First Black S.G.A.
President atG.C.
BY ALBERT CASE
For the first time within the
139 year history of Greensboro
College, the student body has
elected a black president of the
Student Government Association.
His name is Fred (Freddie)
Davie, a Charlotte, N.C. native
who was last year's SGA vice-
president. Fred also achieved
notoriety earlier this year for his
role in the visitation incident.
Not unlike President Carter,
Fred comes from humble beginnings and is a born-again
Christian who comes to the
office with the ideas of reorganizing the government and
restoring basic human rights.
Recently I interviewed Fred
and here are some excerpts from
our conversation:
Q. What do you feel is significant about your victory?
"I think it shows that the
student body doesn't look at the
color or stature of an individual,
but it looks more towards the
sincerity and the diligence that
the individual had put into their
work in campus activities. It
shows a big change, I think, in
the thinking and prejudices of
the people, in that the color that
is so visible is now only visible
as far as you see it; as far as
you look at it. But as far as
it's visibility affecting one's
thinking and one's judgement,
I think that the election shows
a change in that. Besides that,
besides the part my being black
would play in it, I also think
that they looked at the fact
that I did serve as vice president,
and I'm sure they looked at the
job I did as vice president, and
that had a big bearing on my
being elected president. This is
and what should be idealistic-
ally the sole judgement when
one goes to the polls to vote,
the job that the candidate has
done in the past and what he
has promised to do in the future."
Q: What are your plans for
SGA?
"I'd like to see SGA take a
leadership role as well as an
advisary role. Leadership leads
the students in what the students
themselves think is important.
But at the same time it also
advises the students on different
issues of importance and how to
solve those issues. The students
may have an idea of how an
issue is to be solved, but not
having been in student government and not having had to
work with the faculty and
administration, they do not
understand that their solution
for the solving of a particular
issue would not be compatible
with the thinking of the faculty
and administration. This is one
big thing that I think needs to
be worked on: the leadership as
well as the advisory role of the
Student Government Association.
As far as what my administration is going to do, we're going
to try to change more areas of
college life. We have established
a Student Living Advisory
Board which SGA is going to
work with very closely, and so
will the Executive Committee of
my administration. Right now,
the vice president, secretary
and I are on this advisory board
and will continue to be next
year. We want to work to make
Greensboro College a
better place not only for students,
but for the faculty and administration as well, and that's something that you can look forward
to."
Q: Do you feel that your position is restricting? Are you
afraid of losing yourself to the
office?
"At one time it was, during the
incidents with the visitation
protests, I thought it was restrictive ... At one time I thought
it was restrictive because I
was caught up with trying not
only to please the students, but
the faculty, administration as
well. Then I decided that the
best thing to do was to do what
is right and so it is that attitude
I'm going to take to this office,
so that it won't be so restrictive.
I won't lose myself to the office
because I believe that being
myself is doing what is right;
and if I take this concept into
the office, then what I will see is
the office becoming more me
than me becoming the office."
Q:What has the reaction
been to your victory?
"As always you are going to
have people that are going to
congratulate you while others
will think that you shouldn't
have been elected. But that
can be expected. The overall
reaction has been good;
everybody's been congratulating
me. I think once again what
I've done in the past on campus
has been looked at; I feel confident that I can do a good job
and that people can see this
confidence and get it also in the
government again."
Ironically when looking at
Fred Davie, the individual,
his beliefs about government
and people parallel those of Mr.
Carter right down to their
"Roots." But, yet, I feel that
this humanistic trend of thought
reflects the direction that
people are heading towards
today no matter what the situation. The visitation protests, a
part-time black professor on
campus, and now the election of
a black president are the signs
of the beginning of a renaissance within the structures of
Greensboro College, and
despite how it may seem to all
sides, the "best" can be better.
