PAGE TWO
THE CAMPUS ECHO
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1957
Is This Education Or A Side-Show?!
(Andress Taylor, Guest Editorialist)
There is an old legend about hurdling—the sport so dear
to the heart of North Carolina College—which goes some
thing as follows: a few centuries ago in Northern Ireland at
the beginning of the Enclosure Movement, the landlords of
that section began to fence in their pastures, their poultry
and their other livestock, leaving the landless peasantry
high, dry and hungry in the process. The fences that the
landlords placed around their livestock, so the legend goes,
were the original inspirers of the noble sport of hurdling; it
arose among these peasants as a necessity if they were to
relieve their landlords of enough chickens to keep them
selves alive. When the landlords made their fences higher,
pole-vaulting became the principal means of livelihood for
these peasants. Thus it was that out of human necessity, the
mother of invention and mischief, two noble pastimes were
born.
•
In an essay entitled “Gate Receipts and Glory,” Dr.
Robert M. Hutchings, former President of the University of
Chicago and now Director of the Ford Foundation’s Fund for
the Republic, implies that every college worth its salt is
striving to become an institution of physical culture, to the
neglect of nearly everything that a college is supposed to
stand for. North Carolina College kept out of this race for a
while simply because of a lack of funds. For past four
years, however, “athleticism” has been steadily on the in
crease. It readied its climax, or its reductio ad absurdum,
last December with the Calhoun Day nonsense. This so-call
ed liberal arts college excused its seventh hour classes for the
purpose of greeting a returning athlete. On the other hand,
last winter Mr. Joseph Atwater, a magna cum laude graduate
of the class of 1953 and winner of a Woodrow Wilson Founda
tion scholarship, visited the campus: not a murmur of wel
come was uttered, nor was he extended the slightest gesture
of courtesy by the college. From the way Mr. Atwater was
treated last year and the way that the college went all-out to
balley-hoo Mr. Calhoun’s return from the Olympics, one
might easily conclude that speed afoot is considered of more
moment around here than speed of intellect.
Of the many strange things that will puzzle an intelli
gent observer about this college, which is liberal in ev
erything except the arts, is the emphasis placed upon
athletics. A man goes to Australia and jumps the fence—
an art that the kangeroos have long since mastered—and
on his return this scholarly institution goes into frenzy,
dismisses classes and lines the sidewalks for blocks and
blocks to wave at him. Yet when a brilliant alumnus
returns, he is completely ignored. “O Education, what
crimes have been committed in thy name.”
•
It is often bemoaned around here that our students lack
intellectual vigor and have no aristic appreciation. The
conduct of the students at the Steinbeck performance is
sympotomatic of this, it is said. But if the student-body is fed
a diet of football, basketball and balley-hoo, the college has
little right to expect anything else from it. The college pro
vides more sports for entertainment than anything else, and
one must admit that the behavior at the Steinbeck per
formance was no worse than that of the average basketball
audience. If the students have little else but sports for en
tainment, how are they to know, on those rare occasions
when a good lyceum performance is presented, that their
conduct and gestures of approval must be different and more
subdued? A student yells like a lone woK at a basketball
game and nothing is said, and if he has no other form of re
creation, how is he to know that a dramatic group will not
consider a good, loud yell as an appropriate sign of approval.
•
The college complains of its lack of funds: it cannot
secure good lecturers for our vespers and assemblies be
cause of this, it says. Yet it finds the money to field a
championship football and basketball team. And last
spring a special committee was formed in order to raise
funds to see Mr. Calhoun to California so that his fence-
jumping career might go on umimpeded. But Dr. Ralph
Bunche’s lecture is too high. A debating team is too ex
pensive; we can get by without one. However, let us
strain and pray to the Lord to spare us our football and
basketball teams, because no self-respecting liberal arts
college could possibly do without them. Still the college
complains of the poor academic performance of our stu
dents and wonders why they do not do better work. The
reason is simple: we preach scholarship and honor its
opposite.
