PAGE TWO
THE RIDGERUNNER
MONDAY, DECEMBER 6. 1965
The Ridgerunner
Editor Martha Dula
Managing Editor Ray Elingburg
Associate Editors ^ Randy Wiiburn,
Nancy Dillingham,
Allan Pierce,
Randy Drupiewski
Layout Editor Bob Jones
Our Letter Policy
Letters to the Editor and submissions for guest editorials should
be left at the office of The Ridgerunner or put in the intracampus
box in the Student Union Building. All submissions must be signed.
T!he Ridgerunner will withhold names upon request.
We welcome both letters and longer more comprehensive
articles of opinion from students, faculty, administration, and from
any citizens of the community whose contribution is directed toward
the educational interests of the college. All submissions should be
typed and doublespaced. In order to be published in the next issue,
all submissions must be in the office by the Wednesday before our
Monday deadline.
THE PRESIDENT SPEAKS
Dear Reader -
The Editor feels an explanation is in order.
Due to the regrettable long period between the publication dates
of the second and third issue of The Ridgerunner, a large number
of feature articles accumulated on the Editor’s dask. Many of these
articles became “dated” during this period. Therefore, when a
shortage of copy space made cutting some of these articles necessary,
it had to be done arbitrarily and with no prejudice intended. The
Editor does not feel than an apology is called for, but an explanation
to those persons and organizations concerned is not out of order.
As any newly established organization somewhat short in ex
perience, The Ridgerunner is still struggling to find its proper footing.
The staff would appreciate the patience and cooperation of the
student body and faculty. You can do your part just by adhering
to the instructions included under “Our Letter Policy.” If cutting
is necessary, those articles submitted in long-hand are obviously, be
cause of inadequate staffing and dead-lines which have to be met,
among the first to be cut. To help insure the publication of your
article, please submit it in the proper form. And if you prefer a
minimum of re-write (as some have indicated they do), please make
an attempt to write a “professional” article.
The Ridgerunner is setting high standards to strive toward from
the very beginning, as far as quality is concerned. And reviewing
some of the various other college newspapers in the area which are
sent on an exchange basis. The Ridgerunner already shows evidence
of several superior points of quality.
The Ridgerunner is your newspaper, your opportunity and right
to information and expression. Use it. But use it carefully.
The Editor
HUMANrriES
LECTURES
OPEN TO ALL
STUDENTS
Several students have inquired
recently as to why the lectures
for the Humanities courses are
not announced campus wide so
that any interested student could
attend. In answer to this in
quiry, Dr. Pait has announced
that all students are welcome to
attend these lectures at any time.
The Ridgerunner will publish
lecture dates, topics, and names
of the particular lecturer, for
periods of two weeks following
the publication date, as a regular
feature beginning with this issue.
The regular lectures are held on
Mondays and Wednesdays at
1:00 P.M. Tuesdays and Thurs
days are designated as laboratory
sessions. These periods are used
for presentation of relevant
audio-visual materials and, it
might be added here, any stu
dent is also welcome to attend
these laboratory periods. Since
Friday is quiz day, it is doubtful
that students would be interest
ed in sitting in on these sessions.
LECTURE SCIIELUDE:
Dec. 6 Art of the Italian Ren
aissance Mr. Bunker
Dec. 8 The Northern Renais
sance and the Reform
ation Dr. Pait
Dec. 13 Northern Renaissance
Art Mr. Bunker
Dec. IS National States in
Conflict Dr. Walker
Jan. 3 Literature of the Ren
aissance Dr. Riggs
Jan. S Shakespeare Dr. Riggs
DEAR EDITOR
Every student is probably a-
ware that there are two recog
nized social fraternities on our
campus. These two groups have
given much to the school by
their various projects and gen
eral support of student activities.
Even more, the individual mem
bers of these fraternities have de
voted much time and effort to
the support of the S. G. A. These
men are the campus leaders. It
is a unique fact on our campus,
that the image of the fraternity
man is one of leadership, not in
his own small group, but in the
entire school.
Why then, have these groups
been singled out by the admin
istration and the Board of Trust
ees to be subject to special re
strictions? What I refer to is
the ban on fraternity houses.
