Word: savannah
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Take Savannah State University, a 173-acre (70 hectare) campus of tawny brick buildings and Spanish-moss-covered oaks that hosts some 3,400 students. Under Harp's proposal, it would keep its name but merge with Armstrong Atlantic State, a majority-white school of about 7,000 down the road. Founded in 1890 as the Georgia State Industrial College for Colored Youth, Savannah State opened at its current site on a wooded salt marsh in 1891, 70 years before the state's universities were integrated. Its first president, Richard Wright Sr., was born into slavery...
...Many Savannah State students say an awareness of their heritage is one of the school's biggest selling points. "I take pride in it that African Americans who built this school at this time were going through such a hard struggle," says freshman Jamal Lewis, 19, standing a few paces from Hill Hall, the oldest building on campus, erected in 1901 by some of Savannah State's first students. If the schools were to merge, says Telena Johnson, 24, "I definitely would feel like I was being robbed...
...black schools, Savannah included, have their problems. Nationwide, 41% of black students graduate from college within six years (for white students, the figure is 59%). The rate is lower at the majority of HBCUs, which often accept low-performing students who may not have been given a chance elsewhere. At Savannah State, the figure hovers around 35%. A bigger problem is money: HBCUs are chronically underfunded, and Savannah State--with an endowment of just $3.4 million, compared with Armstrong's $7.9 million--is no exception. Harp expects the merger to help close that gap, an aspect of the plan that...
...meantime, some students see at least one advantage to the merger. "A few people said, 'See it for the social aspect,'" says Savannah State sophomore Guannue Bouquia, 20. "More parties...
...Skipper, the penguin-in-chief (co-director McGrath), manages to overcome his complete cluelessness as a pilot by safely landing a plane carrying our heroes on the African savannah - "Who said penguins couldn't fly?" - all the while issuing commands to his brain-challenged underlings, one of whom gets a quick laugh trying to spit and ending up with a string of drool on his bib. Julien the lemur (Sacha Baron Cohen) is a frantic pantaloon who waves the stars on the plane back into Economy: "This is First Class. It's nothing personal. It's just that...