LETTERS TO
THE EDHOR
Dear Sir:
I have just finished reading*
a series of articles concerning!
the Davis subcommittee report
on integration in the District ol
Columbia. It is my opinion that
the Davis subcommittee has de
famed the Negro in a dying ef
fort to comfort Southern white
supremacists who are resisting
and violating the law against
segregation. The Davis subcom
mittee report is definitely an,
instrument by which some
southerners of low mentality
hope to avoid integration. How
ever, Mr. Davis and his group,
excluding Representatives Mil
ler and Hyde, intend to fight the
oncoming integration movement
to the bitter end.
The Davis subcommittee has
blamed the integration of pub
lie schools for the increase in
juvenile delinquency, illegiti
mate births, sex crimes, moral
laxity, venereal diseases, and
the exodus of the white popula
tion to the suburbs. These char
ges have no validity whatso
ever, and are utterly stupefying.
Since the close of the Second
World War in 1945, illegitimate
births and venereal diseases
have been on the increase for
the last ten years throughout
the nation and are not a result
of public school integration.
In actuality, the Davis Sub
committee has done nothing but
waste their time and the tax
payer’s money. The Davis Sub
committee has not supplied the
public with any concrete evi
dence that the integration in
the District’s ptiblic schools has
failed. Having attended a pub
lic (segregated) school in the
District, I know that the Negro
students’ lag (often said to he!
because of mental inferiority-
this is not true!) is due to the
deprived and lirnited education
al facilities. It is my opinion
that the integration movement
manifested the shortcomings of
segregated institutions and the
problems caused by inequality.
Grady C. Bell
Camp^^^fcho
Member
ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS
The CAMPUS ECHO, official student publication at North
Caroliua College at Durham, is published monthly during the
regular school year. Subscription rates: §1.50 per school year.
Second class mail privileges authorized at Durham, N. C.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ; Robert Leon Perry
BUSINESS MANAGER Juanita Gregory
MANAGING EDITOR Andress Taylor
ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR Benjamin Page
ADVERTISING MANAGER Clifford Koontz
EXCHANGE EDITOR Eunice Kirton
FEATURE EDITORS Gwendolyn McCallum, Edith White,
Theodore Gilliam
LITERARY EDITORS Lawrence Hampton,
Barbara Lumplcin, Shirley Williams
SPORTS EDITOR Joseph Becton
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Aubrey Lowe
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Shirley T. James
CITY EDITOR Betsy Page
COPY EDITOR Y-vonne Wray
NEWS EDITORS Ruth Royster, Cary Booker
From The] President's Desk
BY BENJAMIN PAGE
Somewhat belatedly, this is
the season of resolutions, with
this fact in mind, we are all
sometimes prone to “resolve”
about certain things and fail to
“resolve” about ^ still other
things which are not in them
selves less important.
We say
this to lead up’^
to the fact that
while the NCC
Student Go-, ^
vernment is not ''
strongly advo- '
cated to “reso-^'
lutions”, that
(^ganization is
at all times “re
solving” to do
more towards making NCC ^
more Inviting place at which
to pursue a wholesome pro
gram of academic studies.
T!he SGA, at ,t1ie time of
student elections, vowed to do
all within its powers to make
things much more compatible
and inviting than they were
during the past year. So, as we
have said, “resolutions” are
pretty much on the out and out
with SGA. The SGA officers
are too busy resolving to do'
what they said at election time
last spring to spend much time
making new resolutions.
And since this is a new year,
perhaps we as students at NCC
would do well to look back and
see what SGA has accomplished
since last September. If you do
look back, you will undoubtedly
find some very constructive and
timely activities which have
been carried out to the best of
the ability of SGA.
There still remains, however,
a variety of activities and pro
jects still to be completed. We
look forward, with great antici
pation, to the remainder of this
school year because of the fact
that we are steadily progress
ing towards the sort of govern
ment that is workable, practical,
and agreeable to all the stu
dent body and faculty at large.
There was a time, as we all
know, when there was no stu
dent code, no constitution, and,
practically no nothing for the
benefit of protecting, informing
and understanding the student.
With this in mind, we can easily
see what we have accomplished.
So, in regard to the “belated
season of resolutions”, if you
must make resolutions, why
not resolve to put your shoulder
to the wheel and push the stu
dent government forward to
wards a more successful and ac
tive year in 1957?
