Pat Marsteller's articulate and forceful statement about teaching at Emory (First Person, Jan. 12) was an inspiring article with which to begin the semester, for teacher and student alike. Her many suggestions regarding both evaluation of teaching and ways to improve one's pedagogy are a challenge to the entire Emory community -- administration, faculty and students -- to see how we can improve the primary calling of higher education and of Emory in particular. Emory Report can take the lead in creating a forum for the sorts of articles Marsteller proposes, which would benefit us all. I, for one, eagerly await seeing such contributions in the future.
Michael Berger
Department of Religion
As an alumnus of Emory and as professor emeritus of English (1977) after teaching at Emory for 31 years, I wish to call attention to an error, or at least a very broad and ambiguous statement, that appears in the Jan. 12 Emory Report story on the death of Rebecca McGreevy.
The statement read: "called `one of the first daughters of Emory College' in a resolution passed by the Board of Trustees at their December meeting, McGreevy was among the first class of College graduates to include women."
I don't know how far back in years the phrase "among the first class of College graduates to include women" extends, but if it does not go as far as 1928, it is not an accurate statement.
I entered Emory in the fall of 1927 and stayed five years, leaving in the spring of 1932. I looked at the Emory campus annuals for 1928-1932 and found that women were included in some of the senior class sections.
I recall seeing a similar statement in Emory Report some months ago that gave the impression that Emory did not have women to graduate from the College until about the 1950s. I hope such inaccurate and ambiguous statements will not appear again.
J. Carlton Nunan '31C, '32G
Editor's note:
Although women attended and graduated from Emory College in limited numbers prior to the 1950s, the regular admission of women students began in 1953 following a vote by the Board of Trustees.