151 Editorials
Letters to t
Stohler
A letter to friends,
Some of you have asked me
about my plans to leave Guilford
College at the end of this
academic year. By this letter I
want to tell you about my leaving,
to allay some of my own feelings
of awkwardness about leaving,
and to invite conversations with
my friends in this difficult transi
tion time in my life. I cannot alter
the fact that I will leave Guilford,
but I can determine the manner
in which I leave.
My decision to leave Guilford
College, made sometime last
year, was not intiated by my
choice. Review of my work and
accomplishments by the College
judged them to be unsatisfactory
in certain ways to fulfill the in
stitution's goals and standards.
After a number of conversations
with my immediate supervisor, I
accepted that judgement. At the
same time I was offered and I ac
cepted the option of remaining in
Guilford College's employment
until May, 1984.
It has been difficult for me to
accept a judgement like this on
my work at Guilfprd, a judge
ment which I admit as both per
sona! and professional. I have
been working very hard in recent
months to understand better my
ways of doing work and of
relating to others, and I have
been trying to learn how to work
and relate in more effectively
and personally satisfying ways.
It is also quite important to me to
affirm that I have performed
many parts of a responsible,
demanding, and time-consuming
job very ably, and I take genuine
satisfaction in this. I realize that
this can be a time of growth and
personal and professional
redirection for me.
I am not presently clear about
what I will be doing or where we
will choose to live after this sum
mer. I will be looking for a posi
tion in arts administration or in
student personnel work, and Sara
will be looking for a position in
her field of education.
I, along with my family, am
sad at the prospect of leaving
Guilford College where we have
had many friends and ex
periences and where we have liv
ed for almost ten years. We value
highly this place, this community
of people, and this time of our
lives we have spent here. We will
be loathe to say our goodbyes and
we will hope to carry friendships
from here into the future.
Sincerely,
Hugh Stohler
Feminism
Dear Editors:
I am writing this in response to
the letter submitted from an out
side source (thankfully!) on the
subject of feminism. I would like
to stress that this is not the posi
tion of the majority of the
evangelist Christian community,
especially those of us at Guilford
College.
I, personally, am a moderate
supporter of "feminism" and feel
that Mr. Johnson is taking the
scriptures he uses out of context,
reinterpreting them to suit his
own purpose—that is initiating a
battle against militant feminism.
He begins by associating the
"dramatic increase In broken
homes, spouse and child abuse
and sex crimes"with "the
women's decision to wear the
pants." I feel this is incredibly
simplistic. What about the men
who have neglected their
children, abandoned their
families or in some other manner
managed to avoid their respon
sibilities? The point is that the
blame must fall on both parties;
it is not any specific action of
either sex, but rather a decline in
our recognition of the moral pro
blems facing society today. This
decline is what the prophesis of
scriptures refer to.
As for the fact that Jesus
"strove against feminism," Mr.
Johnson manages to lift the verse
"Women, what do I have to do
with you" competely out of con
text. This remark comes out of
the story of the miracle at Cana.
His mother asked him if he would
do something about the fact that
there was no more wine in this
wedding celebration. He
answered with a Hebrew idiom
which is translated literally as
"Woman, what to me and to
you." Any good modern transla
tion of the Bible will have this
more clear exposition of what
Jesus said in a note. By the way,
Jesus responded to his mother's
request and did as she asked. It
Lynch'& Line
Lynch Cries to Daddy
by Janice Lynch
Last week, Michael Jackson's
attorneys announced that they
were considering the possibility
of a negligence suit against
Pepsi-Cola for the recent scor
ching of Jackson's head on a Pep
si soundstage. I have given this
some consideration as well. Late
ly I have been disturbed and
overwrought by the number of
Coco-Cola products on the
market.
I am a confused woman. Should
I drink Coke? Diet Coke? Nutra
sweetened Coke? Caffeine-free
coke? Caffeine and sugar-free
Coke? Is Coke it? Is there any dif
ference between Coke in the gold
can and Coke in the bottle? Will
Nutrasweet cause cancer? I only
want sugar but the labels are
hard to decipher. I've spent hours
wondering whether I should just
give up and switch to Cheerwine.