Book Review'
Bold Novel Recalls Main Street
BY THEODORE GILLIAM
Dear Editor:
Now “57” has entered into its
first month and many New*
Year’s Resolutions are being
made, it is my wish that each
student will include this reso
lution in his or her list. Re
solved: that I will attempt to
take a more active part in th^
student activities on campus,
and that I will do all that I can
to boost the school spirit here
at NCC. If each student would'
adopt this resolution and sini
cerely try to carry it out, per
haps there would be a tremen
dous change in the dull atmos
phere that exists around here.
A second resolution might
also be added. Resolved: that I
will assume my full responsi
bility in all campus elections
and that I will not forfeit my
right to the ballot by not voting.
This is really a serious problem
here, for the students, ac
tions indicate that they aren’t
interested in the outcome of any
of the elections. The majority
of the students seem not to care
who wins the election. The
question as to the qualifications
of the candidate is not consider
ed at all. Qualifications cer
tainly did not enter in the elec
tion of our chief executive. Of
course, any student has the right
to run for an office if he or she
is able to meet the academic
requirement, which is so law
that it keeps out nobody. The
intelligence of the voters, how
ever, is supposed to keep out
the unfit.
In looking over the record
and qualifications—I use the
term with caution—of our pre-
Peyton Place, the new best
seller in its third big printing
by Grace Metalious is one of
the most sensational and “sex-
sational” books you can expect
to read. Many have deplored the
author’s bold treatment of sex,
but more have applauded Pey
ton Place and predicted for it a
lasting place in the literature of
America.
. Mrs. Metali
ous has indeed
writte^ a for
midable book
in a way that
rivals Stein-
t>Ock’s candi-
ness and that is
very similar toi
Sinclair Lewis’
Gilliam Main Street.'
With a more acrid touch,
Peyton Place lays bare the hid
den vices, shams, drives, ambi
tions and emotions of its char
acters.
Peyton Place has not one plot
but many, inextricably inter
woven. Mrs. Metalious quite re
markably never loses the read-
sent President of the Student
Government, I was surprised to
find that he has had very little
experience in campus politics.
He has not held any office in
the Student Government prior
to his election to the Presidency
Nor has he been a member of
the Student Congress. Neither
has he assumed a position of
leadership in his class during
the three years prior to his elec
tion to his present position.
In my opinion, the President
of the Student Government
should have had some political
experience prior to his election.
He should at least have been a
member of the Student Con
gress.
Perhaps this instance of poli
tical inexperience in high office
is an exception to the rule, and
maybe the disability which the
chief executive suffers from
will not adversely a'ffect the
operation of the Stu^lent Go
vernment.
Jerome Dudley
er in her many deviations from
one plot to another. She seems
to gush forth with information
about each of her characters,
causing each one to emerge with
a distinct personality. All the
characters are divested of any
pretense and the core of their
inner selves laid open in raw,
unmitigated reality.
The sensitive young Allison
MacKenzie goes through the
story like a pampered leitmotif
with her mother, Constance
MacKenzie, who held the secret
of Allison’s birth almost too
long. Beautiful Selena Cross, a
shack-dweller, once Allison’s
best friepd, involuntarily be
comes the victim of something
very near incest and patricide
with her depraved and sadistic
stepfather, Lucas Cross. The
town’s wealthiest man, Leslie
Harrington, finds succor in un
scrupulous ambition while his
son, Rodney, leads a happy-go-
lucky, protected, girl-chasing
life. Against these and sundry
other personalities is thrust that
of dynamic Tom Makris; the
new principal with ideas too
advanced for the small thought
of a small town, especially Con
stance MacKenzie, whom he
marries and completely changes
into a new woman.
The total effect of the novel
can be likened to the force of
a highly melodramatic play. The
summer of ‘39 as described be
comes a crisis that is almost
nerve shattering. With ,the re
sult of Selena Cross’s trial, Pey
ton Place reaches a climax that
is at once monstrous in import.
To reveal the result would spoil
the pleasure of reading Peyton
Place, which I guarantee will
never give ^ moment of dull
ness.
Peyton Place is a potpourri of
sexual intrigues, tragedy and
slight drollery. Sex very often
becomes a cynosure but never
obscures the deeper value of the
novel. The imaginary town of
Peyton Place, like Main Street,
could be anywhere. Its people
could be anyone for they have
(Please turn to page 8)