COLUr.l; SpmiISm

i

theological grounds for peace, we equally
learned about each other's lives, cultures, coun-
tries and churches. This was the first time I
knew, by experience rather than intellectual
awareness, that Christianity is worldwide
absorbed and shaped by a global variety of cul-
tures and people.

This was also the first time that I knew, by
people's testimonies rather than press releases,
about the international debt crisis.

McCann: When you begin to explore the issues
ecumenically and internationally, you quickly
realize the religious and moral implications of
the global economic system. You understand
why it is a major terrain of struggle for Chris-
tians. When you begin to ask questions about
what the worldwide economic system does to
people and whether what it does Is consistent

tory pedagogy reflected the core of jesus being.

For me. the allveness of Jesus' radical politics
was and Is a redemptive counterforce to the sex-
ist, racist, nationalist destruction done In the
name of Jesus. Since Agnes Scott and Bossey.
my thinking and living has been directed by
Biblical texts about the Jubilee year Both
Deuteronomy 1 5 and Leviticus 25 declare that
the 50th year shall be a jubilee. During this year
slaves are freed, debts are forgiven original own-
ers return to their land and the land lies fallow
Jubilee Is a radical way of living together. It
reduces Inequities and restores individual and
communal pride, hope and opportunity.

Critics usually declare that there Is no evi-
dence that anyone actually practiced Jubilee
That's true. But, it's also true that Jubilee was
according to Scripture, what Cod commanded
Cod's people to do A friend, who is an econo-
mist, laughed when I read her Deuteronomy 15
because Jubilee would be impossible according

Jubilee is
a radical way of
living together.
It reduces
inequities and
restores
individual and
communal pride,
hope and
opportunity. JJ

with what the Bible proclaims as the will ol Cod
vou enter into the dillicult and demanding study
(il inicrnalional economics and social iustlce.

Seaman: I olicn wish iUm I had delved into
international economics at Agnes Scott That
knowledge is critical for interpreting justice
lodav

One ol the most sif^nilicnnl lessons I did learn
at Agnes Scotl was the radical nature ol Jesus In
the religious studies courses, we did not sinipK'
read from the Bible, or discuss Latin American
liberation theology, or explore wonianist ethics
in thcoi"y. Wc read, discussed and explored in a
democratic classroom that acknowledged each
woman's expertise and contribution Such libera-

to the market 1 laughed because the economy of
Cod IS upside down peculiar and completely
concerned for creations welfare

McCann: 1 he ancient Israelites had an agricul-
tural societ>\ so in the Jubilee vear the allotment
of land under the covenant rcvened to the fami-
ly who had original title to it. So in their redistri-
bution of wealth there was a safet\' valve for the
disparities that accumulated over 50 xcars

Seaman: .\K undeiNtandmg is that the people
didiii acciiie debt knowing that it would Ix; for-
given. The point was not to take advantage of
the system, but to ensutr the greater good the
maintenance of an equitable communirv'

AGNUS SCOTT COLUCE Sfriiij/Sm

McCann: Clearly theirs was not a capitalist sys-
tem. So the economy in which a Jubilee was an
ideal was very different from what we have
today. Could you put the Jubilee concept into
practice today?

Seaman: There is a growing awareness and
momentum, globally, for cancelling the interna-
tional debts of impoverished nations. Jubilee
2000 is a coalition of organizations, most of
which are faith-based,- it is part of this global
momentum. Jubilee 2000 has been educating
people about how many nations are highly
indebted, how this indebtedness debilitates their
efforts to nurture economic growth and domestic
welfare, and what it would take to cancel those
debts to lending nations, such as the U.S., and
lending organizations, such as the World Bank
and International Monetary Fund.

tion that encourages independent thought and
inquiry, is contingent on our relationship with
multinational corporations? Should we seek ways
to live more simply as an institution? Should
Agnes Scott divest and speak out against a
"McWorld" mentality? Should we resist the
exportation of Western and particularly
American consumer values worldwide?

My point certainly is not to bite the hand
that feeds us. But if this is an unjust system, you
and I compared to Third- World people we
have known and had solidarity with are defi-
nitely the beneficiaries of it.

Seaman: 1 ask those questions of myself, a lot.

I'm finding that commitment to divesting
from exploitative economics and excess must be
rooted in a spiritual awareness of God's justice
and desire for the life of Creation. In addition, I
need to hear over and over again the stories of
people whose countries are enslaved to interna-

Once you hear
how your country's
affluence is the
direct result of
another country's
poverty, you cannot
nof change. JJ

In addition to an awareness about all of these
facts and figures, citizens of the lending coun-
tries must understand the obligation we have to
the "indebted" countries. That obligation is that
we are the ones who "owe" much of the world
for the labor and natural resources we have
exploited in order to live in affluence. Within
this movement, churches are calling each other
into accountability, as well. The World Alliance
of Reformed Churches has asked all of its mem-
ber churches to consider their participation in
exploitative economic activity. Is participation in
an exploitative market sinful? Does that partici-
pation compromise the integrity of the Gospel?

McCann: How does this affect us, in Atlanta, at
Agnes Scott? For example, how much of our
endowment so vital in sustaining this institu-

tional debt. Once you hear how your country's
affluence is the direct result of another country's
poverty, you cannot jiof change. The urgency 1
feel from these stories and the effects of the debt
crisis fuels my frustration with the church.

In my experience, churches engage in dis-
course about domestic, personal issues, like abor-
tion and divorce, much more than they engage
in public policy. Rather than a balanced concern
for personal and public matters, many churches
tend to only discuss the private half of what it
means to be human. Social justice does not com-
pete with personal salvation for the attention of
many Christians, and the churches' responsibility
for "corporate redemption" the healing of soci-
ety is largely ignored or hotly debated.

THE BUSINESS OF EQUITY AND JUSTICE

McCann: i agree Most churches seem to feel
that i( individuals are saved, society will, as a
consequence, also be saved. Which has not, his-
torically, proven to be the case.

Seaman: The World Council of Churches,
which IS a body of hundreds of nations and
Christian churches, is concerned about personal
salvation (the root of salvation means "whole-
ness") in addition to societal salvation. The wit-
ness of the WCC, like the experience at Bossey,
when my understanding of economic justice
grew alongside my deepening acquaintance with
the church's global diversity, encourages the
world church to balance and integrate its public
and private concerns But, this balance is not one
in which 1 was raised. Rather, the discussion was;
"Are you right with Jesus?"

Seaman: That speaks to the holistic approach
through which we must be economically just. All
of our being not only our intellect must
desire and compel new ways of living.

McCann: In the 1960s, I was working with the
Congress of Racial Equality 'COREi when the
Black Power movement emerged. I found it vital
to reflect on it everyday: "Am I still with lesus? Is
following him still the reason for my activities
here?" That is still the central question for each
individual involved in the struggle for economic
justice: Am 1 still walking in Jesus footsteps?

