Bennett College - Belle Yearbook (Greensboro, NC)

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Coronation ' 80 20

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1 Excerpts from Address Delivered by Mrs. Therressa Hoover. Board of Global Ministries. United Methodist Church: Bennett College in the USA, and several sister schools overseas — especially in Asia — are direct and intentional outgrowths of dis- coveries women were making about themselves and their abilities: the twin development of women ' s organizations in the churches and the creation and support of women ' s colleges around the world. These two streams are still very important in the 1980 ' s. Each needs the other. Support for one another becomes a matter of strategic survival . . . My answer is that the general -Founders ' Day- society and church have yet to sufficiently value women ' s con- tributions. Until that happens, these two streams must hold on to one another, provide necessary support so that society will be enriched by women ' s gifts and skills . .. It is necessary to recognize that an organizational base is an es- sential tool in any movement toward full equality. The historic founding of women ' s colleges by women ' s organizations, dating from a period of history when women were not even thought capable of learning, is a prime ex- ample of the above statement. Such schools, as one might ex- pe ct, have gone through several transitions. Their students in- creasingly come from the elite of society: elite not so much social and economic as elite in terms of dream and hope . . . Women ' s colleges during the last decade, have made new efforts which herald the dawn of a new era. TTiey are designing programs with women of the community and changing the expectations of students. Overseas sisters are un- iting in their effort to understand the needs of all women . . . Women students are required to make these contacts and to do services in the community. It is a coming together in those settings of women of the elite — both educational and economic — and the women of the masses who of- ten come from communities that ' 22