Dr. David B. Burks made a guest appearance in Cone Hall last Thursday, Oct. 4, where he and the dorm mom and RAs discussed culture, food and Burks’ retirement over scones, cookies and hot cups of Tetley tea. Since the beginning of the semester, Cone Hall dorm mom Linda Cox, originally from Derby, England, has met with the Cone RAs every Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in the dorm’s lobby kitchen for an informal British-style tea, complete with authentic sweets and snacks.
Although Cox has occasionally had informal tea with a few of her RAs since joining Harding as a dorm mom in 1992, she said that tea has never been a weekly event until this semester. Cox said the RAs approached her early in the semester about having weekly tea with her and although she said she did not expect it to last for more than a week or two, she agreed to do it. To her surprise, Cox said, the weekly teatime became very popular among the RAs and their guests.
“I really was surprised,” Cox said. “I thought maybe (the RAs) would do it for a week or two and that would be it. But just on Tuesday night they came in here at curfew and said ‘Oh, I’m so excited, Thursday’s tea time.'”
Cox said the RAs decided that it would be fun to see if they could get Burks to join them for tea one week, so they called his office. Shortly after making the call, Cox said Burks informed them that he was free and that he would be glad to come.
“I really admire him for being this involved with them and taking the time out of his day to do something like this,” Cox said. “I know that he enjoys it, but still, you think of all of the things that he is asked to do, I just appreciate that he would take time to get to be with the students and do the things that they enjoy, and that he is involved and interested in their lives.”
Burks said he enjoyed the experience and that it was a very authentic and unique way for students to interact with one another while also learning about another culture.
“I’ve been in London a couple of times and gone to high tea — it has always cost a whole lot more — but it’s really a neat tradition,” Burks said. “You almost always have tea and scones like we had today. I think it’s a neat thing for them to do things like this that are different and yet honor that culture. I think it’s great.”
Sophomore Tim Miles, RA in Cone Hall, said he enjoys the weekly opportunity to have tea with Cox, and that he appreciated Burks coming to spend his time having tea with the RAs.
“Experiencing another culture and seeing how people come together in other communities is just really cool,” Miles said. “And it was cool to kind of see Dr. Burks on a personal note, just away from everything else.”