Seaman: Because the goal really is community,
becoming a people that takes care of itself all its

The central
question for
each individual
involved in the
struggle for
economic justice
is, Am I still
walking in Jesus'
footsteps? JJ

McCann: The Catholic equivalent ol thai
I'riitcsianl ethic was to get yoursell right with
the Catholic Church, because Jesus is founder of
the church

When 1 began work on m\ doctoral disserta
lion on Rcinhold Niebuhr, I found a need on the
one hand to be concerned with global issues
w hilc on the oilier nol to discourage or discouiil
llic M>^nih(.,iin.e ol the pastoral niiiiisti"\'. In his
work in nctniit liom l')l ,^- l')2S, Niebuhr was
lighting Henn- lord and the emergence of the
iinlh ol the capilalist Utopia His wav ol dealing
w ilh a congieg.Uion that was uneasv about his
aciiN isni was by being sensitive to their peiNonal
needs h was his sense that if his congregation
inisud hini in his pastoral ministiY, thev would
ml liini sonu- slack when he was taking on the
Liigei siiucuiies ol soi. iai and econoiiiic iusticc

membei's and all the strangers in its midst. Its
where eveiyone is provided for and no one
doubts his or her securit>' in the world What's
fundamental to the concept of Jubilee and to
our own need for social and economic justice is
the sense that nothing belongs to us W'e are
iiierelv stewards of Cjods abundant gifts

McCann: 1 teach business ethics and am happ\'
w hen mv students go into business and profes-
sions because I think this Jubilee vision that
vou re talking about still can Ix' instrumental in
change that people who rcalire the intcrcon-
nectedncss of world economic conditions can
work to the iniprovement of business as well as
human socierw A couple of businessmen with
w honi I have worked have ended up Ixtroming
pastoiN Im not sure Im cntirelv happv with that
result, because I would have Ix'en just as happv
to have committed ethical Chnstian people in

10

ACNES SCOTT COLLECi; i>nMMi

the boardrooms as in the pulpit. Or I hasten to
add committed, ethical Buddhists or Moslems
or Jews in such positions.

I think we should note here that our conver-
sation has centered on Christian responsibility,
but neither of us, 1 think, intend to imply that
the only way one can be committed to social jus-
tice concerns is by being a follower of Jesus.

Seaman: Absolutely. Many of the world's great-
est teachers of social and economic justice are
not Christians. ! think that is why discovering
the seedbed for justice and the divine mandate
for a just community in the heart of the Judeo-
Christian tradition is so exciting.

McCann: There is an enormous amount of con-
gruence among world religions on these issues.
That's why its so exciting that we can make
progress together in identifying things of ulti-

the bank's specifications. They built the dam,
with dreams of neo-colonial development, and
the dam soon feel into disrepair. The whole sum
of money was wasted and the people, who didn't
want the dam in the beginning, did not have
enough money to repay even the interest on t he
loans. The Western eyes, obviously, thought that
a dam would boost the people's economy. Yet, a
dam is not what the people of Cote d'lvoire
needed.

Cases like this, which are typical interactions
between lenders and impoverished nations, chal-
lenge the cultural sensitivity and assumed supre-
macy of lender nations and institutions. That
kind of sensitivity and humility is challenging.

McCann: To be affected by the stories of others,
to feel solidarity with people whose lifestyle and
culture is totally foreign to your own is that a

Relationship,
ultimately, is
what is so trans-
formative. In
just and loving
relationships we
can discover the
responsibilities
and mysteries of
being alive. JJ

mate concern. Seeing and understanding how
people are deformed by the deprivations that
they experience, whether it be lack of opportuni-
ty or denial of access to resources that they need
to live a life of human dignity, this is a common
agenda.

You've listened deeply to people over the past
months. What challenges do you see?

Seaman: Listening and responding. A man from
Cote d'lvoire [in Africa] told me about a loan
that the World Bank would give if his region
would agree to how the World Bank thought the
money should be used. The lending specifica-
tions demanded that the region build a dam on a
particular site. The people argued that they
needed the loan for healthcare and education.
Eventually, the people accepted the loan and

sign of progress? Is that an identity we as
Christians should seek?

Seaman: Yes, because it is claiming an identity
of relatedness. And relationship, ultimately, is
what is so transformative. In just and loving rela-
tionships we can discover the responsibilities and
mysteries of being alive: in simplicity there is
abundance, that breaking bread actually causes
miraculous multiplication of the bread, in forgiv-
ing another's debts, the whole community is
restored to right relations with each other, the
earth and God.

If you would like further Information about the World
Council of Churches, the group can be reached
online: wcc-coe.org. To explore the Jubilee 2000 ini-
tiative, information is available through the group's
Web site: www.j2000usa.org.

THE BUSINESS OF EQUITY AND JUSTICE

T

c) tell the
story
briefly is
t(j retail all of the
cliches of back-
stage theatricals
from Stage Door
to 42nd Street.
Yet for Nancy
Linehan Charles
'65, the wild ride
that landed her
the lead role in
the Southern
regional premiere
of the winner of
the 1999 Pulitzer
Prize for Drama
is strikingly real.
It marks an im-
portant moment
in her personal
life, her theatrical

An Agnes
Scott alumna
gives Atlanta
audiences
a stellar
performance
in the prize-
winning
play, Wit.

AC.NIS SCOTT COLLECi; SpriHU/Sii.

WITH GRACE AND WIT

"She was the
most powerful
of the actresses
I looked at. She
had a lovely
voice, which is
important to me."

-Phelps

1

^-'^^

f)

*^%:

14

A<. ,Ni;S SaiTT COLLECU i>ni

career, and her relationship to
her alma mater

Charles appears as Vivian
Bearing in the Alliance
Theatre Company production
of Wit. Her character is a pro-
fessor of English literature and
a recognized expert on the
Holy Sonnets of John Donne.
Vivian also suffers from
advanced ovarian cancer,- the
play follows her as she under-
goes an aggressive course of
treatment. The plot also pro-
vides glimpses into Vivian's
dreams and frustrations as it
encompasses a wide range of
issues that include medical
ethics, educational standards
and even grammar.

Making the actress's story
all the more remarkable is the
fact that Charles was not origi-
nally a member of the Atlanta
cast. The actress slated to play
the role had to withdraw due
to illness just days prior to the
scheduled opening night. The
situation sent theatre manage-
ment into a spin

This production, nearly a
year in the making, was sup-
posed to end the Alliance's sea-
son on a high note, it would
provide a celebration of the
success of Margaret Edson, the
Atlanta kindergarten teacher
who won the Pulitzer Prize
with this, her first play. As the
regional premiere, the produc-
tion would add another item to
the impressive list of recent
accomplishments by Atlanta's
flagship theatre, (in fall of
1998, for example, the compa-
ny provided the first stop in the
development of the Broadway
hit Aiih by Sir Elton John and
Tim Rice.)

w:

th the pressure on
ill concerned, fate
played a positive
role. Jessica Phelps West, the
director of Wit, also teaches
acting at Agnes Scott. Imme-
diately upon learning of her
original star's departure, she
embarked upon a whirlwind
trip around the country to audi-

tion possible replacements.
Not only did she have to
locate a talented performer, she
had to find a resilient individ-
ual who could take over a
demanding role on short
notice and make it work. As if
preordained, West found
Charles

"She was the most powerful
of the actresses I looked at,"
West says, also noting, "she
had a lovely voice, which is
important to me."

If the audition itself did not
provide sufficient motivation
for casting Nancy Charles,
West also discovered that
Charles holds a degree from
Agnes Scott. As coincidence
would have it, Charles was
scheduled to participate in a
panel discussion concerning
women and the arts during
Alumnae Weekend in April. "I
thought it was kismet," says
West.

Kismet also describes the
actress's experience with Wit
since she recently understudied

Charles' character, Vivian
Bearing, takes the audience
on an interior journey,
recalling and reassessing
her relationship with
people, language and life.

]5_

WITH GRACE AND WIT

"'Lonely
impulse' has
truly been like
a beacon for
me that life
ought to be
about passion
and what you
feel passionate
about."

