PAGE TWO
THE DECREE
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WELCOME,
Class of 1973! |
THE DECREE, proud to be a part |
of Wesleyan College, invites you j
to visit our offices in the Student |
Union Building this weekend. I
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VIEWPOINT
Editorial
No one to whom we have talked,including the fp
proponents of honor systems, could say that honor sv7
terns work. Admitting that the evil in the world has if
own concept of honor, all that one can say for an honn
system is that it tries to use the majority honor ^
create uniform morality; yet almost everyone who hao
considered contemporary developments would agree that
the concept of morality changes in time. So who can
say, except for himself in the situations in wlUchhp
finds himself, what is moral? So, also, who can sav
what is honorable? And yet an honor system would de
cide what is honorable and what is moral for everyone'
forever. ’
Patently, then, honor systems cannot work. Their
only force is in their attempt to damn the criminal
as well as to punish him. Punishment is all that men
if they have souls at all, can inflict on lawbreakers’
even the Spanish Inquisition left it to God to damn the
souls of those they persecuted, but an honor system
damns on earth the lawbreaker. Is that not too much
even for rapists and murderers? Tradition limits so^
cietal retaliation on lawbreakers to punishment; for
example, when men are sentenced to death in England
the judge still says, “and may God have mercy on your
soul.”
Thus honor systems are distinguished only in that
they do not work effectively and in that, when they do
grind into motion, they punish inhumanly, cruelly
and unjustly, ’
Many readers this year will have observed that
from time to time, we have included in the DECREE
poems or essays which we have found, in some
respect, to be worthy of recommendation to the atten
tion of our readers. This week, at the request of many
of our readers, we announce formally a policy of in
cluding in our weekly format poetry and prose that stu
dents or faculty members may submit to us and that
we judge to have literary quality worthy of publica
tion or, at least, “redeeming social value.”
Our justification of this policy is in, first, the fact
that we define this publication as a college newspaper,
second, the fact that a reasonably large proportion of
our readership seems to want to read more creative
literature, and finally, the fact that we like to read such
work ourselves.
We hope sincerely that our poets’ styles will offend
no one; but in any case, nothing is approved for pub
lication because of its offensiveness. Rather, such crea
tive literary work as we publish is approved because,
in our opinions, it has literary and/or social value.
The “Letter of the Apocalypse,” on page three is the
first in this series, which we proudly introduce.
Official Student Newspaper of
North Carolina Wesleyan College
editor _Ed Smith
BUSINESS MANAGER ....Tom’Mowbray
....John Hinnant
CIRCULAvTION MANAGER. .JoelMartin
=... = .....Julie RobinsoS
ASSISTANT ....Marsha White
............Baxter Smith
PROJECTS DIVISON MANAGER....... John Dorsey
Business Address: Box 3146, Wesleyan College,
Rocky Mount, North Carolina
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY WESLEYAN STUDENTS.
OPINIONS PUBLISHED DO NOT NECESSARILY
represent those OF WESLEYAN COLLEGE.
By E. Howe
As Wesleyanhas mod
ernized more and more
during the past several
years, it has become in
creasingly evident that
the office of housemother
really has no utility either
for the college or for the
students. Many of us re
member when, only two
years ago, a housemother
had a mental breakdown
and her dorm managed
without notable incident to
govern itself. We found
that the Dorm Councils,
when given a bit of re
sponsibility, were actual
ly able to keep the peace
in the dorms and that
arc’s were able to as
sume responsibilities for
pass-keys and the other
ceremonial frills of the
housemothership.
The main argument for
retaining housemothers
as an institution at Wes
leyan seems to be that
they counsel troubled stu
dents, but my experience
is that students are far
more likely to seek coun
sel with other students
over a beer rather than
risk baring their souls to
those three of four times
their ages. Actually, the
counsel-over-beer rou
tine seems more effective
and is certainly more en
joyable than a long series
of tiresome and generally
incriminating interviews
with Authority.
Of course, the college
may have to keep house
mothers on simply be
cause parents could nev
er let their children loose
without a properly aged
Custodian at hand. The
children certainly have
enough prejudices and
fears not to have to be
guarded against them
selves, and, in any case,
each year at freshman
orientation college offi
cials formally renounce
any custodial duty to stu
dents.
Thus, one cannot find
any supportable argu
ments for maintaining the
institution of housemo
ther at Wesleyan.
Letter of the
Apocalypse
by E. Howe
(written while drunken
upon the wines of Solo
mon’s greatness)
Hey man.
The improper rhythms
of unrefined genitals pro
ceed profusely from the
midnight of man's only
soul ridden miseries in
chaotic profundity. It vi
brates upon the bile
movements of dark eyes
watching you and returns
to its beginning in the
privies of the earth. But
the big arrow of eternity
points horizontally! And
Aunt Jemima can eman
cipate herself from the
dark corners of ten thou
sand midnights into the
full noontide shadows of
blackness. Shall the nets
be cast upon the waters
of the world and produce
only dead fish? Memories
of the past gorge them-
'SAAB' cont'd.
goal in giving the
February 7 dance is not
so much financial gain
at the moment but rather
participation by many
people in their efforts.
Soft drinks for the
dance are being provided
free of charge to
S.A.A.B. by the local
Bottling Company, while
music is provided free
by “The Essex” of Rocky
Mount. WEED Radio is
also contributing free
promotional time for the
dance.
selves into the placid re
mains of a fading deca
dent office building filled
with beer cans rolling and
clanking in the wind. The
stench of a seven-day-
old dead body still mas
turbating to keep some
semblance of its former
habits sends the Anglo-
Saxon mind into a frenzy
somewhat like that of a
Celtic bagpipe player
blowing against the wind
and making little noises
to the prophets of the des
erts of the earth's mys
tic prehension. Mark
Twain said that man was
born somewhere half
way inbetween the angels
and the French. But how
about the old man who
has lived his life and nev
er added any worth to the
world. Bernard Shaw
thinks that the reasonable
man adapts himself to the
world and the unreason
able one adapts the world
to himself; therefore all
progress depends on un
reasonable men. The old
man was a reasonable
one. Did realising his
folly compensate?
FALSE. Let the crushed
sanitary napkin be a les
son to all the old men of
the world, no matter age.
Drink is the savior of the
mediocre artists of the
world, and the sustainer
of the great ones, so what
is the intersection? Let
us throw pepper up the
noses of all primevial
men of the World’s So
ciety to Preserve the
Non-Philosophy of Fist-
Throwing Bigot Red
necks. Bullgeshittge!
When the trumpet sounds
answer with the thunder
of a billion migrain head
aches upon all stagnant-
[ (Continued on Page 3)
'Cafeteria' cont'd
pointed out, this problem
is a self-accelerating one
for as rudeness grows,
more student workers
quit, making service to
students less and less
satisfactory, which
causes rhe rudeness to
grow, etc.
No student workers
traced their dissatis
faction to the Cafeteria
management , although
some did indicate that
they were ashamed to
have to serve some of the
food that is served. They
pointed out, however,
that, considering the fi
nancial limitations im
posed on Cafeteria
management by Wes
leyan s present financial
crisis, the best food-
preparation job possible
is being done, in their
opinion. Said one fresh-
innovation like the buffet
suppers are always
hampered by the fact that
we have to usemake-shift
arrangements which
aren’t very aesthetically
pleasing.”
Present student work
ers indicated that they
liked the salary raise this
year to $1.15 an hour., but
said that they felt that
being left with a double
job by other students’
quitting or failing to show
up for work really negated
the raise.
X FUY
XdOMOCUSl
5
workers in"weSeyan^?aTetSi^^ student