If a group of A-B students,
other than a fraternity, wishes to
rent a house, they are perfectly
free to do so. However, if the
group bears the name “fraterni
ty”, they are denied this right.
One explanation offered for
this is that if a fraternity obtain
ed a lease or a loan for a house
and defaulted on this obligation,
the school could be held responsi
ble. However, a fraternity, if
allowed to, would rent a house on
a month-to-month basis.
The Board of Trustees refuses
to set up standards of conduct in
such a house, but rather bans
fraternity houses altogether.
This practice is unfair and dis
criminatory to two groups of stu
dents whose service to the school,
whose willingness to govern
themselves, and whose records
are above reproach.
(Editor’s note: The following
is a transcript of a recorded in
terview with Dr. William High-
smith regarding the recent a-
mendment to the North Carolina
Speaker-Ban Law.)
QUESTION: In what way
will the new amendment to the
Speaker-Ban or “Gag Rule” in
North Carolina affect Asheville-
Biltmore directly and the rest of
the institutions in the state?
DR. HIGHSMITH: As far
as A-B College is concerned, it
removes an obstacle that did
exist to our accreditation. With
this obstacle now removed I don’t
believe we’ll have any difficulty
in achieving an accredited status
in the minimum of time. If we
do this, and I’m sure we will,
then our accreditation will be
come retro-active to 1966 and
will cover members of the first
graduating class. So that ob
stacle that did exist is removed
as far as accreditation is concern-
Now as far as procedures on our
campus are concerned, student
groups and faculty groups who
invite visiting speakers to appear
in public before our students will
go through a little more elaborate
set of procedures in order to
clear this in advance. There’s
nothing really here to be con
cerned about, as a matter of fact
we’re doing it now and no one
comes in to speak at assemblies
or anything like that we don’t
know about in advance. So, as
far as internal procedures are
concerned, I don’t think anyone
is going to notice any difference.
QUESTION: Then would
you say that the real gist of the
matter was primarily in principle
and the colleges objection was
mostly to the idea of just some
blanket law stopping anyone who
fit in a certain category from
coming to speak?
DR. HIGHSMITH: Well in
the first place the trustees and
the officers of the various col
leges and the University have
been charged with the responsi
bility of the institutions. The
Speaker-Ban Law was legislative
interference. It took away from
the traditional locus of authority,
the powers to direct and manage
the affairs of an institution. In
the second place, the law was so
phrased that it eliminated certain
categories of persons regardless
of what they were going to speak
on and this, most people in high
er education considered to be un
due interference with freedom of
speech and academic freedom.
We think that colleges and the
University with their faculty, ad
ministrative officers, and trustees
..Academic
l^edponSiLiiiti^
With the amending of the
North Carolina “Gag Rule”
Asheville-Biltmore College has
retained a measure of power in
its administration which was
found to be indispensible in a
liberal arts college pursuant of
academic excellence. Marches
and pickets in other colleges ac-
cross the nation in recent months
have shown how other states are
faced with problems of similar
scope in affecting academic free
dom. And the general outspoken
and concerned attitudes of those
most concerned with education
in the U. S. today, the student
and professor, have focused at
tention on the presence of acade
mic integrity in the higher educa
tion community regardless of its
popularity. These three things,
academic excellence, freedom,
and integrity, are qualities which
this college must possess if it is
to progress in the eyes of the
other institutions around us.
There are, three ways in which
these qualities can be destroyed
and the students must watch for
the symptoms.
The first of these dangers is
to excellence and is most subtle
in its spread. It is concerned
with the atmosphere of a school,
especially the attitudes of its
students. Here the matter of
caring and of motivation enter
the picture. We must ask our
selves and our fellow students,
“Do we care?” We must deter
mine whether or not the student
at A-B really, individually wants
to learn. This is not something
that shows up so well in the class
or on a test as it would seem.