-Charles

the role of Vivian Bearing In a
West Coast production. The
words were still in my head a
bit. Each time I've understud-
ied, I've let the words go very
quickly because you need more
RAM. " Rather than move along
to the next project, however,
Charles fortuitously held onto
the character's lines. Even this
produced a minor difficulty in
preparation since she was used
to one interpretation of the
play and brought that into the
Atlanta rehearsals. As she puts
It, " 1 had to break the hard-
wiring in my head to change
the line readings."

Make no mistake,
Nancy Charles did
not stumble into this
break through sheer luck alone.
She has worked for years to
hone her craft. She has spent
her life as a working actress,
first in New York and now in

Los Angeles. Her credits
include numerous theatrical
productions, guest appearances
on the television series Seinfeld
and Chicago Hope, and roles
in the films Bram Stoker's Dracula
and Trial hy Error.

Simultaneously, Charles
attributes much of her success
to key elements of her Agnes
Scott education stating, 'The
whole Agnes Scott experience
especially the ability to pull lit-
erature apart and analyze it has
stood me in good stead "

The hard work continues in
Wit. The role requires Charles
to remain onstage for almost
the entire performance. It is a
difficult emotional journey from
the relative trivialities of life's
triumphs and disappointments
to the realities of death and
dying. It also requires that the
actress shave her head to simu-
late the ravages of chemo-
therapy

Yet, as the work brings
Nancy Charles back to Atlanta
she does not stray far from the
inspiration, perhajjs the first bit
of kismet, that launched her
voyage. The reason that I am
an actress is because of some-
thing a professor at Agnes
Scott, Eleanor Hutchens. said.
It was my senior year Charles
recalls, "and Ms Hutchens was
the Senior Investiture Sf>eaker

Remembering the moment
verbatim Charles continues In
the Investiture talk, she quoted
a line from Yeats An Insb Airman
Foresies His Death.

Nor law, nor dut\' bade
me fight.

Nor public men, nor
cheering crowds

A lonely impulse of delight

Drove me to this tumult
in the clouds.

"And when she said it I
knew that what I wanted to do
was to go to New York and be
an actress.

Indeed in that one moment
fate inspiration preparation
and the Agnes Scott exf>enence
converged. Lonely impulse
has truly been like a beacon for
me that life ought to be about
passion and what you feel pas-
sionate about Ms Hutchens
said don t sell that short for
something easy and easy to
explain

A conversation with NancN'
Linehan Charles provides clear
testament to her passion both
tor her life and her art As she
savs I feel like if I died tomor-
row I could sav I did what I
wanted and that s a good
feeling

Perhaps it is onl\ titling tor
her to star
in a pla\
called W:i

David S.
Thompson is
associate
professor of
theatre at
Agnes Scott.

ACNES SCOTT COLl^CU S(iii,)/Siii

m^'mpmmMtif'mm

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11

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JL

he role of Vivian Bearmg m a

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West Coast production. The

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prf

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anc

to the next project, however,

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att

the character's lines. Even this

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produced a minor difficulty in

Sc(

preparation since she was used

wh

to one interpretation of the

esp

play and brought that into the

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Atlanta rehearsals. As she puts

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to

L^^^

k A ake no mistake,

the
dif

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the

^. JL not stumble into this

triL

break through sheer luck alone.

to

"'Lonely

She has worked for years to

dv

hone her craft. She has spent

act

impulse' has

her life as a working actress.

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91

about."

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-Charles

K.. m m

H

About Agnes Scott College

An independent, national liberal arts college for
women

Founded in 1889

Affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Campus includes 24 buildings and an apartment
complex on approximately 100 acres in a national
historic district and residential neighborhood

First college or university in Georgia to receive
regional accreditation ( 1907i

Phi Beta Kappa chapter since 1926

$429 million endowment 'June 30, 1999) ranks 1 Ith
nationally among all colleges and universities in
endowment per student

Seven varsity NCAA Division III sports

Enrollment Growth

1000

8oo

1995 1996 1997 1998

Ethnic Diversity

Asian American/Pacific Islander

Bi-cultural/other/
no response

Hispanic Ait

African American/Black

16

ACNES SCOTT COLLHCR SfmlSm

Our Faculty

100 percent of regular full-time faculty have a Ph.D. or
terminal degree in their field

10:1 student-faculty ratio and average class size of 15
students

Faculty expanded by 14 percent in the last three years

New tenure-track positions in Art History, Astrophysics,
Biology, Comparative Religion, International Relations,
Psychology and Women's Studies

New positions in Chemistry, Economics, Education and
English

Dennis McCann, leading religious ethics scholar,
appointed Wallace M. Alston Professor of Bible and
Religion, 1999

, Catherine Scott, professor of political science, awarded
Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research in South
Africa, 1999-2000

Linda Hodges, professor of chemistry, named Pew
Scholar by The Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship
of Teaching and Learning, 1999

jAijf

Academic Programs

Bachelor of Arts in 28 majors

Master of Arts in Teaching Secondary English

Post-Baccalaureate Premedical Program for
Women

Professional Program in Teacher Education

Pre-medical and pre-law programs

Business Preparatory Program

Return-to-College Program

Dual-degree programs with
Washington University and
Georgia institute of
Technology

"'Lonely
impulse' has
truly been like
a beacon for
me-tfiatlife
ought to be
about passion
and what you
feel passionate
about."

-Charles

the role of Vivian Bearing in a
West Coast production. The
words were still In my head a
bit. Each time I've understud-
ied, I've let the words go very
quickly because you need more
RAM. Rather than move along
to the next project, however
Charles fortuitously held onto
the character's lines Even this
produced a minor difficulty in
preparation since she was used
to one interpretation of the
play and brought that into the
Atlanta rehearsals. As she puts
it, " I had to break the hard-
wiring in my head to change
the Ime readings."

Make no mistake,
Nancy Charles did
not stumble into this
break through sheer luck alone.
She has worked for years to
hone her craft. She has spent
her life as a working actress
first in New York and now in

Lo'
Inc
pre
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anc
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ant

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the

About Agnes Scott College

An independent, national liberal arts college for
women

Founded in 1889

Affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Campus includes 24 buildings and an apartment
complex on approximately 100 acres in a national
historic district and residential neighborhood

First college or university in Georgia to receive
regional accreditation ' I907i

Phi Beta Kappa chapter since 1926

$429 million endowment ijune 30, 1999) ranks 1 Ith
nationally among all colleges and universities in
endowment per student

Seven varsity NCAA Division III sports

Enrollment Growth

1995 1996 1997 1998

Ethnic Diversity

Asian American/Pacific Islander

Bi-cultural/other/
no response

Hispanic An

African American/Black

16

AC.NtS SCOTT COLLCE S^^/SH.