I'm worried about small
children. At night I cry for my
five-year old cousins. When I was
eight I spent hours happily enter
tained with a bottle of Coke and
my most recently lost baby tooth.
My mother warned that Coke
would rot my teeth and I designed
a science fair project to disprove
her theory. You know the
one—drop your tooth in a Coke
and wait for it to dissolve. What
will my cousins do when they
reach this juncture? How will
they account for Nutra-sweet?
Who Will You
Elect?
If you haven't noticed, it is election time again at Guilford College.
This means that a few "tickets"have scrambled themselves together
and made the decision to attempt to take some responsibility for the
working of the community. 1
The importance of the leadership positions of the Union and Senate
are debatable, just as the other leadership positions on campus.
On one hand, they are elected each year by a student body whose
"fantastic" voter turnout is about half. The much complained about
student apathy comes strongly into play when considering the limited
selection of candidates as well as this apparent casual attitude toward
participating in the community by voting.
On the other hand, these organizations are capable of influencing the
"spirit" of Guilford. The Senate not only doles out the Student Activity
Fee—but can feasibly address many concerns of the students it, as a
body, is meant to represent. The Union not only plans activities to
"entertain" the students, but helps to provide alternatives to a strict
academic diet, which in turn, will aid the community as a balance of
interests.
The diversity of interests Guilford College contains proves to be both
a virtue and a destructive force for the community. Of late there have
been few issues that have caught the attention of the wide range of in
terests.
Voting on Thursday and Friday for these major leadership roles on
campus is an opportunity for large scale participation of the various
factions of the college to vent their opinions and desires for the future
of the community? Will this forum be used?
might be added that it was Jesus
who kept the Pharisees from
stoning a woman for adultery by
saying "he who is without sin
among you let him throw the first
stone at her." (John 8:7).
I agree with Mr. Johson on one
point that "this nation needs to
reverse its ungodly direction,"
but this direction has not come
about as a result of the feminist
movement. I believe that God is
appalled at the unjustice done to
Caffeine? No Caffeine? Sac
charine? What lost children they
will be!
I'm worried about young
parents. When I was a child I took
aspirin mashed in Coca-Cola
syrup—the taste did more than a
thousand aspirins to assure a
quick recovery. What child in full
possession of his faculties would
knowingly ingest Tab and
(Sutlforbtan
Co-editors Susan Harvey, Donna Horton
News editor Michele Lynch
Features editor Iris Velvin
Sports editor Doug Drotman
Photography editors Brittany Plaut, Tom Risser
Layout editor Wendy Harrison
Business manager Michael Gatton
Advertising manager John Roberts
Circulation manager Karen Vance
Staff: Joe Albright, Susan Chase
John Cox, Ellen Gilmore, Martha Hay worth,
Janice Lynch, and Jennifer Park
The Guilfordian reserves the right to edit all articles, letters
and artwork for taste, veracity, and length. The deadline for all
copy is 12:00 p.m. on Saturday preceeding the Wednesday of
publication. Material may be left on the office door upstairs
Founders, or mailed to Box 17717. The opinions expressed by the
staff are their own and not necessarily those of the paper or of
Guilford College.
Page five
women in his name. The change
of direction must come from
within, from an awareness of our
need and a corresponding
reliance on God to save us and
help us change our world for
Him.
Once again, I sincerely hope
you do not take Mr. Johnson's let
ter as representative of the Chris
tian stand. It certainly is not
mine.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Williams
aspirin? What unknown horrors
will Nutra-sweet wreak on those
small stomachs? How will they
prepare diet Coke syrup?
Thousands of parents will suffer
needlessly as they search for bet
ter ways to disguise medicine.
In the meantime these con
cerns leave me little time for the
real work of the world. I can't
continued on page 6