Page Two
THE CAMPUS ECHO
Wednesday, May 18, 1966
T'was A Barn Burner It Was!
The tremendous election day turnout was an appropriate cli
max to an enervating, intriguing, and emotional campaign which
contained everything except a charge of rape and a suicide at
tempt. Congratuations are due the victorious Action Party and the
gallant but defeated Student Party.
The Action Party, which was initially inaugurated during the
freshmen elections by some inexperienced but enterprising poli
ticos, Patricia Washington, Charles Miller, and a few others, and
a veteran political warrior Joseph Chea Sampson, became the fo
cal point for a sociological mass movement rather than a political
party. The Action Movement came to represent the collective
animosities of the students toward the dullness, the insipidity, and
the lethargic nature of North Carolina College.
The Action Party was blessed in quantity with the necessary
element for a successful mass movement—the fanatic. Floyd Hayes
is fanatical in his propensity for oral argument. William Bowser
is fanatical in his proclivity for physical activity. Samuel Thomas,
who some mistakenly regard as being the most radical of all,
is fanatical in his desire for accomplishment.
The Student Party, which did not shift into high gear until
the dwindling days of the campaign, was primarily composed of
introverted, scholarly-inclined studentS. Raymond Perry did a tre
mendous job in turning what might easily have been a runaway
into a close contest on the strength of his personality alone. Charles
Howard, who might be described as a political comer, helped to
verify the time tested axiom: the freshman class can make you or
break you. The fire that was eventually lit under the Student
Party was kindled by Charles Daye, the dean of this college’s po
liticians and the founder of the Student Party.
History students were given an unparalleled opportunity to
match the present campus politicians with the politicians of past
eras. Samuel Thomas and William Bowser are similiar to Woodrow
Wilson and Col. Edward House in the manner of their relation
ship. Raymond Perry and Charles Daye, reminiscent of Richard
Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower in some respects, are closer to Wil
liam McKinely and Mark Hanna although Daye is president and
Hanna never attained that title. Floyd Hayes is just as efferve
scent as Hubert Humphrey ever was, and Charles Howard, al
though not possessing William Miller’s caustic tongue, was his
equal in popular appeal.
Action caucuses took on the flavor of a revival meeting
at a country church. The exciting and electrical atmosphere was
a sight never beheld before on this campus. Although the party was
elaborately organized, the major decision’s emanated from a tight
clique composed of Thomas, Hayes, Bowser, Winston Kennedy,
Lionel Stevens, and a few others to a lesser extent.
When Joseph Sampson dramatically announced his withdrawal
from the Action Party in an acrimonious letter to the student body,
this act provided a vulnerable chink in Action Party’s armor had
the Student Party capitalized on it. The Action Party’s reply was
even more acrimonious than Sampson’s letter. It appeared that the
stage was being set for an old fashion political brawl when the en
tire matter fizzled out due to a belated, ineffective, letter of poetry
and prose designed “to castigate those who would dare tread upon
the good character of Joseph Sampson.” In view of the lost oppor
tunity, chalk up a plus for the Action Party.
The Student Party booth, located in such an advantageous
spot as the Freshman bowl, made the originator of the idea appear
to be a genius and also made Action’s headquarters on the third
floor of the Administration Building almost obsolete. The progres
sive jazz flowing from the booth caught many an ear and vastly
increased the partakers of the Student Party membership cards.
Give the Student Party a plus.
“Meet the Candidates,” a Monday morning forum program,
provided the first and only face to face confrontation of the major
candidates. Raymond Perry easily out shown Samuel Thomas as
a public speaker; however, it wotild have been a better match if
a debate had ensued. This would have been a plus for the Student
but the only people present were party stalwarts who had already
decided how they were going to vote. Thus, it ended up a draw.
Action Party’s rally and dance held on the day before elections
was an interesting affair. There is some uncertainty as to the num
ber of votes the free punch brought to the party as there is equal
uncertainty as to the effect of the Student Party bulletins distri
buted at the close of the rally. A psychological plus awarded to
the Action Party.
The Bulletins circulated by both parties were virtually in
effective for two reasons. The first is that the compaign did not
hinge upon issues, and secondly, both parties proposed similar plat
forms such as make part of the old cafeteria a Student Union Build
ing (Student Party). And make all the cafeteria a student union
building (Action Party). Action Party’s bulletins were often ab
strusely dull and unattractive (single spaced) while the Student
Party’ countdowns, more attractive and readable, never reached
the blast off point. Since reading the bulletins was not compulsory,
give both parties a plus.