About Agnes Scott College

An independent, national liberal arts college for

women
Founded in 1889

> Affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (US.A.)
' Campus includes 24 buildings and an apartment

complex on approximately 100 acres in a national
historic district and residential neighborhood

> First college or university in Georgia to receive
regional accreditation (1907)

' Phi Beta Kappa chapter since 1926

' $429 million endowment Qune 30, 1999) ranks I Ith

nationally among all colleges and universities in

endowment per student
I Seven varsity NCAA Division III sports

Enrollment Growth

1997 1998

Ethnic Diversity

Asian American/Pacific Islantier

Hispanic Amerif,an/Latina

African American/Black

Caucasi;

Our Faculty

100 percent of regular full-time faculty have a Ph.D. or
terminal degree in their field

1 0: 1 student-faculty ratio and average class size of 1 5

students
' Faculty expanded by 14 percent in the last three years
' New tenure-track positions in Art History, Astrophysics,

Biology, Comparative Religion, International Relations,

Psychology and Women's Studies

New positions in Chemistry, Economics, Education and
English

> Dennis McCann, leading religious ethics scholar,

appointed Wallace M. Alston Professor of Bible and

Religion, 1999
' Catherine Scott, professor of political science, awarded

Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research in South

Africa, 1999-2000

Linda Hodges, professor of chemistry, named Pew
Scholar by The Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship
of Teaching and Learning, 1999

Academic Programs

Bachelor of Arts in 28 majors

Master of Arts in Teaching Secondary English
Post-Baccalaureate Premedical Program for

Women
' Professional Program in Teacher Education

* Pre-medical and pre-law programs

* Business Preparatory Program

Return-to-ColIege Program

* Dual-degree programs with
Washington University and
Georgia Institute of
Technology

Home states and countries of ASC sti dents, 1999-2000

36 home states of ASC students

(Plus District of Columbia and U. S Virgin Islands)

International Education

' One of the International 50, the top colleges in the nation for international focus

' Study abroad at more than 170 institutions in 40 countries through exchange and affiliate

programs
' Only women's college accepted for membership in the International Student Exchange

Program (ISEP)
' Nearly 40 percent of recent graduates studied abroad through independent experiences and

Agnes Scott's faculty-led programs
' Language Across the Curriculum (LAC) program provides opportunities to apply language

study to various academic disciplines

Building Program

Purchased 1 IS-unit apartment complex adjacent to
campus for additional student housing, 1997
Five new or expanded buildings opening from
1999 to 2001

Evans Dining Hall, 1999

-Public Safety Office and 500-car parking
facility, 2000

-Bradley Observatory, including 70-seat
planetarium, 2000

-Alston Campus Center, 2000

-McCain Library, 2001
New 103,000-square-foot science building in
design phase

Extensive landscaping plan, including planting of
1 35 new trees

Gifts Received

1997-98 1998-99

1

J]

P " K

1 f=FV-A

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,m, V.^ ^

( rr^ ^c^Tn

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$2,080,990 $6,256,957

Rankings

Tl.

Atlanta as a Classroom

Guaranteed internships for all students. Receif^S
sites include the Federal Reserve, The Centers foi
Disease Control and Prevention, The Coca-Cola'
Company, The Carter Center, The High Museuni^^,
of Art and Amnesty International, among others, ^i

The Atlanta Semester: Women, Leadership and
Social Change

Kauffman Internship Program for Women
Entrepreneurs

Hubert Scholars Program for service-oriented
internships

Cross registration with I 8 colleges and universities
in the Atlanta Regional Consortium for Higher
Education (ARCHE)

Two blocks from MARTA mass transit rail station

Our Students

"Best Value" L/S Noes s^World Report

Ranked eighth for overall quality of life among all
colleges and universities Tiv PriKceton Revku-

Included in Pc(^r^ol^^ Top (olUgi^jc Scimci, the best
190 colleges and universities for science and
mathematics in the United States

Among the top colleges in several categories Schools
for the Academically Competitive Student, Schools
that are "Hidden Treasures", Schools Offering the
Maximum Amount of Individual Attention; Schools
Providing a Good Liberal Arts Education,- and
Schools with Notable Study Abroad Programs
K(i/ila/iVeu'>ircffe College CaUilog 2000

"The best women's college in the South " The Fisite
Gtihie to CoUtges

Included in Tbt iOoBest Colleges jor ^rican American
Shuhiti

Included in Loren Pope's Colltges That Change Livts

Five Fulbright scholars in five
consecutive years, 1993-97

Goldwater Scholarships
awarded to two members of the
class of 1999

Among the top 10 percent of
American liberal arts colleges in
the percentage of graduates
earning doctoral degrees

Middle 50 percent range of
SAT scores for class of 2003;
1110-1310

More than 60 percent ranked
in the top 10 percent of their
high school class

umnae

Georgia's first female Rhodes
Scholar

Chief Justice of the South

Carolina State Supreme Court

First woman to be ordained a

minister in the Presbyterian

Church (U.S.A.)

First woman to chair the Federal

Commodity Futures Trading

Commission

Tony Award-winning playwright

Pulitzer Prize-winning author

I

right

s\

If

1

Agnes Scott College

THE WORLD FOR WOMEN

141 East College Avenue, Atlanta/Decatur, GA 30030-3797

Tel: 404-471-6185. Toll-free: 800-868-8602. Fax: 404-471-^14.

hnp: / /www.agnesscott.edu

PRINTED ON RECVCICO PAPER

T^;

When the doors of
Letitia Pate Evans Dining
Hall swung open this
fall, it was hard to deter-
mine the most appeal-
ing thing emanating
from the grand space.

EVANS REBORN

\7_

EVANS REBORN

I^y Maiy Alma Durrctt
I'holography by Marilyn Suriani

L

"The ju'ir Evans has become a
center jor Acjnes Scott communit)'
life, a true catinc) commons. This
gracious buiUini] fulfills Letitia
Pate Evans' wish that Agnes Scott
s(i<(ieM(s liine in uplifting spaces."

AGNi;s scoiT t:oi.i.i;a; 5>n_j/si

WBLCOM

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m

Some might have selected a favorite aroma from
the many savory concoctions sizzling in the
new French market-style servery, an area that
had nearly tripled in size during the facility's meta-
morphosis. Others might have held that the look and
feel of the hardwood cherry floors and the new uphol-
stered furnishings were what lingered with them. Still
others asserted a new appreciation for the student
body that had been absent from the space during
the November 1998 to August 1999 renovation and
expansion.

Whatever the specific reason the great hall, at its
opening, definitely triggered a happy sensation of past
and present.

Evans had been reborn.

For first-year students, seasoned staffers and
tenured faculty alike, the new Evans, reclaiming its sta-
tus as a state-of-the-art food service facility, quickly
became a 24-hour stop for the entire Agnes Scott com-
munity, providing meals in its 400-seat main dining
room, meeting space with multi-media capabilities in
its expanded terrace level and cozy break space for
snacks and coffee throughout the day or night.

The new Evans has become a center for Agnes Scott
community life, a true eating commons," notes
President Mary Brown Bullock '66. "This gracious
building fulfills Letitia Pate Evans' wish that Agnes
Scott students dine in uplifting spaces. Not only the
food, but the conversation has become more interest-
ing. People linger over coffee and dessert just to talk."

J

EVANS REBORN

L

The skilljul desiiju ciiui avi-
slruction of the cuUitious nuii
rawvcilioii iinup aUaitioii lo
Eviius as i] sinniui] t-xcimplc oj
Agnes Scolt's ambitious aiui
aadcralcii huildinij pwcjram.

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20

ACNES SCOTT COI.Li;C.E Sfnmliummn j

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ir^F

The visual excitement of tiie renovated spaces, tiie
fabulous food marche, the new meeting and con-
ference spaces have set the high architectural stan-
dard for our 2ist century building program," con-
cludes Bullock.

In October, Evans itself was the setting and the
honoree of a gala reception and dinner, attended by
campus leaders, trustees and friends of the College.
The community came together to toast the woman

who made the original building possible, Letitia Pate
Evans, the skillful design and construction of the
additions and renovation, to draw attention to Evans
as a shining example of Agnes Scott's ambitious and
accelerated building program, and to acknowledge
the first glint of excitement over a Comprehensive
Campaign being launched to complete the remaining
programs outlined in Strategic Directions and the
College's master plan.

