Newspaper Page Text
(EoUp0iat?
A NEWSPAPER OF IDEAS
FEBRUARY 3,1977 I
0
A Library as Social Center
rp he library should be a sanctuary a sanctuary
-*■ where those who wish to do some serious studying
can find complete quiet. It is impossible to study in a
dorm room; more often than not, the same applies for
an off-campus apartment. Unfortunately, many people
socialize in the libary. Loud conversation, laughter and
giggling are distracting and make it difficult to read. We
are not pointing the finger at any one group or in
dividual, for we have all been guilty of library socializ
ing at one time or another. All of us therefore, should
make a concerted effort to be as quiet as possible when
in the library, in deference to those who wish to study.
Socializing can be done elsewhere — the student center,
the cafeteria, the dorm and so on.
To be honest though we can only see the situation
worsening with the opening of the new library next Fall.
It will be the “in” thing for a while, so if you plan to
study there, don’t, you would do better to try the Wilson
Public Library, or some other quiet place you know.
The Damnable Flu
ver the past few weeks, our little community has
suffered through a small epidemic of the Flu. The
doctors don’t call it that, they call it an acute viral infec
tion, but it’s the Flu just the same. The infirmary nurse
reports that to this date twenty-five people have been
treated for Flu-like symptoms. Many have been sent
home to convalesce.
The symptoms are many and varied: runny nose
(nasal catarrah in the dictionary), headache, bodyache,
fever — usually around 100, hot and cold flashes,
weakness (you can’t move or raise your arm), nausea,
and a rather poor disposition — dispondency.
There is really very little the infirmary can do for
you once you’ve caught the Flu; it has to run its’ course
— usually 3 to 4 days. But the nurses can provide some
temporary relief. They excuse you from class, for those
who need the security of duly noted illness, and they
give you some helpful medication. Besides the normal
cough syrup, lozenges and aspirin, they give you an
innocent-looking little white pill caled Actifed. No one
really knows what Actifed is supposed to do, but one
thing is for certain, once you take it you better stay in
bed. At first your legs become rubbery, then you start to
feel sluggish. If you don’t eat after you’ve taken one, you
might go blank mentally and forget your name.
Influenza, the Flu, whatever you call it, it stinks. If
you haven’t had it, watch out; if you have, we hope
you're feeling better. Soon the season for it will be over,
the sun will shine warmly, and we’ll all come down with
Hay F'ever. Aaaaaaaachoooo.
The Draft Evader Pardon
Last week, on his first full day
in office, Pres. Jimmy Carter
issued a complete pardon to
Vietnam-era draft evaders who
did not commit acts of violence.
Pardoned were at least 13,000
evaders known to the Justice
Dept, and an undetermined
number who never registered
for the draft. Estimates vary on
their numbers from 250,000 to
one million. Deserters and those
with less than honorable
discharges were not included in
the pardon; their cases will be
considered on an individual
basis.
In a March interview in the
Washington Post, Carter had
said “I think it’s time to get the
Vietnam War over with. 1 don’t
have the desire to punish
anyone. I'd just like to tell the
young folks who did defect to
come home, with no
requirement that you be
punished, or serve in some
humanitarian capacity or
anything. Just come back home,
the whole thing is over.”
Reaction to Carters’ pardon of
the evaders was mix^, as he
had expected. Many evader
groups based in foreign coun
tries saw the announcement as
the end of a long and bitter fight
for just such a pardon. Don
McDonnough, head of the evader
group in Paris, called it “more
than I expected, a very positive
step." On the other side, Sen.
Barry Goldwa ter said on Capital
Hill that “the pardon was the
most disgraceful thing a United
States president had ever done.”
Sen. Jesse Helms of North
Carolina said “it will be a slap in
the face to every American who
answered his country’s call —
untold thousands of whom were
killed or wounded in action in
Vietnam.”
Mr. Helms, we respectfully
ask — How do you slap a dead
man in the face? Many men with
philosophies kindred to your own
talk about the honor of those
killed or wounded in action. How
does a nation justify the claim
that its war dead are honorable?
Thousands of young men died in
a war which had no cause.
We welcome the president’s
pardon of evaders and see it as a
readiness on the part of the
federal government to attone for
some of the many wrongs it
perpetrated during those fateful
years. We ask, with Mr. Carter,
that those who fled, return, and
help in the building of a better
and more just America.
Pictured above are the type who find it necessary to speak loudly of trivial matters while one is tryiii^
to study in the library.
Viewpoint
The Relevance of Liberal Arts
By JOE MANN
Methodist Chaplain
What did you learn in school
today? The question is asked
with deadly seriousness in a
variety of quarters. Parents,
graduate schools, corporations,
and even students are very
concerned about what is learned
in higher education. Hopefully
you learned something useful,
something marketable. Else,
you may suffer the scolding of
parents who spend money for
college so that sons and
daughters can be employed upon
graduation. Or you may ex
perience the pains of rejection
by business and industry who
hold your newly won degree not
in the highest regard. Thus, a
student must choose a major
wisely, one that equips him or
her to compete successfully in a
crowded job market.
