President Robert M. Franklin‘s initiative of re-defining what a ‘Renaissance Man’ is at Morehouse College is slowly starting to evolve on campus, but can especially be seen throughout the dormitories, thanks to the Free Zone Campaign.

The campaign is focused on eliminating the use of cursing, sagging and the n-word in order to establish a more intellectual, respectful environment and eliminate the stereotypes perpetuated by the media and other outlets that display negative images of young Black males.

The initiative was brought to Morehouse by William Tweedle, first-year resident director of Hubert Hall, and Maurice Washington, the Director of Housing and Residential Life. Both men share high hopes for the campaign, a cause Tweedle has been passionate about for some time. “Actually, I had left college and came back to Bowie State and saw all these brothers walking around sagging and cursing,” Tweedle said. “I decided that something needed to be done about it, so I started this campaign in the particular dorm that I was staying in at the time.”

Little did Tweedle know that his creative idea would find its way to Morehouse. When interviewing Tweedle, Washington learned of his creative initiative at Bowie State and felt this campaign could coincide with President Franklin’s goal of what a 'Renaissance Man' should embody. Washington and Tweedle along with other staff members decided to implement this plan during a development retreat in August. Tweedle credits some of the initial success of the program to the help of Jeff Murphy and Marcell Spates. Both men had already come up with programs such as this and passed on valuable information.

When the plan was presented to the resident assistants, it encountered both acceptance and resistance. “I feel that this is a great idea,” senior Daniel Scott said, a resident assistant for Brazeal Hall. “I feel that these are issues that need to be raised on this campus. The only thing that I disagree with is the use of posting flyers on campus with the word ‘nigga’ on them.”

There were some resident assistants who held an even stronger position against the campaign. “My issue was not the intent,” junior Anthony Arnold said, who is a resident assistant for Graves Hall. “I do not disagree with the idea of wanting to get rid of the cursing, sagging and the use of the ‘N’ word. My issue is that I feel like the mechanisms are [already] in place here at Morehouse College. When [freshmen students] have other Black males in front of them, then they have something to witness and lead by. I try to lead by example and that’s something I feel people can gravitate towards.”

Not only was there opposition from the resident assistants, but from students as well. Tweedle has developed a quick response to those students who attempt to disagree with the initiative. “There are no thugs in college,” Tweedle said. “This is something that I constantly tell my guys when they try to debate with me. When [people] see them they view them as college students, not thugs.”

The initiators are planning to expand their initiative. “We want to do a mass campaign,” Washington said. “So over the next couple of weeks you might see sublime symbols. Mr. Tweedle is trying to conduct a survey to gather information about cursing or sagging.”

The success of the campaign, of course, is heavily dependent on the Morehouse community and so far the members of Omega Psi Phi, Inc. have expressed interest in helping. Tweedle hopes to reach out to all the fraternities and SGA in order to make this a successful campaign.

In order for the campaign to continue to run smoothly, the resident hall councils will have a dialogue involving all dorms on Oct. 28. The staff plans to see that this campaign is effective and in hopes that it captures some of the mystique of a 'Morehouse Man'. “We are not trying to be the cultural police,” Washington said. “We just want people to understand what they are doing and how what they are doing affects the college and community.”

Published: October 8, 2008 12:21 PM