J

Ti_

EVANS REBORN

BLOOD, SWEAT
AND CHEERS

Life-long fitness begins here

By Jennifer Bryon Owen and Pat McArthur

22

ACNFS SC01T COU.l-CE S(.mj)/Su,

Most people know that being physically active
contributes to an all around healthier life. Just
doing it is the problem. Through its athletics
program, Agnes Scott College encourages stu-
dents to incorporate physical activity into their daily lives
either by participating in NCAA Division 111 athletics or in
intramural sports. "We are very aware that a strong athletics
program plays a major role in the holistic education experi-
ence at Agnes Scott," says Cue Hudson 68, vice president for
student life and community relations and dean of students.

23_

PHYSICAL FITNESS AT ACNES SCOTT

An ASC First

Tennis team mem-
ber Selinda Geyer
'oi, a junior from
Istanbul, Turl<ey, led
the College into a new
arena in May when
she was chosen to
compete in the NCAA
National Tennis
Championship. The
number four seed
from the South
Region, Geyer made
her way to runner-up
in the division. She is
the College's first Ail-
American and is the
first to compete at the
NCAA national level.
Geyer is also the top
player among all
women's college
players. (See the fall
Alumnae Magazine for
photo coverage and a
full story.)

\

During her own student days at the College,
Hudson experienced the effects of the playing
field on the classroom. She
played field hockey, bas-
ketball, volleyball and bad-
minton, which she stressed
was "kind of fierce back then

Hudson found athletic activity excellent for:

developing focus in the way time is spent

releasing the tensions of college life

gaining self-confidence

developing leadership skills

building community

feeling good about all aspects of one's life
"Another benefit, even before focus," says

Hudson, "is the friendships that are formed
through good, healthy competition.
Athletics prove that women can be friends
and compete."

Hudson recalls an introduction she mac
recently of lean Hoefer Toal '65, Chief
justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court
in which the dean noted the first time she met
Toal. The future chief justice was the goalie on
Agnes Scott's field hocke\' team "The memoncs
of athletics stay with vou

In an elloit to imparl similar expericntcs and
benefits to todays scholar-athletes liy continu-
ally improving the athletic opportunities at
Agnes Scott, Hudson notes that the athletic staff
has been strengthened in the past couple ol
years

'This IS a piolessional well-tramed group
says Hudson "Thev keep tip with the changes
and understand the national issues of competing
in the NC^.AA Division III. Thev undciNtand the
role ol the scholar-athlete at .Agnes Scott and
that the nthletic program is the perfect comple-

ment to our educational program."

Page Remillard, director of athletics sees the
athletic program at Agnes Scott as a spoke in the
wheel that is the overall institution '^X'}^at we
are attempting to do is be craftS[>eople and repair
the spoke to improve the performance of the
wheel. We are in search of the right woman for
Agnes Scott. That is a very important mission.
We want the student-athlete to have a valued
experience and one that benefits the total
person.

In athletics at an elite academic instioition,
we have daily interaction with the whole
woman, he continues This woman is an out-
standing student, an inquisitive intellectual. She
is concerned about her well-being and her
community's well-being from a physical stand-
point but not at the expense of her intellectual
development. '

Division 111 schools cannot award financial
aid on the basis of athletic abilit>' points out
Remillard, so .Agnes Scott scholar-athletes
choose the school for its academic qualitv' and
the students quest for participation in sports is
secondar\'

Prospective students who are interested in
sports can fill out a form on the .Athletic
Departments Web site Remillard and his staff
also work closely with the admissions office to
identify' potential student-athletes

Several years ago all .ASC suident-athletes
were students who entered the athletic program
after they enrolled at .Agnes Scott, ^"e still have
a high percentage of walk-ons saxs Remillard
and that opportunitv- will always exist.
We don t cut athletes from teams.
cither. That is another important
spect of this program

24

ACNHS SCOIT COLLEGE S(.ni|/S.

CLEARING THE PATH

Georgia State Rep.
Kathy Ashe '68, an
Agnes Scott tmstee,
did not participate in sports at
ASC, but she has helped
ensure that other girls take a
different path. Her efforts
have been supported by ASC
faculty and students.

"I grew up involved in
sports as an observer," says
Ashe. "High school convinced
me that 1 couldn't do sports,
so 1 missed it. 1 never learned
that 1 could do it, but 1 proba-
bly could have participated in
sports at Agnes Scott."

Ashe, an able persuader
since her days as captain of
the Debate Team at ASC, and
Rep. Stephanie Stuckey spon-
sored The Sports Equity Act
of 2000, a bill that mandates
the enforcement of federal
Tide iX regulations at state
high schools by requiring that
the proportion of resources
allotted for boys' and girls'
athletic programs match the
proportion of boys and girls
in each school's student
enrollment. Although Title IX
regulations currently apply to
state schools, there was no

existing method in Georgia for
enforcing compliance.

The Sports Equity Act of
2000 passed the legislature,
was signed by the governor
and will become law in July.

"For me, this bill is a mes-
sage to young women that
they can participate," says
Ashe. "Yes, there's Title IX, but
many schools in Georgia
haven't been living up to it.
Scholarships are one of the
issues. For example, many high
schools in the state sponsor
slow pitch Softball when schol-
arships are for fast pitch. We
need to be sure we are spon-
soring programs that lead to
scholarships.

'The bill will ensure that
the health, teamwork and lead-
ership benefits, as well as
scholarship opportunities, will
be equitable for all who partic-
ipate." The Agnes Scott com-
munity's strong support of the
bill was "very much noticed at
the capitol," she adds.

Five ASC students served as
legislative interns on the bill:
Brooke Hussey '03, Sarah
Mcllrath '01, Katie Wedbush
'01, Meredith Baum '02 and

Ashley Zauderer '02. Their
responsibilities included
research and lobbying. ASC
Director of Athletics Page
Remillard also threw his sup-
port behind the bill. "Gender
equity is huge," Remillard
says. "As the athletic director
at a college for women, 1 feel
a responsibility when it comes
to this issue."

On Feb. 10, Remillard and
ASC athletes participated in
the "Girls and Women in
Sports Day" at the capitol. Set
aside to recognize Georgia's
outstanding female athletes,
the event took place as HB
1308 (Sports Equity) made its
way through the Judiciary
Committee.

Cue Hudson, ASC vice
president for student life and
community relations and dean
of students, believes it was
important for Agnes Scott to
play a part in correcting the
problem of Title IX compli-
ance. 'The experiences girls
have in high school are very
important when they get to
college, especially to a
Division 111 college like Agnes
Scott."

ALL ROUND
EDUCATION

Carla Maley 'oo
jonesboro, Ga.

Running with the cross
country team gave a
well-rounded education
in every aspect. "Not only
did I receive an education
in arts and sciences, but
I've been educated and
challenged in the physical
area as well," says Maley.

One of her greatest
challenges was getting
up at 5:30 every morning
to run. "But, my first few
years here, I had 8 a.m.
classes and I was awake
for them."

Maley put as much
effort into the team as
she did into her other
subjects. "It made me
schedule my time well so
that I could get every-
thing done, get my sleep
and not be worn out."

Rep. Kathy Ashe '68 (right) discusses the Sports Equity Act with Athletic Director Page Remillard and Betty Derrick '68.

25

PHYSICAL FITNESS AT AGNES SCOT

GARY MEEK PHOTO: BELOW, MABKYN SUBIANI

"The Agnes
Scott woman is
not agenda-
driven, but she
is goal-oriented.
She is articulate
and exciting to
be around."

