fTiiBRUARY IQ. 1966
lance
Minnie Kelly Writes To Adminstration and Paper
to the Student Body,
|M(tter
L*e of Nick Gordon
I through the faculties of
!the1ance
(I ha^ addressed this letter in
Icare fcf Nick Gordon for two
l^ery Bistinct, but related, rea-
isons--first of all, because he
waslrave enough to attempt
to echo the voice of the student
body; |and secondly, because he
uttered, or -rather muttled, what
I feel to be the prevalent at
titude (on campus.)
TO |those of you who read
gr fcordon’s article, “Disap
proval Begins Now,” which ap
peared in the January 14, 1966
issue |of THE LANCE, vol. 5,
no.7, page 7, columns, I would
llkeito ask one question: “Did
you, |)y any chance, agree?”
I would not be surprised It you
dld-either partially or wholly. If
youjid agree, I ask still
another question; “With what
dldfou agree?” There was no
onel^bstantial statement of fact
In the entire article. In short,
I f^nd it to be the most il
logical and Irresponsible piece
of writing that 1 have encounter
ed (with the possible exception
of a few previous “LANCE ”
articles).
Allow me to lead you through
the maze of generalities so art
lessly constructed by Mr. Gor
don. Ifls crucial point is that
“there has been a lack of un
demanding between the admin-
Istmion and students.” Now
isn'f that nice. He has fired
In us any hostilities we may
holdjagainst any member of the
adnyistratlon. He has invited
us to forget that the adminis
tration is not an abstract mon
ster,' but rather a certain group
of particular people. He is us
ing |us, friends. But we MUST
stopknd ask him: 1) which mem
ber |of the administration has
come to you, Mr, Gordon, and
asked that question? 2) when was
it Jjsked? 3) wrong with ex
actly what?
He then goes on to put these
words into the mouth of the
Bfristratlon: "lack of unity and
school spirit”, “Why do
students... not seem to care real
ly what happens on campus?”
SojMow you are all but sure
thSfce administration thinks that
*£»re a conflicting bunch of
acetic do-nothings (and he may
even [have you believing that you
are). Well I know differently.
Every one of you cares, one way
°^,®other. Sitting at the sup
per lable tonight, I was asked
ten Questions by seven different
people about some aspect of what
Isfcpenlng on campus, and that
'•'as (at only one meal. It hap
pens |at every meal, in the halls
betwfen classes, and many times
during the day and night over the
tel^one.
Next we have the most blat-
int^tement of the article—and
|nost irresponsible: “Tlie
inswer, I believe, lies In the
)lantlv gripe of a student the
Jther (night. “We have no/'^ere
® take our problems and Ideas.
J'he administration doesn’t
“^®^hat we think.” Assuming
|here is a student that made
®ls fxact gripe, then, my tri
ads, [it is exactly no more than
W-.A gripe from A student.
If ^ statement of fact;
pot even given the respect
ability of being an opinion.
Mr. Gordon then gives light
reference to ** student leaders
student representatives, and ad
ministrative officials to repre
sent the student^ Interest.” It
is nice of him to recognize thir
presence. But he then says
(with absolutely no stated founda
tion for judgment) “if these lead
ers and representatives are the
answer then why doesn’t it
work...?” My friends It is again
time for us tomake a judgment.
First of all, Mr. Gordon is or-
dlnately assuming that “it”
DOESN’T work. What, in the
name of St. Andrews, Is this
nebulous, ambiguous '“it?” is
he referring to those people to
whom he has previously only re
ferred? Or perhaps he is re
ferring to the entire Student As
sociation stnicture. Let me tell
you what he is really referring to,
whether he is aware of it or
not (and obviously he is not or
he would never have been moti
vated to write such an irrespon
sible statement of his own pro
blem).
The problem— “What is
wrong?” — is you Mr. Gordon,
and you, my friends. And the
answer—“Why doesn’t it work?”
—is the same as the problem
It is you, Mr. Gordon, and
you, my friends.
But that is really no more
of an answer than Mr. Gordon’s
So allow me to elaborate. Mr.
Gordon sees the problem as one
of opinion expressing. But he
has shown it as only a mater
of griping. A gripe gets no one
anywhere. Mr. Gordon turned
out elgh paragraphs of griping,
but no where in the article was
there one substantial piece of
material for anyone to work with.
He makes several references to
“student body opinion.” But what
exactly is student body opinion?
As long as it is only gripes,
it is no more than about 900
personal opinions on matters of
hearsay.
Mr. Gordon states that “mat
ters that effect the student body
as a whole should be brought
to the attention of the student
body.” (he does not indicate
what he considers these mattfers
to be, since he later in the ar
ticle excludes the new calendar
when he excepts from considera
tion “Matters that the admini
stration of the school,
tuition and faculty mayyers, and
course offering.”) We have stu
dent body meetings. Minutes of
the Senate and the Cabinet meet
ing are posted on the bullet
in board. They are there for
the ATTENTION OF THE
ENTIRE STUDENT BODY.