After the freshman vote has been tabulated, Floyd Hayes surpris
ingly had an 80 vote lead over Charles Howard, who subsequent
ly cut the lead to thirty votes in the sophomore class balloting (his
class), but this was as close as he came to victory. The junior class
not only killed Charles Howard but also Raymond Perry who had
managed to stay sightly ahead of Samuel Thomas. In summary the
junior class administered the coup de grace to the ambitions of the
the Student Party.
Samuel Thomas has a demanding job awaiting him as Presi
dent of the Student Government Association. Floyd Hayes has a
comparable task in that he is responsible for making the defunct
Student Congress reasonably efficacious. The outgoing administra
tion was one of the most capable ever to reign at North Carolina
College. President Charles Daye did a notable job along with the
invaluable assistance of Vice President Raymond Perry. The ac
complishments of this administration were second to none; to sur
pass this record is the Campus Echo’s charge to the new Student
Government Association President Sfemuel V. Thomas.
Letter To Editor
"WORDS, WORDS," MR. FEREBEE
Roving Reporter
By Quentine D. Finch
Question: Is pre - registration
necessary?
Oiivear Fox; junior majoring
ing in hisitory from Brooklyn:
“No, because at the present the
administration doesn’t have the
actual schedule of classes that
will be in effect next fall; there
fore, you have to change your
whole program when you get
back next semester. As a re
sult, pre-registration is a waste
of time.”
Cherry Vann; majoring in
sociology from Gates: “No, pre
registration is not necessary be
cause it usually happens that
you do not get the courses you
want; therefore, it is a waste of
time.”
McKenton McCIamb; junior
majoring in accounting from
Smithfield: “Yes, it gives the ad
ministration the opportunity to
find out how many people are
registered in certain courses. It
also gives the student an idea
as to the hours and courses he
will be taking before his actual
registration. So, in cases where
changes have to be made, he
can make them before or at re
gistration instead of going
through the drop-and-add pro
cedure.”
Marjorie Brame; sophomore
majoring in business education
from Henderson: “No, not real
ly. The majority of the time you
cannot get into the courses for
which you pre-registered. You
know what courses you should
take or will have to take, so
why not get them when you re
gister, as pre-registration is
usually done over at registra
tion. It seems to me that either
registration or pre-registration
could be eliminated.”
Frances Hairston, freshman
majoring in math from Lexing
ton: “No, because what’s the
need? We have to register again
before the semester begins even
though we pre-registered. I
think that it’s a waste of time.
However, if it were perfected,
then it would be a good thing.”
Oliver Fox; junior majoring
in biology from Richmond:
“Yes, pre-registration is neces
sary. The administration has to
have a general idea of the num
ber of students expected in the
forthcoming semester so that
they can plan their budget, the
final schedule of classes, and
the number of instructors need
ed in order to operate. I think it
would be impossible to operate
the school efficiently if the ad
ministration doesn’t know how
many students it will have the
forthcoming semester.”
Rose Millner; junior majoring
in health education form Mart-
tinsville: Yes, because it eli
minates a lot of time for the
students and teachers during
regular registration.”
Andrew McKay; junior ma
joring in sociology form Ral
eigh: “No, because some of the
instructors, classes, and class
time are “arranged” and not
known at the time of pre-re-
gistration; therefore, you have
(See Roving Reporter, Page 6)
Before I attempt to respect
fully assail your defense of
Greek-letter organizations, I
wish to establish that I am not a
“Greek” and I am fully content
with my chosen status as a non
affiliate. I will nevertheless con
cede that at one time I did ex
plore the utility and advisability
of joining a fraternity. After
assidious scrutiny I acknow
ledged my interest and my sys
tem of values were incompatible
with the “Greek way.” How
ever, I harbor no malevolence
toward an individual merely be
cause he is a Greek; nor on the
other hand, do I consider Greek
membership a consequential at
tainment. Thus your letter un
conscionably extolling Greek-
letter organizations does pro
voke my attention, Mr. Ferebee.
Indeed, commendation is in
order concerning the passionate
exercise in verbosity you so
magnanimously donated to the
proceding edition of the Campus
Echo in defense of the Greeks.
Such asinine assumption and
obfuscations of reason should
not be denied laudatory com
ment.
Undoubtedly Miss Mary Jane
Gladsberry’s criticism of Greek-
letter organizations did not
abound in depth and maturity.
In fact, it left much to be de
sired. Your letter, Mr. Ferebee,
contrastingly provided an abun
dance of commentary and sus
ceptible subject matter.