26

ACNKS SCOTT COLLEGE Spm^/Sw

Rcniillard IccK ^ood nhoiil his Mall and llic
women they are recaiiting. When they examine
potential sttident-athletes, they sec athletic skills
as oiiK' one ol nianv tacels

"The >^iadc point average lor oiii depailiiienl
is 3 2" he points inil I know even' atliletes
C'.PA, and I keep a statistical anaKsis ol grades h\
I lass and |i\' spoil We have ainning discussions
on how to inipioNe the department's CPA

Reniillard and his stall aie working on three
main administrative goals: development ol the
administiative stiaictiiic ol the athletic depart
nienl so that il Lonipleincnts the Colleges and
maintains Lompliame \Mlh the Nt AA develop

nicnt ol department policies and procedures as
leqtiiied tor compliance and development ot a
handhook ot guidance matenal tar the student-
athlete

Also the\ have created a student -athlete
advisors' committee composed ot an athlete fnom
each sport who meets individually and regularly
\\ iih Remillard to share issues.

1 am most interested in their vision." he
explains Their contnbutions helped to straight-
en the road we are traveling Tlie Agnes Scott
woman is not agenda-dnven but she is goal-ori
ented She is a gitted listener articulates her
ideas and is exciting to |->c around

J

Students who want to participate in athletic
activities, but not at the Division III com-
petitive level, have that opportunity
through the intramural and club sports program
at Agnes Scott.

"We want to increase intramural participa-
tion," explains Dean Hudson. "Our programs are
very innovative, and we are seeing a growth in
participation during the Black Cat Week field
hockey tournament in the fall."

Remillard reiterates that they are trying to
build participation in the program. "But there are
several special activities that already enjoy a
great deal of participation. We have our tradi-
tional Black Cat Week in the fall, which gives
upper-class students the opportunity to meet
incoming students. During that week we hold a
field hockey tournament that is exciting and a
major part of the activities.

"In the spring, we have a 5K run and fun run
in conjunction with Health Awareness Week.
We have the Century Club, which is a self-
scheduled, self-motivated exercise encourage-
ment program for students, faculty and staff. It
gives students in personal fitness programs the
opportunity to track accomplishments on a
weekly basis, and at the end of the year we pres-
ent awards for those reaching the 100-mile and
200-mile levels. We also have basketball, volley-
ball, tennis and wall climbing."

He points out that the athletic program now
considers the "extreme" sports that are so popular
with today's students. "They have grown up
roller blading, mountain biking, wall climbing,
Whitewater rafting, snowboarding everything
'outdoors.' We are working with Georgia
Tech to develop out-
door leadership
courses in conjunction
th their outdoor leadership
gram. We want to join some of their
aftmg and mountain-biking trips. We

seeing students go beyond the tradi-
tional triathlon. They want a sense of
challenge. They want extreme."

Just as Agnes Scott stresses life-
ong learning in the classroom, life-
ong athletics will continue to be of
primary importance in the students'
overall education.

Again, Dean Hudson knows
about this from her own experi-
ences. Her physical activities these
days include hiking, running and
tennis.

"I suggest that students find
sports they will enjoy doing all their

BRAIN
POWER

Ashley Zauderer'oi
Roswell, Ga.

Time management was
definitely a huge fac-
tor in Zauderer's partici-
pation in basketball and
cross country running.

"The daily exercise
helps a lot, too," she
adds. "Studies say that
the brain functions better
when you get exercise."

Spending so much
time with her teammates
gave her an opportunity
to develop friendships.
"You just don't make
those kinds of friends
sitting side by side in a
classroom."

Zauderer also enjoyed
the opportunity to travel
with the teams and to
represent Agnes Scott.
"It's a complementary
educational process,"
says Zauderer, "some-
thing you wouldn't get in
the classroom."

2^

PHYSICAL FITNESS AT ACNES SCOTT

WORLD VIEW

Pakistan's Bhutto visits Agnes Scott with a message ofjaith in democracy.

GLOBAL
LEADERSHIP

Althouf^h former Pakis-
tan Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto featured
speatcer for Women's
History Month Is a self-
described reluctant leader,
she contends that "leader-
ship is no lon<icr confined to
narrow national boundaries,
leadership has taken on a
global dimension [and has]
passed Into the hands of
ordinary citizens

"The opinions of hLin-
drcds and thousands and
millions of citizens, sent
across the continents, of

what is right and wrong, of
what is just and unjust,
travel like little tiny ripples
growing as they reach their
destination with an amazing
strength and with each rip-
ple comes a wave of hope
for people who stitter

'This is the most impor-
tant transformation of lead-
ership that I have experi-
enced in the past two
decades, for the canvas of
political leadership has been
forever expanded "

Bhutto completed her
primary and secondary edu-
cation in Pakistan and con-
tinued her advanced educa-
tion in the West, studying at
Harvard LIniversitv and later
at Oxford University in

England, where she was
elected the first foreign
woman president of the
Oxford Union

Upon returning to Pakis-
tan, she became active in
the Peoples Party, which her
father helped form m 1967
She was elected Prime
Minister of the Muslim
country in 1988. Within two
years, she was deposed in a
political coup, accused of
'incompetence and corrup-
tion." Tliese same accusa-
tions also resulted in the
downfall of her successor

Although Bhutto remains
a major force in the Pakistan
Peoples Parts', she lives in
exile, separated from her
children and husband also
a political activist.

Bhutto stresses her com-

mitment to democracy,
which she says she learned
first-hand while studying in
the United States during the
Vietnam era.

For those four years. I
obsep.ed and participated in
the miracle of democracy. I
saw the power of pveople
changing policies, changing
leaders and changing histo-
ry. It was this exfjerience
more than anything else that
shaped my political being,
that unalterably shaped my
taith m democracy-. '

Wary Alma Durrctt

Bhutto's visit was part of the ambi-
tious three-year events series,
"Transformations: Honoring the
Past. Imagining the Future,
Millennial Celebrations
at Agnes Scott."

LIFESTYLE

A gardening volunteer and a lijetime telling about nature, owning a B&B, a hook for
children from a new author, and keeping in touch through e-mail. By Karen Hill

PLANTING
A SENSE OF
WONDER

Marjorie Naab
Bolen '46

Marjorie Naab Bolen's
voice becomes ani-
mated when she talks about
walking through a caterpillar
and playing in an air factory.

She's describing two of
the features in the new
Children's Garden at the
Atlanta Botanical Garden,
where she volunteers as a
tour guide

Last December, Bolen '46
won a Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Gardens for
her volunteer work, which
began in 1985 after she
retired from teaching
science at Brown High
School in Atlanta

"After 1 retired, 1 wanted
to get busy again," says
Bolen. Her path to the
Botanical Garden began
when she took a "master
gardener" course that
required community service.

"As part of our communi-
ty contribution, we needed
to hook up with some
organization," Bolen says. "I
went to the Botanical Gar-
den and stayed."

"1 enjoy giving children's
tours, it is wonderful; it is

fun," she adds.

The new children's gar-
den that opened this fall was
built by Children's Health-
care of Atlanta, a company
formed by the merger of the
Egleston and Scottish Rite
hospitals and related health
care businesses.

"It is a hands-on gar-
den bright and colorful
and fun, but there's a real
underlying scientific basis, a
strong emphasis on good
health," Bolen says.

In the air factory, for
example, students learn
about the interdependence
of plants and animals in the
respiration process. Students
walk through the caterpillar
structure into a butterfly
garden

Spring is Bolen's busiest

time. She drives 20 miles
from her home two or three
times a week to the Botani-
cal Garden to conduct tours
through the children's
garden.