Learning the subject today
means little if the student is to
I ask that the officials recon
sider their stand on this issue
and set up the necessary steps
and regulations for obtaining and
maintaining a fraternity house in
order that the fraternities on
campus can be true fraternities
and that they and the school can
grow and profit from this ex
perience. BILL PLYLER
forget it tomorrow. At Asheville-
Biltmore there are plans under
foot to give more responsibility
to the student in assuming the
work load on a more independent
basis.
The second danger is to acade
mic freedom and comes not so
much as its whithering away, but
rather in its abuse to the point
of a need for a cutback. As
college students we must take
not only the right of academic
freedom but also the responsibili
ties that it carries. A little know
ledge is a dangerous thing and
the student who is permitted to
indulge in a little knowledge
must commit himself to greater
study to enable the interpreta
tion of how little he knows. We
are free to hear a communist
now, but we are also free to make
ourselves ready to defend our
personal philosophies.
In the area of academic integ
rity the danger in its use is,
again, its mis-use. This integrity
of which we speak implies the
right of thought and exercise of
thought as it suits the individual.
In a college the exercise of the
rights of expression seem to al
ways come to the fore in th^e
form of dis-satisfaction. Fre
quently, however, this manifesta
tion carries no though of remedy.
Also all too frequently the stu
dent becomes so dissatisfied so as
to rebell against all authority.
A story comes to memory,
here, of a young college youth
who was so disenchanted with
the hypocrisy he had found in
religions as they were, he decided
to start his own. Upon consult
ing an aged theologian as to how
best to go about the task, he was
given the advice that, “One at
tention getter would be to ar
range to be crucified and to arise
after three days.” The point
here is that many of the things
with which the student becomes
so discontented are not so easily
solved by just a few complaints
in the right places. When the
student’s integrity prompts out
cry and his treasured ideals
threaten tarnishment, maybe it
could be better to first ask how
best to polish an ideal before
tarnishing someone else’s.
can manage these matters with
out the necessity of “blanket”
legislative restrictions. The law
was vague and in many instances
extremely difficult to interpret.
With the ammendment the gen
eral assembly passed, I think
that we now have something that
we can live with quite comfort
ably and I don’t think anyone
has any genuine reason for fear
that the campuses are suddenly
going to start crawling with com
munists and pleaders of various
ammendments.
QUESTION: One final ques
tion please. If a communist or
some so-called subversive char
acter were to speak on the camp
us, do you think that this would
necessarily poison the minds or
sway the convictions of the col
lege student because he would be
primarily susceptible to this type
of thing?
DR. HIGHSMITH: Well,
college students read books,
newspapers, and watch tele
vision. We cannot insulate their
minds from the realities of the
contemporary world. I think
that to do so would be to insult
ourselves. I have the highest
confidence in the ability of col
lege students to distinguish be
tween truth and falsity, between
truth and phony reasoning. I
have no real concern whatever
that the college student would
be susceptible to ideas that would
be inimical to the best interests
of themselves, their colleges, and
their country. As a matter of
fact, it’s always been my obser
vation that college students are
among the brightest and sharpest
of our people and what they do
after they graduate pretty well
proves this out. I think it is
very insulting to assume that
college students must be “pro
tected” from various ideas. If
they’re not ready to look at a
variety of ideas now, then the
chances are they won’t be once
they are through college, and if
we assume that there are ideas
that people must not be allowed
to hear, then we are getting into
a type of society which is com
pletely different from that which
has ever existed in this country
before.
euievu
Fellow students go through the
Student Union lobby and give
yourself a feast. Asheville Bilt-
more College is being visited, and
honored, by a young Philippino
'artist; Sergio G. Santos, age 26,
status — single, occupation —
artist.
Sergio’s exhibition shows his
origin in the works that seem to
be made from bamboo but act
ually are oil scraped from the
canvas. His women have a uni
versal appeal. They are stylized
ethereal visions of fragile women
right out of his vivid imaginative
— that is all but one. Pick her
out for yourselves.
His color is wild wild. Maybe
the slang isn’t up to date but
Sergio’s paintings are. They show
the promise that won for him a
scholarship to the Royal Acade
my in London, England. He
achieved this opportunity by
winning a world competition. He
attended Hong Kong University
and majored in Languages.
By Elsie Kronenfeld