If you, my friends, as mem
bers of a student body would re
alize your responsibilities to find
out what ‘matters' exist and then
formulate substantiated c^llnions,
the situation might be different.
But the attitude expressed by Mr.
Gordon—“Once policy is decided
upon it should be explained to
the student body with logical
rfeasonlng.”— reveals ultimate
Irresponsibility. What makes
anyone think that he has even
the right, as a citizen of the
St. Andrews community, to sit
back and wait for policies to
be formulated and then demand
an explanation. Student policies
(which is a most inappropriate
word) are formulated In Senate
and Cabinet — where you are
represented. And if you know
nothing about it or feel that you
cannot express your opinio,nated
gripes. It is totally your own
fault. Your Senators are avail
able, you elected them; The doors
to the Senate are open, all you
have to do is come in and lis
ten.
As far as the administration
is concerned, they have tried to
both express policies and hear
the concerns of the student body
through Cabinet-Admlnlstration
meetings. The Cabinet is your
elected body of communication.
And this fact leads directly into
one particular matter concern
ing THE LANCE. Mr. Gordon
stated that “matters that effect
the administration of the school,
tuition and faculty matters, and
course offerings” need not be
brought to the attention of the
student body. Mr. Gordon is
WRONG! Any responsible St.
Andrews student should want to
know in what directions his col
lege is moving. Yet when the
administration asked that just
such a matter - the matter of
rising college costs—be present
ed to the student body (to “be
explained to the student body
with logical reasoning”) nothing
happened. Let me tell you why,
my friends. This suggestion
was made to the Cabinet during
the Cabinet - Administration
meeting of October 21,1965. The
Cabinet decided on October 26
(of that same year) that THE
LANCE could best handle the
situation. The Cabinet, sent a
letter to THE LANCE concerning
the matter(seeking to both Inform
the student body and to supply
THE LANCE with a much need
ed article of ENTIRE student
Interest). Well my friends, as
you might expect, THE LANCE
has done nothing to my know
ledge.
THE LANCE has done nothing.
It has published—nothing. Now
that may seem to you to be a
rather direct slam. And, my
friends, it is.
I am sick o f the ‘pocket of
apathy’that is turned inside-out
twice a month. And, my friends
you are the reason—the cause
of such a disgrace. You take
it out of your mailbox, you read
It, and you gripe. My friends,
you are condoning THE LANCE
if you can do no more than gripe
In vague gereralities that have
no substantiation.
I realize that all of us have
more than enough to do. But
do we? We have enough time to
gripe-there is always enough
time for that. And some of that
time could be spent working on
THE LANCE. Maybe the work
ing conditions are not exactly
what some of you would consider
desirable. Well unless you do
something, they and their pro
duct THE LANCE are going to
forever remain the same—a dis
grace to you, as a St. Andrews
student.
If you have not gathered by now,
I would like to say that this
letter is not an attempt to dir
ectly attack either Nick Gordon
or THE LANCE. Rather it is
a direct attack against you, my
friends ^have I manipulated you?)
But it really isn’t even an at
tack. It is a violent invitation
for you to realize your respon
sibilities as a student in a grow
ing college conimunity. We can
not afford to make personal, nar
row-mined, short-sighted jripes
that are initiated. by little
more than hearsay. We have
a college to consider—-the one
that is to bestow upon us our
undergraduate degree. Our con
cerns should not be entirely with
how I will be affected next week
or next year, but rather with
how will what is happening af
fect the desired future of this
college. We can scream about
our rights, but those rights are
rights WITHIN a a college com
munity. And unless we take the
time to responsibly show the con
cern that each one of us has,
we have given up our claims
to those rights, as well as out
position in the college commun-
; Ity.
Minnie Kelly
Justice
Jefferson College, 1942, William
and Mary College, 1943, Rollins
College, 1947, National Univer
sity, 1949, New School for So
cial Research, 1952, University
of Toledo, 1956, Bucknell Uni
versity, 1958.
He v/as admitted to the New
York bar in 1926, and practiced
In New York City from 1925-
1927. He was a member of the
law faculty ?i Columbia from
1925-1938, and at Yale from
1928-1934,
Justice Douglas was secretary
to the Committee on Business
of Federal Courts, National Com
mission on Law Observance and
Enforcement, 1930-1932. He was
director of the protective com
mittee study. Securities and Ex
change Commission, Washington,
D.C, from 1934-1936, and was
commissioner and chairman
from 1936-1939.
He was nominated to be as
sociated justice of tiie U.S. Su
preme Court by President Roose
velt on March 20, 1939, and
toolc his chair in April of 1939.
He is a member of: Phi Beta
Kappa, Phi Alpha Delta, Delta
Sigma Rho. and Beta Theta Pi.
He Is a Democrat, a Presby
terian, and a Mason. He has
written various law case books,
and several other books such as
OF MEN AND MOUNTAINS, 1950;
STRANGE LANDS AND FRIEND
LY PEOPLE, 1951; and DE
MOCRACY’S MANIFESTO, 1962.
He now lives in Glenwood, Wash-
ington.
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