PAGE TWO
THE RIDGERUNNER
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1965
The Ridgerunner
Editor Maltha Dula
Managing Editor Ray Elingburg
Associate Editors Randy Wilburn,
Nancy Dillingham,
Allan Pierce,
Randy Drupiewski
Trudy SAandler
Our Letter Policy
Letters to the Editor and submissions for guest editorials should
be left at the office of The Ridgerunner or put in the intracampus
box in the Student Union Building. All submissions must be signed.
The Ridgerunner will withhold names upon request.
We welcome both letters and longer more comprehensive
articles of opinion from students, faculty, administration, and from
any citizens of the community whose contribution is directed toward
the educational interests of Ae college. All submissions should be
typed and doublespaced. In order to be published in the next issue,
all submissions must be in the office by the Wednesday before our
Monday deadline.
The Judicial Board R-t. w.
EDITORIAL....
The Assemblies Committee, composed of both members of the stu
dent body and the faculty, was formed this fall for the purpose of planning
high-quality all-campus assemblies.
When this committee was first proposed and newly initiated, the
committee members were given highly optimistic reports as to what was
expected of the committee and what the committee could expect, in terms
of support, from the SGA and college administration.
Planning programs under what the members realized was a limited
budget, the committee was faced with its first major setback when it was
informed at the beginning of the second term that the unused funds allo
cated for its expendimres during the first term by the SGA reverted to the
SGA treasury at the close of the term and could not be reclaimed in the
second, third, or fourth terms. The committee had purposely kept expendi
mres at a minimum in order to save funds to bring a large-scale program
to the campus in the spring. Being uninformed on the financial arrange
ments of the SGA put a serious curtailment on the committee’s plans.
At their meeting on December 9, members of the committee heard
two reports which could prove to be "the last blow.” The first report in
formed the committee that the second term budget from the SGA had to
be cut. The requisition for funds this term did not include an overhead
beyond the planned expenditures.
If this wasn’t enough to completely discourage the committee members,
the report which followed did the job quite well. At the beginning of its
existence, the Assemblies Committee was informed that all SGA funds set
aside for assembly expense would be matched by the college administra
tion. Now the committee has been informed that the administration can
not possibly meet this committment. The amount of funds which can be
put at the committee’s disposal for the entire years is shockingly small.
It is entirely possible that the Assemblies Committee’s hands have
been tied. "The programs for the remaining part of the school year may
not meet the standards hoped for by the committee due to this shortage
of funds. Nor will standards of hi^ quality programs and performances
ever be met under such conditions as those imposed on the committee this
year.
This is the first attempt at such a committee on this campus and thus
it is expected that it sho^d confront unforeseen difficulties. However,
if such a committee is expected to succeed or even to continue to exist in
years to come, it is rather obvious that better arrangements will have to
be established for maintaining such a committee. Tliis committee has to
plan on long-range terms. If funds are not allocated early, it becomes
almost impossible to engage prominent speakers and popular groups who
have their time scheduled far in advance. And if funds are withdrawn well
into the year, and committments have to be broken, this becomes not only
a bad reflection on the committee, but on the entire Asheville-Biltmore
College image.
Other small colleges have found ways to maintain a high-quality as
sembly program on their campus. If we cannot find a satisfactory way of
maintaining a similar program, we should forget the whole idea. We can
put this year down as a first attempt. But Asheville-Biltmore is striving
to establish a first-rate college. In such a college, a third-rate committee
performance, no matter for what reason, is defeating to the over-all
purpose.
M. D.
An Open Letter
. . . ^rom 'Dke Ckoerlaaden
By Sandy Mastin
This year’s A-B basketball team
needs support from the smdents,
and the cheerleaders are but one
facet of that support. The function
of the cheerleaders is to represent
the smdent body and lead the stu
dents in verbal support of the team
. . . not to entertain! The time,
energy, and enthusiasm spent by
cheerleaders in preparation and ful
fillment of these duties, is, how
ever, gladly given. It is impossible,
though, to expect them to continue
to carry the burden alone.
