Pass Me the Chew Billy Bob

Add to the list of College clubs serving ethnic minorities at Harvard the new Southern Club, which hopes to bring cornbread, square-dancing and other Dixie traditions northward.

"At this point I'd like it to be a look at the South, the history, where it is today, and where it's going," said founder Victoria J. Franklin '87, a native of Sulligent, Alabama.

The club has not yet petitioned for University approval, but Franklin said she has approached has some 35 people--some of them Yankees--about joining the club.

Kim S. Little '87, originally from Tullahoma, Tenn., said she hopes the club will be a support group for Southerners but also make other students on campus aware that Southerners do not all fall into stereotypes.

"We don't want to just sit around and drawl in the meetings. One of the things we've talked about is getting together for a real old fashioned Southern meal," Little said.

Franklin said the idea of a meal had been the most popular idea among prospective members, adding that the menu would probably include cornbread, black-eyed peas, and collard greens.

"Everyone I've talked to wants something different to be served. I've heard everything from stewed tomatoes to sweet potato pie," Franklin said.

"Hopefully we'll be having speakers come in to talk about the Old South and the way the South is today," Franklin said. "Although I'm sure other people will have ideas about what it should be, I'd like it to be partially social and partially a way to understand the South."

The first meeting, open to all interested students and faculty, will be held Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Quincy House Committee Room.