Meredith College - Oak Leaves Yearbook (Raleigh, NC)

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a place steeped in tradition but When Meredith was conceived in 1835 and finally chartered by the State Legislature in 1891, its stated purpose was a school (to) be modeled and conducted on strictly religious principles. Beginning with the admission of the first student in 1899 it has adhered to these principles. The academic program and all stu- dent activities have always been planned to provide thorough in- struction in the liberal arts and opportunities for spiritual, emo- tional, mental, and physical de- velopment. Meredith in the 1950 ' s was a small college for women headed by a scholarly president. Dr. Car- lyle Campbell, who was well known for his great depth of thinking as revealed through his weekly chapel talks. The college had a demanding curriculum taught by an able and dedicated faculty. Daily chapel, classes until noon on Saturday, Sunday School and church, concerts, and lectures were academic require- ments. There was a strict dress code which meant dresses for class and hats and hose for shop- ping. A strong sense of community was developed by student orga- nizations and clubs, by tradi- tions — Stunt, Corn Huskin ' , Palio, Alice in Wonderland , and Play Day — , and by many faculty members living on cam- pus. Daily schedules included time for worship at morning watch, vesters, and family altar; closed study hours; family style dinners except for bag suppers on Sunday night; and, always, lights out at 11 p.m. Social life was enhanced by nearby colleges — Wake Forest, State, Duke, and Carolina — but was complicated by limited dat- ing privileges and weekends away, chaperones, signing out, strict rules, and call downs. Meredith was known in those days as the Angel Farm. The water tank proudly announced that fact as it towered over the old wooden classrooms and the dormitories around the court. The realities of 1978 are a Pres- ident well-trained in college ad- ministration who must spend almost as many hours away from his desk as in his office; a large body of administrators; faculty to teach an expanded curriculum; an effort to inculcate attitudes and values rather than impose rules; traditions which build up on those of the past but are tai- lored to the present; oppor- tunities for an encouragement to worship rather than require- ments to attend worship ser- vices; emphasis on student re- sponsibility rather than legisla- tion regarding class attendance; and career preparation as a part of every major. Meredith in 1978 continues to rely on her intellectual heritage as she reaches forward to meet the ever changing needs of to- day ' s student.

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1 j ' ) J ,. B ■ ) j ' ' i t) ' ' l l ■ JUu o V- ro -■— y ywe M ■ f. ' . ' .rn ' y- S ■ -, ) )U, - ' T-u.. ' ' .1 .i.v ' ... . T -A A ,,j i,jA Ax -.( yg g . r, r -| I ' - .. . , c 4 ' j LO ' -i ■ H| ..0- — ■ K ,- ..v. .- 4: A Sf d ' m n K . ■;;: ' .t . .ti; . - MM Opposite page: Above left, Mr. White ' s 3 — Dimensional Design class makes use of the courtyard to critique their box structures in natural settings. Above right, with an expression of frustration on her face, Anna Comer wearily erases a mistake from her sketchbook. Below, Cindy Whitenack checks to see if the library has back issues of Cosmopolitan. This page: Above left, Emily Sockell, like many Meredith students, prefers the comforts of home at study time. Above right, Beth Wheeles, Laura Brakebill, Diane Faw and Cheryl Massey post outside their suite excuses heard campus-wide during exam week. Below, Ruth Pardue is a familiar sight in Wainwright Music building. OAK LEAVES 1978 — 11

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looking towards the future What was Meredith like when you were here? is a ques- tion I am often asked by students and it is not an easy question to answer. While it is simple enough to entertain with a recital of the quaint customs of what is perceived by most of my stu- dents as yesteryear, it is a far more demanding task to talk with clarity about the way we, as a college community, truly were in the 1960 ' s. Usually I beg the real question and choose instead to recount, with a vague sense of self-righteousness to incredulous students, tales of bygone days when things were really tough — when Saturday morning found us in classes; 10 a.m. Monday through Friday in required cha- pel; and everyday, in the skirts we were expected to wear and the classes we were expected to at- tend. One big question most often goes begging again when my classmates ask me their version of the same query: What is Meredith like now ? Virtually always, I am unable to resist the temptation both to scandalize with news of self-limiting hours, unlimited cuts, and cut-offs in the dining hall and to tantalize with accounts of exciting options like Co-ops, special studies, and the London program. When pushed to answer the basic question of what Meredith was and is really like, however, I am confronted with the paradox that while, in the decade and half since I matriculated as a freshman, everything is changed, everything is still very much the same. As the 1970 ' s are freer times than the early 1960 ' s, no doubt because of the campus unrest of the late 1960 ' s, so Meredith today is a freer com- munity than Meredith of my day. In fact, as a college where stu- dents participate fully in the pro- cess of governing their academic and personal lives, Meredith today is very much what we wanted it to be when I was a stu- dent. Therein, perhaps, is the key to Meredith ' s unchanging dimension. As an in- stitution committed to change in response to the times, Meredith has demonstrated not only its own viability and vitality but also that of the educational val- ues expressed in its statement of purposes. Unaltered and unal- terable is the special community that exists when students and teachers come together at any point in time to pursue in an atmosphere of freedom and commitment those ideals. In- formed by its past, celebrating its present, excited about its future, the real Meredith is for me a col- lege everchanging and never- changing. I should be unhappy to think it might ever be other- wise. ' 1, i ' 15 . ' ■i ' ! MISS 1957 iISI