Page 9 - Spelman50thReunionBook
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were parts of our rites of passage in our first days process. Long lines, closed classes, and messed
away from home. up schedules proved to be the most harsh reality of
our new college experience. We had survived the
We were perhaps the last class to attend
compulsory Chapel at 8:00 a.m., three days per reading placement tests that Spelman required, no
week and Compulsory matter how great our high school grades. The thick
Vespers on Sundays books, long study hours and unrelenting professors
and to be awakened were formidable. Some were fortunate enough to
by the bell tolling. be coached by our upperclassmen sisters as to
Our dining hall, which teachers to avoid; others were not so lucky.
Morgan Hall was By mid-semester, we were seasoned college
also a dormitory, students and ready to conquer college or so we
and our lone co-ed recreational center was located thought. Little were we prepared for the changes
in the basement of Packard. Dormitory lounges which were to occur, not only in our campus life,
were the social congregating areas where young but in our world and in ourselves.
men could visit until 7:00 p.m. Security to us Exploration
meant the presence of one elderly guard known as Spelman afforded us a number of opportunities to
“Will Shoot” and the admonition by upperclassmen “find ourselves”. Our dorms not only offered us a
to beware of Dr. Manley’s frequent evening strolls habitat, but served as an insular environment to
in tennis shoes whose soles allowed him to show organize ourselves and practice social skills. We
up undetected. We were cautioned to go in groups elected dorm officers, planned dorm parties,
when we left campus, to avoid Milton-Yates after enacted rules of discipline for sharing our common
dark and the dreaded “Bottom”. Our fight song spaces as we learned how to harmoniously live
during Freshman Orientation week quickly became together.
“Spelman Sing” and our initiation into the While we dreaded the required physical education
“sisterhood”---covering each other as we found classes, and the mandatory swimming
ways to get around the rules.
requirement, we welcomed the opportunity to
Perhaps our most traumatic experience that participate in athletic classes which were not
Freshman year was the grueling registration available to us in many of our segregated
