PAGL 2
THE DECREE
NOVEMBER 8, 196g
Editorial
We were shocked last week to discover ti:jt a com
mittee of the SGA Senate is wriangon an Honor System
for Wesleyan. Ahile we certainly are opposed to all
forms of plagarism and »x)uld like to see any legal
process to stop it, we car. see no justification for aband
oning a system of law for a system of honor, if hoiwr
is worrh anything. The most concise statement to
this effect is our letter to the editor of last year:
“An honor system becomes more than a system
of law, more ±an Mar. needs or can justify imposing
on anyone other ±ian himself. For, by the nature of its
promulgation and enforcement, an Honor System has
behind it, as well as the force of legality', the force
of moralir>. An Honor System allows man to damr.
man, not just to condemn him through legal pre
mises and processes. I hold that only God can damn
a man. (And if God does not exist, then no one can.)
Morality', Honor, is a question of the individual’s soul,
and I leave it to the indirtdual and expect him to leave
it to me... I defend the philosophy of the system of.
laws, of the Iegalit>’, that can, if it must condemn
a man. But I grant it to no one to damn a man’s soul;
as ar. Honor System presumes to do., ^“hatever rlaws
we may have L" our present system of laws, our present
system of laws at least does not presume to the Hubris
of thinking itself eternal or so powerful as to condemn
an immortal human soul.”
It is our deep hope that Wesleyan will not make the
common, hypocritical mistake of trying to convert
discipline into a moral issue.
Editor^s Mail
As a newly registered
voter, I have taken a par-
ticLiar interest in this
year’s presidential cam-
p-aign mainly beca'jse my
opinion »'i!l be of import
ance tor the first time.
So during these past few
months I have tried to
look atmy commurdr>', my
state, and m y country
quite closely. My obser
vations reveal, more than
anything else, a great
need for change. 3ut a
change not in practice as
much as in attitude. Aliac
has happened to respect,
both for the indi\"idual
and for our country ? To
where has our personal
and nariona! pride gone?
How can we overthrow
college administrators,
loot and destroy shops,
and hum draft cards sim
ply beca_se cannot a-
gree with the present sys
tem' Does our dis satis-
faccior. give us the right
to \'ioIent protest? Our
freedom has allow'ed us
v~e..vai.. rifc[ht^ be*., ironi
cally enc»_gh, these ver\-
rights are making us vul
nerable to the loss of our
freedc.m..
^ver> individual is
horn wi:h rights hut he
mL.st earn his priviieges.
No longer is the indivi
dual 'f anv importance.
The enco_ragenient of
persona! worth and ful
fillment appears to he
changing and becominc
rA?n—existent. rte are
gradually evolving into a
society of violence. Vio
lence because many of
- ^r citizcniS uelieve tnev
are living in tiii:; nation
t: tase, not t:> give. Their
freedom., theybelieve^as
uiciTi ccjTtiirt iritis
r_t what they fail t.^'ln-
derstand is “attheymust
earn their pnnlegi^One
^rams pri.lleges only by
mea.mngf^I contrihution^
to his societ>. So »±at
nas the riocing racist, or
the dra:t-d->dger contri
buted tr.at gives him the
:dx.a tnjit he has the
' rnviituv" t,^ steal or
d^-tr:'..'
iVe people living in our
United States must leazr.
tolerance and respect for
our fellow man. Our na
tion was founded on the
principle of individual
rights. Let us exercise
our rights but, more im-
jwrtant, let us leam when
and how to exercise them.
Sincerely,
Nancv H. Gresh.
BOARD MEETS
(Continued from page I)
Board of Trustees has
accepted their responsi-
hilit> for the best inter
ests andgro^^of the col
lege and that its cccxc!_-
sions are valid/’ Z^oar.
Wilde stated tha: it was
a ‘‘Victory for the col
lege as a thinking ccm-
munit> in terms of what
ttie outcome could tave
been.”
Board officially named
the g>m3nasium Everer:
GN-mnasium. in honor of
Mr. and N^rs. W. Robert
^verett, who last year
gave Wesleyan their 01','-
acre Rose nill rlanta-
tion n^—r Nasnvil^ei
Th^e Soard of Trustees
also reluctantly approved
a ruitlon increase for next
year. Aitiio’Uih remaining
most private colleges,
tuition and tees lor next
>'ear were raised to Si ir l
while room, and board was
Lncreased to 59-TO. Tnis
brings the total sr_dent
fees ro S2?50, an increase
of S500 over this vear.
J & }( Pet &■
l a riety Shop
901 FaJls Rd.
Rock? Mount, N. C.
The Best In Tropicsl
Fish & Pets
Open ’ Til g P.M.
aculty
ORUM
Bv Ra\Tnond E. Bauer
The October 25, 1968
issue of ‘‘The Decree
featured an article in
‘'Faculr>‘ Forom” by Dr.
John S. Davis which sort
of “Stole my thunder.”
I find mvself in complete
a^eement witn him con
cerning the lack of parti-
cioation in the various
activities by the students
as a whole. By p.artici-
oation I mean, not only
engaging in the activic\-,
but being a spectator as
welL
Mv majior concern at
this point is in tne field
of athletics, N-tmCaro
lina Wesleyan Ctllegeis
in the Dtsie Intercolle
giate Athletic Conference
with seven otner memiDer
colleges. The p«-rt»se of
this organization “shall
be the promotion of an
amateur athletic program
in the intercollegiate
sports, emphasizing
broad participation on the
part of the srudentbody.”