The response of the smdent
body so far seems to be in the form
of ridicule and criticism. Sugges
tions and constructive comments
are appreciated if they are indica
tive of sincere interest. But the rep
resentation of students at the games
by the rest of the students them
selves has thus far not indicated
this type of interest. It seems fitting
to expect a lot, but it is also fitting
to share the burden of support for
the Bulldogs. At any rate, the cheer
leaders will continue to try to lead
cheers, but it somehow seems dif
ficult to lead when no one follows.
Below is a list of the Asheville-
Biltmore Cheerleader squad for
1965-66.
Sandy Mastin, Captain
continued on page 3
By Linda Lee
The Judicial Board, a body of
seven members from ±e three
classes of Asheville-Biltmore Col
lege, is charged with the duty of
"ruling on questions and problems
arising under the Constimtion and
By-Laws, to Administer student dis
cipline as regards SGA rules and
regulations, and to hear and rule
upon the protests of any individual
smdents or organizations pertaining
to their relationship with any facet
of the SGA.” This is what the Con
stimtion declares are the-responsi
bilities of the board. 'The President
of SGA has the authority to appoint
members with the approval of the
Executive Council. As far as writ
ten duties and privileges, there are
none beyond what is written in the
constimtion.
The very fact that no more is
written in the Constimtion, is both
a good, and at the same time, a bad
thing. It means that for the first
few years, of which this is the sec
ond, nearly everything which the
Judicial Eioard does and says is
precedent. All eyes are upon the
board, so to speak, and the job is
not easy. People, especially the old-
timers, are not used to having a
judiciary body decide on traffic
cases and disorderly conduct cases.
Things, in the past, were over
looked with a grumble, since litde
smdent action, other ±an pure so
cial pressure, could be taken. Now
that cases are brought before the
Board, there is room for justice for
both the defendants and those pro
testing. The ideal, of course, is dif
ficult, if not impossible, to obtain.
Justice is always elusive and seldom
found. For ±e first time in our
history, however, there is a legal
body delegated just for searching
for that ideal.
There is much leeway as to pro
cedures to be used during Board
meetings, and last year, official
rules of procedure were adopted.
Since its beginning, an attempt has
General Education
Still A Must
Alexander Saylor writes in his
book. Modern Secondary Education:
One of the principal func
tions of a sound liberal educa
tion, or general education, as
it is often called, is to develop
the individual as a person so
that he has formulated for him
self and will continue to re
fine a broad and fundamental
system of values that enable
him to relate properly the de
mands of everyday life, evalu
ate soundly possible courses of
action in given simations, and
pursue wisely those acts of be
havior that promise to con
tribute most to the happiness
and welfare of all concerned.
been made to keep accurate and
complete records of the meetings
and decisions to be kept on file.
Other than the official files of the
Board, a copy of the minutes and
decisions are given to the SGA
Executive Council. Cases which deal
with important matters are posted
on the bulletin board of the smdent
center lounge and explain the basic
reasons for coming to such a deci
sion. Where matters concern the
administration, letters are sent to
Dr. Highsmith and odiers, as well
as the usual copies which are sent
to the Executive Council. This may
seem like uimecessary paper work,
but it is felt that if there is any
question on previous decisions, or
if there is need for them in the
years to come, there will not only
be an official record, but other
records as well.
Perhaps the most difficult rhmg
for smdents to realize is that the
Board exists for them. It is a body
of their peers, who have accepted
the duty of deciding things which no
one else wants to decide. It is dif
ficult to remember when any de
cision pleased more than half of the
smdents, but on the other hanH^
those not pleased were either ask
ing that such decisions be more lax
or that they be more strict. If a
middle ground is any indication of
justice, the Board has not erred too
far as yet. Let us hope that, when
judging others, we are not overly
anxious to cast that stone.
NOTICE
An Alumni Committee has
been organized here at Ashe
ville-Biltmore College for the
purposes of helping the college
and graduates. The program is
also required for accreditation.