The wisdom of the world
moves students to ask the
university for curricula that are
practical and to the point. The
student is a consumer. Students
only want courses that are in
their area of specialty. Why take
History or English or a Foreign
Language for Chemical
Engineering? Liberal Arts are in
disarray not only at so called
technical schools, but also at
traditionaly liberal arts
colleges. The well educated,
rounded person is being
replaced by the well trained,
specialized person.
In a recent report Kingman
Brewster, President of Yale
University, outlined what he
understands to be the aims of
“liberal learning.” He indicates
that liberal education is self-
indulgent, but that students and
universities need not be
apologetic for that. Liberal
learning enhances a person in at
least three “senses”: a sense of
place, a sense of self, and a sense
of judgment. As long as the
privileges of a liberal education
are open to persons on the
merits, not on the basis of
inheritance or class or sex or
race, we should be glad that
these privileges help equip
persons for leadership in
society. Brewster feels that the
“luxury of liberal education”
allows for student exposure to a
variety of intellectual ex
periences, provides op
portunities for discussion and
expression of ideas, and helps
create a sense of what mastery
of a subject requires.
Although there are differences
between a relatively small
private university, and a large.
state-owned, land-grant
university, there are still some
similarities of purpose. Chan
cellor Joab Thomas has recently
indicated that North Carolina
State University must care for
the education of a person, not
just that person’s training for a
profession. It is perhaps not self-
evident that life is more than
work, that people are not judged
solely by what they do, what
they produce, or how much
money they make. As a society
we continue to be on a treadmill
of “success” and growth that
leaves most people in our society
“unsuccessful” and many of the
“successful” dreadfully boring
and depressed. We now face
serious limitations to the
possibilities for further growth,
yet we have few persons wise
enough to make judgments as to
how to slow down. We feel that
because we can do it, we as a
society should move ahead and
invent, create, produce. A
generation of technicians who
can see no further than the
immediacy of their work or their
research will surely not lead us
away from peril. If we are to be
at home with ourselves and if we
are to continue to see the planet
earth as our home, we simply
must help persons make moral
judgments, have some aesthetic
appreciation for life, and be
more than narrowly educated
professionals or technicians.
For liberal education to
survive and for meaningful,
interesting life to continue, we
must become aware that our
worth is not the same as our
usefulness. Henri Nouwen tells
of the old tree in the Tao story
about a carpenter and his ap
prentice:
A carpenter and his ap
prentice were walking together
through a large forest. And when
they came across a tall, huge,
gnarled, old, beautiful oak tree,
the carpenter asked his ap
prentice: “Do you know why this
tree is so tall, so huge, so
gnarled, so old and beautiful?”
The apprentice looked at his
master and said:
“Well,” “because it is useless.
If it had been useful it would
have been cut long ago and made
into tables and chairs, but
because it is useless it could
grow so tall and so beautiful that
you can sit in its shade and
relax.”
The human desire to prove our
worth, to earn our salvation in
the marketplace leads us in
pursuit of phantoms. Our worth
is intrinsic, to be found as we
discover the truths of sciencf
the beauty of art, the joy j
music, the appreciation i
history, the search for spiritoj
life.
What did you learn in seta
today? Perhaps you learned;
great deal if you learned tla
there is a great deal more:
learn. Can we avoid the eve:
present zeal to over-concentrat
in one’s field of speical interes
and seek, as Brewster suggest
“the breadth of exposure whir
a liberal education requires’"!
is not a matter of “Liberal Arls
versus “Science”: rather.it.
about the proper role j
education. Those of us involve:
in education must not settle l«
job training as a replacement ft
broad, liberal learning. Englis:
teacher, botonist, and nuclea:
engineer need to respond Ite
they learned in school toda;
something about their sense i
place in this world and society
that they learned about tie
own sense of self; and that Ike
learned a sense of judgme:
among contending problenasai
solutions.
Attention
The Collegiate was noi
published last week duf
to staff illness. We art
happy to be able to re
sume publication thi^
week.
“No man is wiser for his learning” — John Sheldon
FREDERICK CLARID®
Edilor
+ + +
MICHAEL WALKER
Associate Editor
ROBERT WILSO.M
Business Manager
DARRELL ENGLISH
Cartoonish
DOUGLAS HACKNEV,
PETER CHAMNESS
Photographers
GUY HYATT,
RUSSELL RAWLI.NGS
Sports Writers
.NICKGLENNON.
SPENCER SMITH
BRIAN HU.W
Feature Writers
DALE ADAMS,
TERRY BOSLEY
Proofreaders
MILTON ROGERSON
Advisor ^
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