By Ken Stiggers February means Black History Month and a series of Associated events at Capitol. February 11th kicked off Black History Month with "Sexuality: Minority and Ma jority Relations," a program sponsored by the Black Student Union and the Residence Liv ing Program. This program featured Dr. Robert Suggs, Associate Professor of Psychology at Messiah College. Dr. Suggs spoke about minorities in a majority situa tion, or how the majority uses money and powere to control the minority. Also, he talked about hwo someone who is a minority should handle himself or herself in a majority atmosphere. On February 15th, guest speakers Cyril Griffith,a pro fessor from University Park, and Roosevelt Green, an admis sions officer there, spoke at a panel discussion on the significance of religion in the black community. Three ministers from local churches along with students from Capitol Camus attended the lec ture and panel discussion. Griffith talked about the significanse of the black church from the mid-eighteenth cen truy to the mid ninteenth cen tury. . Green started where Grif fith left off and continued up to the present. Basically, their message was that the black op PhDs leave teaching for industry jobs CLAREMONT, CA (CPS) -- Poor pay and shrinking enroll ment are driving PhDs away from college teaching careers and into more lucrative fields, a current study shows, and the trend could mean there'll be fewer talented professors in classes in the next decade. In a survey of . 38 colleges, Howard R. Bowen and Jack Schuster, education professors at California's Claremont Graduate School, found the deteriorating academic climate is persuading top professors and graduate students to aban don higher education careers. The result, they say, may be a shortage of good college teachers. "The nagging worries and decreased job security facing professors today are persuading the brightest PhD recipients to seek employment in other fields," Bowen told par ticipants at the recent joint con vention of the American Coun cil on Education and the Na tional Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges in Denver. While current faculties are "the best equipped for the job church has had and will con tinue to have significance in the black community. The panel discussion touch ed on how the early black church served as a learning in stitution and an outlet for the black community. Also, a solu tion arose from the panel discussion that the students and community should come together and help the church 'Colored Girls' looks at black issues By Annette Childs The auditorium filled up at a rapid pace, the lights slowly dimmed, and suddenly the col ors of a rainbow appeared on the stage. This was the beginn ing of a captivating choreopoem that the audience would long remember. On February 19th, the Avante Theatre Company visited Capitol Campus to pre sent a choreopoem called, "For Colored Girls Who Have Con sidered Suicide When the Rain bow is Enuf," sponsored by the Capitol Campus Cultural Events Committee and the Black Student Union. A choreopoem is poetry put to music and dance. Ntozake Shange, the author of the choreopoem, set out to sing the we've ever had," Bowen notes, "the flight of current people in higher education and of young people choosing careers will mean more education openings than can be filled." There will be as many as 500,000 college teaching posi tions open in the next 25 years, Bowen says. "And the numbers could be even greater in the next 15 years if conditions in higher education continue to det6rior ate ." "The academic community must begin now to compete," he adds. "Recruitment of new faculty is the most important task of higher education." To entice top quality PhDs into higher education, colleges need to offer competitive salaries, incentives and working conditions, Bowen said in a re cent phone interview. But slipping enrollment could wreck those offers. "Faculty salaries are con trolled by political and economic factors," he says. "Private schools depend on enrollment. So do public schools, but they need their legislatures to offset losses." "Most colleges are happy play a significant role again in the black community. From February lo to 22, the B.S.U. featured an art exhibit by Billy Baker in the Gallery Lounge. Also, on February 18, the B.S.U. featured the film "Bill Cosby's racial prejudice" along with a panel and group discus sion afterwards. In the film, Cosby played the role of a bigot performing a monologue while songs of the oyes, hopes and possibilities of the black woman in poetry and prose of remarkable power. The actresses were all dress ed in various colors of the rain bow as they emotionally por trayed issues involving mar riage, sexuality, pregnancy, in feriority and other real-life ex periences which black women confront. The characters described their personal relationships with men, and each version blended into an on-going story telling process. By sharing stories about individual rela tionships with men, the characters gained courage and a new perception of themselves. The audience, a mixture of Capitol Campus students, pro fessors and community with the professor supply and with new recruits,"Schuster adds. "But the bubble is about to burst. The application pool is thin below the top." In addition, new surveys in dicate fewer students are choos ing college teaching careers. In 1966, Schuster told the diva , r 4 °NOP WI avow W. awl , 1.1- espressing every consievable prejudice about every minority group. After the film the four panelists, who had seen the film before hand, expressed their own attitudes and esperiences concerning prejudice. This led on to a group discussion. On February 19, the Avanti Theatre Group captivated a fill ed auditorium with the Ntozke Shange production of "For Colored Girls Who Have Con- residents, showed their ap preciation through laughter and applause. Andy Dobbins, a visitor, described the choreopem as "a thought provoking ex perience," whith characters that he could understand "It was wonderful," shouted Dr. John Patterson, a professor in the Humanities Division. And John Marchi, an EDET major, simply said, "it was ex cellent." "The choreopoem is a good vehicle for black artists because it allows black entertainers to play major roles that they may not get elsewhere," said Jackie Wade, stage manager for the Avante Theatre Company. According to actress Lennie Dariiels, who played the "Lady in Purple," "The language that Denver convention, 1.8 percent of college grads considered teaching at the college level. By 1979, only 0.2 percent wanted to teach. Since then the numbers have stabilized, he says, but the number of top students plann ing to teach continues to slip. dive. 1 M: 4•40 P V 4 Fox's Market • • sidered Suicide When the Rain bow was Enuf." This, choreopoem--poetry performed with music and dance--starred seven women dressed in various colors of the rainbow, telling a series of stories about their rela tionships with men. Ending the series today will be the soft rock to acoustic ballads of Kim and Reggie Har ris, scheduled for today at 12:15 in the Olmsted Auditorium. the author uses in the choreopoem is blunt . . . and you see the characters in every day life. Ntozake Shange doesn't write around the issue, she writes the issue." Carol Terry, the actress who played the "Lady in Pink," stated, "At the end of the show I feel a closeness among the ac tresses. . .It's like we've unsolv ed a mystery." She added, "And this is a good feeling . . .a feeling you never forget." As the performance came to an end, the audience applaud ed as each actress took her bow. The rainbow, which was a sym bol of hope throughout the whole play, maintained its significance even until the end of the preformance, as the ac tresses joined hands and form ed a semi-circle that resembled a rainbow. In the fifties, one in five col lege faculty members were Phi Beta Kappa. By 1969, only eight percent held the honor. Schuster therefore concludes that while the vacant teaching positions won't go unfilled, the quality of applicants will go down. -Row • 'Ol • • -wow .W IV' W . W .
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