'Ae, as a conference, are
governed by the integrit}’
of each instir_tion in that
there 'aTll be no subsi
dization of athletes. This
means tnat tnecollegeof-
. ficiais must treat all sru-
dents on the same basis.
Speaking for our athletic
area, I can assure you that
such a policy will be ad
hered to so long as we
are associated with ath-
-cttcs nere at N. C. i^es-
This means that we
tcasis :tr intercol
legiate athletic program.
raratively few men on
rur campus who sacrifice
themselves an-d their time
■»'art :ther that: personal
^atis:act:;m It is some-
ting t:r mem to try and
ccmprenenc tne meajiim;
of their sacrifices when
-- "ot seem, to matter
to t~e college community
Over the years here at
N. C. ‘Vesleyan, since the
fall of PoO, I have ob
served ±e develop -
m.ent of the athledc
Wesleyan Contributes
(Continued ircm. Pare 1)
He concluded his state
ments by sa}hnt that as
the college gr'ws^ the
oi corn—
T:i '~izizy will gx:'w.
It is the srudents, the
facult>‘, and the admiin-
istration which work to-
getner to create impres
sions from which local
tir_des about the school.
During tne nine months,
when the majority- of the
esleyan srudents are
present in the area, a
great deal of money is
to the economy of
the community. It'has
estim.ated that the
srudent soends
approxiaately SoOOever.-
fo- miscellaneous
expenditures. A total of
(Coctinuec - Pace
program. Active parti
cipation, on a percentage
basis, has diminished due
to various reasons. I have
heard from time to time
the various expressions;
the adminstration is not
Interested in athletics;
the faculty penalizes a
oerson for participating
in athletics; the coaches
are not competent; the
athletic director does a
poor job of scheduling;
there is no first-rate
athletic program. Pos
sibly there is some jus
tification for any and all
of the above statements,
but I am firmly convinced
that all of them can be
satisfactorily answered
and remedied. However,
that is not the purpose of
this article.
The purpose of my
writing this article is
ryofold. First, I should
!£*ce to inquire as to the
whereabouts of young men
who are interested in par
ticipation in any sport;
desire, responsibility,
whereabouts of young men
who are interested in par
ticipating in athletics, We
h ive never set experience
a3 a criteria for partici
pation in any sport;
desire, responsibility,
hustle, "guts,” yes, but
not experience. Yet, in
the past several years,
we have had to forfeit
baseball games and then
cancel intercollegiate
baseball as an activity;
threaten to cancel the
wrestling schedule; can
cel the cross country'
schedule this fall; and
now forfeit a soccer
game. WTiy? The answer
is very simple-there
were not enough men a-
vailable to field a team.
We could not find five
men to run cross coun-
tzy this fall. Coach Music
was realistic enough to
know full well the sig
nificance of the turn-out
of men for soccer, A few
injuries and there would
be much consternation in
fielding a team. It hap
pened, Surely, out of
322 men enrolled, it would
seem possible to compete
in those activities.
Secondly, I should like
to inquire as to the where
abouts of the student body
in support of their athle
tic teams I am now on
dangerous ground, be-
cause 1 am referring to
the past primarily, I have
been somewhat gratified
by the spectators at the
soccer games this fall.
I believe we are having
more students attend. But
my natural optimism for
the future is curbed by the
pessimism of past
experience. We seem to
have a hard core of ap
proximately one hundred
students who attend athle
tic events. For the rest
of the students, they could
not care less. This
is very confusing for me,
MOCK ELECTION
FAVORS MX ON
In the mock elections
held by the Interfaith
Commission of the SGA
last w'eek, a total of 353
students and faculty in
dicated their preference
for the next President of
the U, S.
Nixon led in the ballot
ing, with 160, while Hum
phrey held a close second,
with 122. Wallace came
in third with 27 votes.
In what Humphrey call
ed the “grapefruit
league,” McCarthy pol
led 10, Dick Gregory 13,
and Pat Paulsen 15.
Last in the write-in
category with one vote
each were Anthony Ding-
man, Peabody-Sherman,
Ted Kennedy, Eldridge
Cleavor, Snoopy, and
Nluskie-Kennedy.
WTiile a respectable
minority of students ap
parently echoed Amanda
,Ambrose’s sentiment that
“voting this \'ear is like
deciding whether to beat
your wife in the morn
ing or the evening,” many
others gave their alle
giance to the competing
national candidates.
ht
)
tCXBt
Official Student Newspaper of
North Carolina Weslevan College
EDITOR....,.., Ed Smith
BLilNESS Manager,., Tom Mowbray
ADS MANAGER .....John Hinnant
CIRCULaT10,\ MANAGER Jim Price
OFFICE MANAGER Julie Robinson
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Keith Feelemyer
PHOTOGRAPHER Baxter Smith
Business Address: Box 3146, Wesleyan College,
Rocky Mount. N. C. j
TL BLINKED WEEKLY BY WESLEYAN STUDENTS.
Published do not necessarily
Rr.PRE-tNT those of WESLEYAN COLLEGE.