'There are some people
who do many kinds of work
out there, some who put in
far more hours than I do,"
Bolen said. "But for me, this
has been good."

THE NATURE
OF "THINGS"

Patricia Collins '64

While a student at
Agnes Scott
College, Patricia LeGrande
Collins '64, went to work at
Callawav Gardens for a

summer. She never really
leh.

After graduating with a
degree in biology, Collins
returned to the west Georgia
gardens, working as a horti-
culturist. In 1985, she
became director of educa-
tion.

"We do work with school
groups, convention groups,
and garden clubs and offer
daily discovery programs
that may be a tour through
the Sibley Horticulture
Center or an herb class or
bird-watching," says Collins.
"And then we do the 'educa-
tion-along-the-trail' interpre-
tations and write the infor-
mation sheets on plants-kind
of like an extension service."

LIFESTYLE

AboLit one million people-
visit 1 4, 000-aerc Callaway
Gardens each year, some to
enjoy its resort and ^joit
courses, others to stroll qui-
etly through spectacular f^ar-
dens and nature trails.

Collins oversees a full-
time staff ol five, including
horticulturists and natural-
ists. There arc also the part-
timers who staff a log cabin,
explaining pioneer life in
west Georgia, and volunteer
hostesses who work week-
ends at the Sibley Horticul-
tural Center and the Day
Butterfly Center

"We try to make some
tidbit of information fun,
not boring," Collins says "I
like 90 percent ol what I do-
I don't like budgeting and
organization, budget cuts, all
that bad stull "

Collins grew into the
work natLirallv, being reared
in South Carolina with a
forester for a dad

"I always wanted to have
some sort of OLilside |ob, "
she says. "While Im inside a
lot now, I L:\n gel outside "

( hiistmas ami spring are
tradilionallv the gardens'
busiest nines, although sum
niei IS lapidK' calching up,
Collins says,

"We aciuallv have more
programs during the sum
mei IV ople i ome si,i\ in
cottages lor week at a lime,
she savs. 'There's a lamilv
lirogram, also a da\' camp

30

where we work with particu-
lar age groups, on nature
hikes and programs for sum-
mer interns."

Collins' favorite flowers
at the gardens are the native
azaleas, which hem the
pines and drape the streams
and lakes Surprisingly,
though, spring isn't her
favorite season Winter is.

'Then you can see the
bones of the garden," she
explains. "I also like the real,
real early spring, when the
buds are just coming out
and I can see from morning
to evenmg that a flower's
opened a little more When
everything's in bloom, it's
almost an overload."

INN-SIDE
PROPRIETOR

Nancy Stillman
Crais '6i

In high school
Nancy Stillman
Crais '61, won the
"Betty Crocker
Homemaker ol the
Year' award
UnloiluiiatcK the
honiM was based
oiiK' (in a \Milleii
essay and tlidn t help
much when she
opened a betl .'w\i.\
bieaklasi

I iltle did 1 know
sa\s C rais, laughing
Now, I do all the cook

ing.

Crais and her husband
operate the North Gate inn
in Monteagle, Tenn., a
resort town located on a
mountain between Chatta-
nooga and Nashville. Their
103-year-oid home is a
boarding house on the
grounds of the Monteagle
Sunday School Assembly, an
interdenominational com-
munity built more than a
century ago as a place to
train Sunday School
teachers.

"People come here for
eight weeks each summer,
its been going on since
1882," Crais says. "In the
early days, a lot of big
houses were built on the
grounds for boarding. Many
of them are private resi-
dences now, we re iust cann-
ing on the tradition m a
little more contemporar\-
style."'

Since the 1920s, the fam-
ily of Crais' husband has
summered on the grounds.
Although Crais and her hus-
band lived in Atlanta, they
returned to Monteagle each
summer buying the board-
ing house in 1983 and op>en-
ing it to guests in warm
weather.

Neither one of us
expected to run it year-
round, she says

That changed eight years
ago.

"My husband was in the
process of making changes
in his career" in health-care
finance, explains Crais. "He
decided hed had enough of
the rat race. Its just been a
wonderful decision. '

Crais described her inn.
which can accommodate 14
people in seven rooms, as 'a
ver\' comfortable kind of
place, not stuffy
or fancy .Many
guests are rcf>eat
\ I si tors often
coming to
events at the
ncarhv
University ot
the South at
Scwancc
Tins
morning
c\er\lx-)d>'
who is here
has licen
here three
or four
times. Its just like

ACNIiS SIOTT COl.l.rCn Srmj/Sm

having your good friends
over," says Crais.

North Gate Inn, as well
as the rest of Monteagle
Sunday School Assembly, is
on the National Register of
Historic Homes.

'The renovation was so
much more expensive than
we thought, and we found
out we could get a tax credit
for restoring a historic build-
ing for commercial use," says
Crais. That's when her writ-
ing experience from Agnes
Scott came in handy. "We
had to write up everything
we did to renovate the
house and comply with the
statutes, i never wrote a
master's thesis, but I think
that would count as one."

WORD
AND MUSIC
BY GUY

Suzanne West Guy '64

Q What's Bartolomeo
Cristojori makinc) in bis
room that's so noisy?

A: Read Suzanne West
Guy's new children's book
and find out.

Guy '64, with co-author
and illustrator Donna Lacy,
recently wrote The Music Box,
published by Brunswick
Publishing Corp. The book
is a mystery about the man
who invented the piano 300
years ago.

The Music Box leads its
young readers through
Cristofori's efforts to trans-
form the tinny harpsi-
chord "All these notes
sound the same," he com-
plains. "Where are the whis-
pers? Where are the splash-
es? 1 can't hear the booms,
and I can't make crashes."

One night after a tool
bag of small hammers falls
onto his harpsichord, he
finds the answer. "Bella
Musical Hammers to bounce
up and hit the strings, stop-
pers and dampers, some
gadgety things covered with
leather, felt may work too. I
can see it and hear it, 1 know
what to do," says The Music
Box character.

His friends and royal
patron wonder what on
earth is going on in Cristo-
fori's room. As they gather
outside, they hear rich,
shaded chords and expres-
sive melodies.

"Some sounds were as

loud and powerful as thun-
der, and others were as soft
and gende as rain. And all of
them came from the same
instrument!"

Guy met her co-author in
a writing class in Norfolk,
where they both live.

"Neither of us had writ-
ten a children's book
before," says Guy, who
received her degree in music
at Agnes Scott. "We knew it
would have to be 32 pages
long and thought, 'How
hard can that be?"

Famous last words.

"It took about six months
to get about 2,000 words,
then one and a half years
getting them down to 650,"
Guy recalls. "If we'd known
the 650 we'd end up with,
we would have saved a lot
of time."

New York City's Metro-
politan Museum of Art,
which owns one of the three
surviving pianos made by

UFESTYLE

Cristofori, sells the book in
its bookstore. But Guy and
Lacy are marketing it prima-
rily through visits to
schools.

"We have seven programs
for schools, with interactive
skits and presentations with
the piano providing sound
effects," Guy explains. "One
approach is historical,
another focuses on art, for
example."

Guy moved from north-
ern Virginia to Norfolk
three years ago, when her
husband's career took them
to the city on Virginia's
southern coast.

In her previous home, in
Fairfax County, she'd built a
reputation as a pianist and
teacher for 27 years. In
Norfolk, she had to start
over

"1 had no students,- that's
when 1 took the writing
class," Guy says. "This is
truly a brand-new career in
my mid-50s."

