Howard University - Bison Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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 One of the most encouraging things lhal I've seen and heard from students in the sixteen years that I've been here is that they are becoming far more serious about their education. This is evident from the freshmen through the senior class. I encourage students to make legitimate complaints when they feel that their rights have been violated or that they haven't gotten their money's worth. There is a very positive effort on their part to develop themselves intellectually because in the world of competition no one will ask, 'How many times did you march?', but, 'What can you do and how well can you do it.? ' — Clifton R. Jones, Ph.D. Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts Students are back to basics. They are now pressing with more finesse to develop themselves more literally and are asking, 'Am I a better person and better equipped?' by using some of the things they learn from their professors. Reassertion then is a focus on functional academics. The present generation of students is entering college with a greater sense of what they want from their professors. They want to know the core and not the surface of the courses that are taught and they also want to feel that they are associated in learning. Students respect the teaching innovations that involve them. — Russell Adams, Ph.D. Chairman, Department of Afro-American Studies ... I feel that reassertion would start from the recent statement of the mission and goals of this University and that, among other things, this would lead to a redeclaration of the rights and responsibilities of all constituents and finally would lead to a general improvement of the intellectual atmosphere of the University. Speaking specifically as a chairman of one of the major science departments, I can see indicators of reassertion verbally, but I also look forward to their more vigorous implementation. Reassertion must be viewed as a continuous activity. Without it, there is no growth; there is only stagnation and final decay. — Joseph B. Morris, Ph.D. Chairman, Department of Chemistry

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 Reasserlion would be ihe process that is utilized toward self-actualization as well as collective survival. We should realize that as Black people we are all interdependent and we should be striving for improvement. Our mentality is geared toward the here and now rather than the enhancement process. There is a resurgence of social consciousness but it is not being consistently expressed. For example, in the issues concerning Bakke and urban dwellings, I don't see a consistently expressed mission to improve the quality of life in Black America. Howard University should be the cylinder of all community concerns. — fay Chunn, Ph.D. Dean, School of Social Work The theme of reassertion comes at a critical time in Howard's history, for this theme may fix our thoughts on valued principles to which we adhered many years ago but from which we have recently strayed. The learning process is active, not passive. A real mastery of the facts is the best preparation for advancement; a thin veneer of learning is soon stripped away, revealing unpreparedness. In meeting the competition ahead, one frequently has to be not only as good as the next candidate, but better. Reassertion of these principles will be a constructive and positive approach for the future. — Marion Mann, M. D. Dean, College of Medicine When I speak of reassertion, think of reassessing our rights and privileges as human beings. It is also a reevaluation. When we converge on a point, we must constantly remember that unless we continue to assert and reassert our positions, we will begin to take things for granted, bee ome complacent, and start to drift and lose ground rather than gain. I find that many students are assertive but assertive about many of the wrong things. They never seem to assert themselves on positive ideals and goals. Some have shared feelings but have become silent when it comes to action. Some have only contributed lip service. There is a need for more positive reasserlion and reaffirmation. — Wiley A. Hr an Ion Dean, School of law 28

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 When one reasserts himself, he has already resolved himself to do something- Therefore, in essence, he is adding energy to his commitment. We as human beings work hard and consequently, we get drained. So what happens to a renewal of spirit and a subsequent move forward. There are definite signs of student reassertion on this campus. Students are asking more questions and doing more things with their time. They are reflecting that regeneration of energy that was not there in the earlier part of the decade. Students are also expressing the energy that is felt throughout the community. — lames Garrett, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Political Science (Reassertion would seem to indicate securing) knowledge of ourselves in very concrete and historical terms, i.e. who we are — from where we have come, so as to continue or gracefully transform in whichever way that we agree to go forward, without being ignorant nor arrogant. We must genuinely continue with pride and dignity to assert ourselves with firm and committed discipline. We must not be spectators of our own struggle nor must we be the victims or casualty of history, but we must assert in making and writing our own history; for a history paternalistically given, donated or made by others, does not guarantee or insure our true human existence. Students, ceaselessly, must pursue knowledge as much as one's capacity allows in a given time and place, without being content to classroom or professors' final say to a given information. — Haile Cerima Reassertion means the surfacing of certain traits of an individual and or principles of a group which have lain dormant for a period of lime but are once again appearing — to be seen, heard, and felt by self and others as a sign of potential strength and vitality. Reassertion is to take an inspiring principle of the past to a higher level of productivity in the present with benefits for the future. I sense a new spirit on campus this year unlike that of previous years. Students are earnestly seeking to find themselves as first human beings but particularly as Black people. However, I do not see signs of student reassertion because too many students who have admiration for past student movements are lingering onto romantic ideas about the past, and not making constructive plans for the future. — Godfrey Patterson