Happy Holidays from Hamline

From the Oracle, December 15, 1972 issue

"Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account." - Oscar Wilde

New Year's resolutions are too slippery for most people to handle. Many of us have dismissed the yearly pledge because it's nothing more than an exercise in futility. The custom demands too much stick-to-itiveness. However, there are still some people who continue to strive to eliminate or ameliorate some aspect of themselves.

Sixty Hamlinites were recently asked what their 1973 New Year's resolution is and over half of them said they didn't make one. Robert Willis, professor of religion, laughed and replied, "human nature being what it is, I long ago gave up New Year's resolutions." Garvin Davenport, professor of English, said, "since everything I've learned about human nature is from Dr. Willis, I too find resolutions to be useless."...

Some Hamline employees would like to see things differently next year... President Bailey, a relaxed man, hinted that there may be some changes on campus. He said, "I resolve in 1973 to not dismiss, arbitrarily, more than 10 per cent of the faculty; to not abolish entire divisions unless half the departments are gone; to not reduce financial aid to athletes until I wipe out presidential scholars; to not plan the 5,000 seat auditorium until the hockey rink is under construction; and to believe every wisp of whispered asininity which wafts its way over campus."

...Kenneth White, professor of education, has a mixed reaction to New Year's resolutions. He said, "I don't believe in them, but if other people make resolutions which will help me, I'm in favor of them."

Most New Year's resolutions go in one year and out the other. If you have resolved something, don't worry if you should break it - you can always remake it next year.

From the Oracle, October 18, 1974 issue

In the midst of Hamline's predominantly white, Christian, 18-22 year-old student body, cultural diversity has been a topic of conversations, speculations and considerable controversy in recent years.

In the spring of 1974, the institution adopted a new affirmative action policy for the hiring of minorities for vacant faculty, staff and administrative positions. In the fall of 1971, many older students with varied educational and professional backgrounds entered Hamline under the community college transfer program. This year, a new program is seeking to recruit veterans by offering financial aid and a veteran's representative on campus.

One of the newest and most extensive ventures into cultural and educational diversity is the Jewish Studies Program, offered under the Religion Department.

Funded by the Ober and Bremer foundations of St. Paul, Jewish Studies is directed by Rabbi Moshe Lichtman, and has an auxiliary faculty of five professors who range in religious background from Orthodox Judaism to Roman Catholicism...

One important goal of the Jewish Studies Program, according to Lichtman, is to raise the consciousness of the Hamline community to Jews as a cultural and religious group.  He sees indication that this is already happening.

There are approximately 20 Jewish students on campus this year, and these are the beginnings of a Jewish students association. All courses in Jewish Studies operate on the Jewish calendar, bringing an awareness of Jewish holidays...

Another goal of the Jewish Studies program is to provide a resource center for Jews in the community. A request for Hamline students to help investigate the price discrimination of kosher food items has already given some indication that this is happening...

Lichtman seems to feel that there is a kind of universal lesson to be discovered in studying the particularity and uniqueness of the Jewish people in history. In our mobile society, the Jew, immersed in his tradition and culture regardless of geographical location illustrates the "value of rootedness" according to Lichtman. Lichtman said that "the non-Jew who studies the existence of the Jews in history can become convinced of his own particularity of his own ability to be special. The non-Jew can develop an awareness of his own roots."

From the Oracle, December 2, 1994 issue

The Oracle would like to wish the Jewish community a joyous Hanukkah celebration.

From the Oracle, December 9, 1997 issue

The traditional Swahili greeting of Habari gani welcomes all as man people prepare for a special festival. The African-American holiday of Kwanzaa is beginning soon as it will start its annual seven day stay on December twenty-sixth and conclude on January first.

Created twenty-one years ago by Dr. Maulana Karenga in order to fulfill a need for a unifying holiday in the African-American community, Kwanzaa is a time for celebrating family and spirituality.

"I prefer Kwanzaa over Christmas," says JacQue R-Crawford, Assistant Registrar at Hamline School of Law, who appreciates the importance of December twenty-fifth but enjoys "The opportunity [Kwanzaa] provides for values and spirituality to be shared between generations."

Kwanzaa stresses the importance of family through the sharing of various principles, one for each of the seven days. Each day, those celebrating Kwanzaa discuss and incorporate one certain principle into their daily lives while contemplating how he or she could practice that belief.

...The seven principles are symbolized with the use of the cinara, the candle holder which holds seven candles. Adds R-Crawford, "It is a time to be supportive of your family while coming together to pray."

In order to reaffirm the seven principles, each person present raises their arms and with open fists chants the principles in sets of seven while closing the hand into a fist.

Other symbolic items include mshumaa, ears of corn representing each child which are placed on the table by the youngest child. A straw mat called a mkeka is put out as the oldest person at the table pours the tambiko, which is juice or water, in honor of our ancestors. Handmade gifts called zawadis are exchanged and the holiday's colors of red, representing bloodshed of slavery, green, the future, and black, for the people, are incorporated into the decorations and surroundings.