A FUTURE IN
COMPUTING

Martha Boone
Shaver '41

Martha Boone Shaver
'41, of Louisville,
Ky., uses her computer to
make communicating with
others easier, but she
doesn't need a keyboard
to send a clear message to

31

LIFESTYLE

the darned thing itself.

'This is my first experi-
ence working with a com-
puter, and sometimes I just
kick it real hard Then 1 call
my grandchild, anything 1
want to know, he can do."

Shaver uses her computer
to send e-mails to friends
and family memhers, an
easier way for her to com-
municate now that she has
been diagnosed with Parkin-
son's disease.

Parkinson's is a neurologi-
cal disorder characterized by
difhculty with walking,
coordination and speech.
There is no cure, hut there
are treatments to help con-
trol the symptoms

The idea lor the comput-
er came from Shaver's
daughter, who works for
Compaq

"1 have high hopes for it,"
says Shaver, who lust
noticed thai she was having

LETTERS

trouble walking and speak-
ing two years ago.

"I use it for e-mail more
than anything else," Shaver
says "It's kind of fun, except
when it stumps me com-
pletely."

That's when she shuts it
down to do other things,
such as cooking for herself
and her husband, or getting
ready to attend a Rotary
meeting

"1 feel fine right now,"
Shaver says. "1 did go
through a bad time, but that
got straightened out."

Next on her agenda is
convincing her husband,
who IS in his 90s, to enter
cyber space

"My husband wants
nothing to do with it, "
Shaver admits, chuckling,
"He says, 'It's your play-
thing,' But I think he'll enjoy
it once he lets himself get
into It,"

Dear Editor:

While I was pleased to
see the article about my
work in the previous AgneS
Scott Alumnae Maga-
zine (Fall 1999), 1 find it
necessary to provide correc-
tions of several of the mis-
representations of the sci-
ence that appeared in that
article. First, I use grasshop-
pers in my research for rea-
sons beyond the fact that
"their cells are easy to see
under the microscope and
they [grasshoppers] are
cheap."

Because my studies con-
cern the neural basis of
beha\ior, animals like grass-
hoppers are selected for
their particular combination
ot simpler nervous systems
and relatively interesting
behavior. ."Mso, I would
iicver claim to be "the only
one" examinini; sexual dif-
ferences as a way to find
"larger answers." The cen-
tral point of research b\ .inv
qualified scientist is to find
lander answers.

Further, while squid
woukl noi h.ne worked tor
niv study, 1 ba.sed the choice
ot experimental animal on
technicil ,ind philosophicil
i:iMuni.ls, not because "rh.it
is wh.it most nervous s\stem
rese.irchcrs already use." In
tact, most nerwuis system
rcseaivhei-- n-c \ ertebr.ite
, num. lis, like r.its. Sv|uid
h.n e ,in import.tnt pl.ice in
I be histoiT ot neuroscience
because the (essentially uni-
\ ei's.iH ionic basis ot electri-

cal excitability was first
understood from studies of
squid giant neurons (Nobel
prize in 1950s, but squid are
rarely used now).

Another problematic
sentence is, "Thompson says
she is still working on basic
research, not yet ready to
answer her questions." The
term "basic research" is used
to describe fundamental
research as opposed to "ap-
plied" or "clinical" research.
In fact, it is basic research
that is answering and will
continue to answer my
questions.

Karen J. Thompson
BitA)g>'
Dear Editor:

1 wish to thank you tor
the review ot my Kxik, The
Solem W'orLJ of y^athankl
Haiitiionit.'. by Professor
Willie ToUiver in the Fall
1999 AGNE5 Scott
.AlL'MNAE M.-\o.\zine. How
heartening it was to ha\"e
such a review. I ha\e
thanked him, and 1 now
thank vou.

1 am sure you know that
,ill ."Kgnes Scott graduates
like to have, it p<.">ssible. the
.ipproval not only ot family
,ind triends. but als.i of our
.lima mater. No matter how
long it has been since we
were in "the sheltering
amis," each ot us, I believe,
is eager to feel that we have
lived up to some portion of
Agnes Scort s expectarions
tor us.

SmcvnrJv,
M.irijiret Bear .\f(>ire '46

ACNIS SCOTT COLLECE Sfmn^lSu.

A GIVING COMMUNITY

"This will enhance the decree and the reputation of the institution."

ED SHEEHEY

Occupation: Vice President and Dean

Edmund Sheehey's past three years of service to the College
have been very different from his first 10. Of late,
Sheehey has shouldered the responsibilities of vice presi-
dent for academic affairs and dean of the College, leading the
academic direction of the institution and coaxing would-be
donors to support the ambitious course of Agnes Scott.

Sheehey, an energetic native of New York, came to the
College in 1987 as the Hal and Julia Smith Chair of Free
Enterprise in Economics and for the first decade taught hun-
dreds of Agnes Scott women the importance of reviewing and
analyzing key market indicators, as well as forecasting economic
trends. Since 1997, he has gotten involved in not only guiding
the academic direction of the College but, as an officer, helping
to generate money for the College as well. As a contributor
himself, Sheehey says the fundraising part of the job has been
relatively easy. Believing in the direction of the institution allows
him to confidently ask others to support the College.

"When I go out and talk to people about the academic pro-
gram and ask for support," says Sheehey, "1 have to be able to
say that the enterprise we are engaged in is important and that 1
believe in it.

"I've always believed you give where it's important to have an

alliance and an affiliation. When you become dean, you are
more aware of the budget and you begin to realize for an insti-
tution like ours, the endowment can only go so far," says the
dean whose personal giving to College has been continuous.
His most notable gift was to the Hogan Family Scholarship
Fund, in memory of his former faculty colleague Tom Hogan.

"If you look at the very best institutions, they are receiving
money from endowments, they are raising tuition, and they've
got a very strong fundraising program. So success involves all
three of those," continues Sheehey. "Success today involves sup-
port from constituencies. Agnes Scott can't succeed fully with-
out outside support. 1 can't go out and talk to people about the
programs and ask money of other people unless it's something
that I believe in. And the way you say you believe in the institu-
tion is to contribute," stresses Sheehey.

The dean offers a few additional words of challenge to alum-
nae contemplating a gift to their alma mater.

'This is an opportunity for Agnes Scott to dramatically
improve the quality of our programs, which are already excel-
lent, and to really make a reputation for ourselves by being
innovative. This will enormously enhance the degree and the
reputation of the institution. The recognition that sometimes
has been denied alumnae will be forthcoming. When people
hear the name Agnes Scott, they will know that it stands for
quality and academic excellence."

hliiry Alma Dunett

33

A GIVING COMMUNITl'

Agnes Scott College

THE WORLD FOR WOMEN

141 East College Avenue, Atlanta/Decatur, GA 30030-3797

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I. .11. II. ..11.... .11. II II. I. ..III.. ..II lllnl.l.iMl

Global in vision auJ mtenuitional in
scope, Atjnes Scott College is "opam^
ipoiiiis" to its cjroipi)]^ stiidmt body.
As ASC prepares to enter the new
millmnium, it is showing si^nijicaut
procpess in mcctintl its goals in atroll-
mait. jacult)' cnlwiccmait. building
improvcmaUs atid fundinij as the
special insert inside this issue indicates.
Ranked a "best ralue" by U.S. News
and World Report and eighth for
"overall qualtt)- oj lijc amonij colki^es
.(Mil iinn\Tsitics by Tlic Pnnccion
Rc\ icw AS( has much to offer its
sIhl/oi/s .("1/ alumnae.

See (."(pcnint! Worlds
bctwcvn pajjcs l^ and I"

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