PAGE 2 — THE DECREE — NOVEMBER 2,1990
The Decree
OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF
NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
Editor — Dhana Chesson
Staff — Mark Brett, John Fentress, Teresa Pitts,
Stewart Crank, Kevixt Hambredt
y ^he Decree is located in: the Student Unions North Carolina :
Wesleyan College^, Wesleyan College Station^ Rocky Mounts
NC 27801. Policy is determined by the Editorial Board of The
Decree. Re-publication of any matter herein vrathout the ex
press consent of the Editorial; Board; is strictly forbiddeni;3afe«i:
Decree is composed and printed by Ripley Newspapers of
Spring Hope.
Opinions published do not necessarily reflectthoseoi^NDrth
Carolina Wesleyan College.
Don’t just complain,
make things happen
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CPS
Students were committed
For the past few weeks,
we have heard “There is
nothing to do at Wesleyan
and all the activities are
stupid” coming out of the
students’ mouths.
There is one antidote to
this malady: involvement.
Students don’t go to activi
ties on campus because they
don’t like the acts. Students
don ’tgotothebandsbecause
they don’t like them either.
At the beginning of the year,
not one student showed up
to the Tacky Tourist Party
and more recently, fewer
than 50 people showed up to
the Blizzard of Bucks during
the Fall Festival. How many
students realized we had a
Fall Festival?
At the Opening Convoca
tion, Mike Walsh talked
about getting involved in
school activities. But less
than two months after Mike ’ s
address, some students rather
complain than use their voice
to make recommendations
of what they want.
These people who com
plain could better direct their
energy by giving the ideas,
opinions, and comments to
the SAC, SGA, and the De
cree, as well as by actively
participating.
Campuses in 60’s exciting
By DR. STEVE FEREBEE
On Feb. 1, 1960, four black
students sat down at a segregated
lunch counter inadepartmentstore
in Greensboro. They were ridi
culed by a crowd of jeering fellow
Americans, but were later joined
by many sympathizers.
On May 4, 1970, four white
students who were demonstrating
against the Vietnam War on the
Kent State University campus in
Ohio were shot by fellow Ameri
cans, but were quickly mourned
on hundreds of campuses
throughout the nation. So are the
1960s framed by studentactivists.
As some of you know, I am
Dr. Steve
PVA lacks student support
Dear Editor:
We are writing in reference to
several comments expressed in the
North Carolina Wesleyan College
Wind Ensemble’s program on
Monday, OcL 15. The following
quote is taken from that program:
“The PVA (Performing and
Visual Arts Department) will be
charging a small admission fee for
all public performances in order
to generate enough revenues to
cover the rising costs of music and
other essentials. We are aware that
NCWC students already pay a
substantial activities fee to SGA,
but SGA does not support our
program. Your SGA fee covers
the costs of bringing rock bands,
comedians, and other entertain
ment on campus. We fully intend
to keep admission prices as low as
possible to encourage attendance
and a lioiited.puinl^, of popipli-
Letter to
the Editor
mentary tickets will be available
to NCWC students who would be
faced with financial hardship be
cause of our admission price.
Please contact the PVA depart
ment for further information.”
We were extremely shocked
after reading this. Our firstreaction
was one of anger. We read and
reread the program several times,
as did several other students. Al
most everyone’s reaction was the
same.
The following day a meeting
was scheduled with Mike
McAllister. What could have been
ayery adversarial ijieeting turned
into a very enlightening experience
for both Mr. McAllister and the
SGA. We explained what our re
action to the program was and
why we had that reaction. After
reading the program over again,
Mr. McAllister understood our
reaction. He explained what his
intentions hadbeen and apologized
for the offense taken.
During the course of our dis
cussion some interesting questions
were raised. Most important is the
level of commitment to the visual
and performing arts on our cam
pus, by the college as well as the
students.
The college does have limited
resources, and each department
has its wish list. The budget and
the list do not always meet The
problem is that performing and
(Continued on Page 3) ,
now teaching a humanities class
about the 1960s. As I have re
membered and learned, I have been
struck by how important students
were to most of the decade’s pro
gressive events. In civil rights,
women’s rights, other minorities’
rights, and, of course anti-Vietnam
War demonstrations, students led
much of the action.
The Free Speech Movement at
Berkeley,for instance, began when
the university administration
banned some students who were
registering people for various
causes — including volunteer
work for voter registration drives.
A group of students protested and
others joined. At one point, 7,(XK)
students filled the plaza and sur-
roundedapolicecarwhichcanied
one of the protestors.
Two basic assumptions moved
youngpeopleintoactiveresistance
in the ‘60s. Fkst, the early activ
ists such as Tom Hayden believed
what the American sociologist C.
Wright Mills had written: post
war America was ruled by an oli
garchy pf political, military, and
business chiefs whose hidden
monopoly of decisions pre-empted
the democratic process. Further
more, people have an obligation
to spread a critique of society and
influence the political process.
Secondly, as writer Norman
Mailer and others declared, either
one rebels or one conforms. Con
formity was part of what poet
Robert Lowell called the .tran^
quUized ‘50s, and the young ac
tivists of the ‘60s rejected that
tranquility completely.
Perhaps the most famous stu
dent group of the decade was the
Students fora Democratic Society.
Its manifesto, originally written
by Tom Hayden in 1962, begins,
“We are the people of this gen
eration, bred in at least modest
comfort, housed in the university,
looking uncomfortably to the
world we inherit”
What they saw when they
looked out was a system that
purposefully oppressed the poor
and the working class and mi
norities and women. Young people
and activists of the ‘60s did not
reject this country; they embraced
itj^^?vfl%nd all! They believed they
would change the country because
it was right to end racism, ag
gression, sexism, economic dis
parity, and injustice.
After all, John Kennedy not
only challenged the nation to ask
what we could do for our country
but also said, “Let the word go
forth from this time and place to
friend and foe alike, that the torch
has been passed to a new genera
tion of Americans.” Y oung people
could not help but hear this as
their challenge.
In the 1960s, personal became
political, and Eldridge Cleaver’s
statement that if you’re not part of
the solution, you’re part of the
problem became a rallying cry, no
less than “We Shall overcome” or
“All we are saying is ‘Give Peace
a Chance.’”
I don’t want to over-idealize. I
know most students were mostly
interested in partying and pro-
^Confinued on Page 3)