Now let us examine the credit-
ability of your information. You
consumed one seven and a half
inch paragraph acknowledging
students who are members of
campus organizations and coin
cidentally happen to be Greek
affiliates such as the editor of
the Echo and the Chief Justice
and Attorney-General of the
Student Court. The correlation
is not clear Mr. Ferebee. Cer
tainly you are not so naive as
to infer that Mr. Faison’s inde
fatigable semantical efferves
cence is attributable to his
Greek membership. Or that
Miss Leverette’s and Mr.
Nance’s judicial acumen is
“Greek” in origin. If, however,
you are pursuing this unfortu
nate mode of reasoning it is then
only rational to assume that the
student, also a Greek, who was
accorded two weeks of “leisure”
from this institution earlier this
semester for the possession and
ostentatious use of a fireman in
the dormitory can trace the
origin of his “Jesse James com
plex” to his Greek membership.
I trust that you now better ap
preciate the inadequacy of your
inference.
Furthermore, Mr. Ferebee,
you have yet to establish the re
lationship between the selec
tion and subsequent service of
these students in campus affairs
and their Greek affiliation.
These people were selected for
their ability, not their affilia
tion and it behooves you not to
confuse the two unless you can
irrefutably sustain that Greek
affiliation is the prerequisite to
ability. As for your reference
to the eradication of apathy, I
am certain we would both be
forced to concede that for the
queens of the sophomore, junior,
and senior classes the personal
honor and distinction of being
selected as a queen has infinite
ly more significance for them
than any altruistic “eradication
of student apathy.”
Of course, Mr. Ferebee, being
a “loyal Greek” I am certain
that you know that the first
Greek-letter organization, Phi
Beta Kappa, was founded at
William and Mary College in
1776. Today, however, it is a
purely honorary fraternity. You
are also aware that Kappa Alpha
founded at Union College in
Schenectady, New York in 1825
is the oldest social fraternity in
continuous existence. Either of
these was understandably found
ed well before the so-called Ne
gro Greek-letter organizations
were created. Incidentally, in
your reasons for the formation
of Negro fraternities you failed
to include the immeasurably im
portant fact that their white
fraternities would not admit Ne
groes. Phi Beta Kappa, Kappa
Alpha and other fraternities
were created originally to pro
vide relief from dreary, rigid
curriculums. Though you may
be reluctant to admit it, this
was also a major factor in the
formation of Negro fraternities.
So now, Mr. Ferebee, it is
logical that you probably want
to know the relevance of these
facts. Thus I will elucidate. You
fervently imply that the Pan-
Hellenic world makes a vital
(See Words, Words, Page 4)
Twenty Words Heard
Al Awards Event
Fellow Collegians:
Did you hear the speech that
Mr. Phillip Geary gave Friday,
May 6 at the Awards Day Pro
gram? Do you know what the
platform guests who presented
the awards had to say? In the
first place, if you were not pre
sent, you did not intend to hear
it anyway. In the second place,
those of us who were there
could not understand the burr
that the sound waves transmit
ted to our ears. It was rather
disappointing to watch the
speaker’s gestures and wonder
what he was saying. It was very
embarrassing to walk out be
fore the end of the program be
cause of the boredom. I counted
approximately twenty words
that I was able to understand
during the two hours that I re
mained present.
It was also reported that the
people on the platform could
not understand what was being
said either—they too, got a
burr. How hurt Mr. Geary must
have been when he realized he
had been “talking to himself,”
and how embarrassing for
North Carolina C o 11 e g e—a
state supported school!
Most of the students were
able to determine (with the aid
of their programs) when they
were supposed to stand in re
cognition of the awards they
were to receive—truthfully,
that vras about all they were
able to “guess” accurately.
The acoustics in McDougald
Gymnasium are extremely
poor. This is disgusting and un-
tolerable. Something should be
done. . . something must be
done!
Has the administration asked
the state for funds to install a
better microphonic system? Has
the administration tried to fit
(See Twenty Words, Page 4)
CamP»s@Echo
Member
ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS press
Editor-in-chief W. Mack Faison
Business Manager Larry Wilson
Feature Editor Christyal Brown
Sports Editor J^es Evans
Make-up-Editor Faye_Wynn
Executive Secretary Norma Brown
Circulation Manager Polly
Advertising Manager Ronald E. Jones
— James Newton
Columnist Bertha Avery, William Cheeks, Charles
Stokes, Samuel Thomas, Pat Washington. . , „
Reporters Brenda Hart, Quentme Finch, Grova
Bridges, John Geoffrey, Brenda Peterson, Darid Nevrton, Betsy
Washingtdn, Barbara Av«ry, Sabena Self, Jennifer Thompson.
Advisor Jean Norris