All interested smdents PLEASE
contact George Bryan, Carol Car
son or Mrs. Sanders.
After a definition, description
and elaboration such as this, it
would seem that no more words
were necessary. On the contrary;
many of you after reading thus far
are probably thinking that the
article is out of place, that you are
not in secondary education but high
er education and you wonder what
this has to do widi you. Just this:
many of you who feel that this
article no longer applies to you, are
just recently out of secondary school
and therefore are largely dependent
on your high school program of
general education for your success
or failure in college, depending on
what you learned in high school.
'Those of you who are more re
moved from the high school days,
very likely would not be as far
along as you are without the back
ground a liberal education afford
ed you.
General education should not end
where the college curriculum be
gins. A person is not at the height
of his mamrity at age seventeen or
eighteen — when most people en
ter college; therefore he is not quite
as capable of reasoning, deciding
and rationalizing on a higher level
as the more mamre person is. The
purpose of education is to prepare
one to be able to meet the rigors
of life. Since college for most peo
ple is the last phase of education
in a person’s life, this is the very
last time when general education
should be removed. The general
education courses should be smdied
more intensely and delved into
more deeply since college is, indeed,
higher education. General educa
tion reaches its zenith in impor
tance and value for later life when
it is applied in the college curricu-
On ^eam Support
By the time this column is read
much of what is said in it may be
proven erroneous, but it might be
worth repeating.
Slighdy over a week ago this
author had the privilege of wit
nessing the mamration of a ball
team. In one night, the Asheville-
Biltmore Bulldogs grew up. Against
King College, in Bristol, and in a
gymnasium ±at would do litde jus
tice to a junior high, the A-B play
ers batded back from a fifteen
point deficit to tie the game in the
closing minutes and then go on to
a twelve point lead in the overtime.
There were six cheerleaders and two
fans present (including your truly)
who rooted for A-B. This kind of
support is hardly overwhelming.
The really important thing
though, is that the team never gave
up! At times they were noticably
cold from the floor and were un
able to buy a basket. But they kept
trying! They were sloppy when it
came to rebounding. But diey ball-
hawked after losing die ball! 'They
were confronted with two referees
who seemed to have lung cancer
when it came to blowing a whisde.
But they did not let this become an
excuse for defeat! They were ob
viously tired from die trip to Bris
tol and Bill White was recovering
from illness of only a few days be
fore. But they forced themselves to
move just that litde bit faster when
die chips were down! Even if the
score had been different, die fact
remains that the team became win
ners.
The question now is, "How can
the support of diis smdent body for
the team be made to change the
same way?” As the smdents of this
college we should ask ourselves
whether or not we are "winners”
or losers when it comes to the mat
ter of spirit. This writer believes
this smdent community is a loser
in this respect.
It seems a sad comment on a
school with so much to look for
ward to academically, that it so far
has given litde indication of any
thing to look forward to in sup
port of campus functions outside of
the classroom. It seems a sad com
ment that with a team with so much
desire to win, the smdents have al
most no desire in either direction.
It seems also that A-B should be
even more proud of their basketball
players, than other colleges, because
of the fact that the team members
at A-B are not carried along in the
classroom as is the practice of cer
tain instimtions not too far re
moved.
Some smdents at A-B decry the
lack of traditions, but with a school
so young there can be even greater
rewards in starting the traditions
that others will carry on later. This
writer dares the smdents of Ashe
ville-Biltmore to help in the estab
lishment of a tradition begun in a
little gymnasium in Bristol two
Mondays ago.
Editor’s Note: The initials R. T.
W. that head this column are those
of an associate editor of The Ridge
runner, but the opinions expressed
are not necessarily those of the staff.
Response both pro and con to any
thing said herein is encouraged and
invited.)
lum. It is rare that a person is
ready for specialized training at
seventeen or eighteen; why not,
then, give him die benefit of one,
or even two years, to mature so that
his specialization will be more
meaningful both to himself and to
his society?
Amia Halldorson