NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
U. S POSTAGE
PAID
Permit No. 217
Rocky Mount, N. C.
Non-Profit Organization
VOLUME XI, NUMBER 10
ROCKY MOUNT, N. C,
TUESDAY, NOV. 11, 1969
Open Assembly Held
. Collins, Sawyer Reply
Roland Shaw, Miriam Leyda, and Larry Guilmartin perform
“Eager Beaver” from NO STRINGS. Photo courtsey--THE
DISSENTER
WCT Play Delightful
By JIM VAN LAAN
The “love dream set to
music”, No Strings, opened at
the Wesleyan College Theatre
on November 6 with a melan
choly tone and a cloud of fog.
The play, written by Samuel
Taylor and set to music by Ri
chard Rodgers, portrays the
visionary love of' Barbara
Woodruff, played by Eileen
O’Grady, and David Jordan,
characterized by Roland Shaw.
As they sing the opening song,
“The Sweetest Sounds”, Bar
bara and David are introduced
to the audience, and the tone of
the play is set. The audience
also has the opportunity to ob
serve how adept performers can
turn a weak play into an en
tertaining performance. With a
polished sense of movement Di
rector Anthony Dingman mas
terminds the staging of the mus
ical using a combination of indi
vidual movement and cast
movement to create an illu
sion of surrealism.
Contributing to the success of
the show, the technical crew
displayed its creativity and in
genuity in compensating for the
lack of a stage and proscenium
curtain. The fog effect which
began the play enhances the
dream - effect and provides a
very impressive beginning for
the show. Credit also goes to
the technical crew for the em
ployment of strobe lights to co
ver the scene changes, as
well as for the cyclorama ef
fect on the back drop, which
maintained the dream.
Roland Shaw’s strong sing
ing complimented a score,
which though melodious, was
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filled with forced and contriv
ed lyrics. Roland, as David, en
tered a little cold, but by the
second half of the first act,
was delivering his lines with
the amount of discretion they
demanded. By the second act,
Roland had captured the essence
of David and performed one
of the most effective pieces of
(Continued on Page 2)
An open meeting of the stu
dent body of North Carolina
Wesleyan College was held con
cerning student complaints,
ranging from cafeteria service
to college finance. Bill Brant
ley, Senate President, called
the meeting to order at 6:30
and introduced President Tho
mas A. Collins and Wesleyan
Comptroller Floyd Sawyer, who
spoke alternately to an audience
of approximately 75 students.
President Collins stated in
the introduction of his speech,
“There is no college for the
students, of the students or by
the students ...” because it
would therefore “not qualify for
the name of college.” He then
stressed that a college “must
be administered to and for the
expectation of the outside en
vironment.”
Moving from that basic point,
he then outlined the history of
student involvement at Wes
leyan. “Wesleyan began with
concern for the students,” said
Dr. Collins, “and has always
wanted students on faculty com
mittees. However, it has only
been in the past few years that
students have taken the respon
sibility to come to the meet
ings at all.”
“During the first four to
six years at Wesleyan, the stu
dents were too involved in for
ming their own government to
show much participation in stu
dent-faculty life,” Collins sta
ted.
Dr. Collins continued, “It
has been only within the last few
years of the college that stu
dents have taken it upon them
selves to attend meetings, ac
cept responsibility, and share
their ideas with the faculty,
with our complete , encourage
ment and support.”
Ed Smith, a senior who par
ticipated on a student-faculty
level two years ago, asked of
Collins, “Isn’t it true that any
participation on faculty com
mittees has been false; that
in actuality hasn’t the student
been used as a patsy, assured
and listened to with seeming
respect and then blatently ig
nored when decisions are ac
tually made?”
“I agree with you almost
100%,” Dr. Collins replied
“but the fact that students were
discouraged should have been
enough challenge for them to
actively hang in and try even
harder. Students have radically
changed the shape of the cirri-
culum because of their recom
mendations. In changing to the
Convocations system, 75%of the
ideas presented to the trustees
were those of the students.”
Collins also stated, “I sln-
(Continued on Page 3)
Dr. And Mrs. Sasser
ISews Summary Present Duo-Concert
By JOHN HINNANT
International
Last Sunday the Beirut go
vernment and Arab Guerrillas
agreed to a ceasefire to open
the door for negotiation. This
act'on ended 2 weeks of fighting
between the Lebanes army and
Arab Commandoes opperating
against Israel from bases in
Lebonnon. Later in the week
the Guerrillas and the Lebanon
Government announced a settle
ment of their conflict. The set
tlement gave the guerrillas
freedom to operate in “cer
tain areas” of Lebanon.
National
In an address to the American
People Monday night. President
Nixon pledged that his admini
stration would not withdraw
American troops immediately,
but would instead continue his
past policy of carefully staged
withdrawals which would depend
on Communist activity. Reflect
ing the doctrine of “precipi
tate withdrawal” he appealed
to “the great silent majority”
of Americans to support his ac
tions. President Nixon alsotold
of several previously undis
closed attempts of trying to
begin meaningful negoiations,
only to have Hanoi refuse these
overtures. When commenting
on the timetable of troop with
drawals, Nixon stated that it
would remain flexible, depend
ing upon the communist military
activity and the ability of the
South Vietnamese Army to take
over the fighting.
The U. S. command in Viet
nam reported the heavist com
munist attacks in the past two
months. The fighting began
only hours before President Ni
xon’s
night.
policy speech Monday
The New Mobilization Com
mittee to End the War in Viet
nam (MOBEi said the Justice
Department broke off negotia
tions for parade permits only a
few hours before President Ni
xon’s address to the nation
Monday night. Ron Young, one
of the leaders of the New
MOBE stated Tuesday: “I have
a suspicion that the Nixon hard
line and the Justice Department
hard line are connected.” This
action by the Justice Depart
ment could possibly cause com
plications for the November 15
march on Washington. The New
MOBE has stated that it plans
a legal and peaceful march, but
it appears the Justice Depart
ment is refusing to grant leg
ality to the march. Their re
fusal may be in violation with
the constitution which gives all
American citizens the right to
petition their government.
The results of the Nov. 4
elections show John V. Lindsey
victor in his attempt to gain a
second term as Mayor in New
York City. Lindsey gained
about 42% of the vote in the
three man race.
The Republicans gained two
more governorships in New
Jersey and Virginia. Presi
dent Nixon had campaigned for
the successful candidates.
Monday three researches re
ported that they have found that
the use of the hallucinogenic
drug, LSD (lysergic acid die-
thylomide), does not cause sign
ificant changes in the chromo
somes tested. They also added
that further research in this
field is needed.
A concert in Garber Chapel,
featuring two pianists familiar
to the Wesleyan campus, was
held on November 4, 1969 at
8:15 p.m. William and Thelma
Sasser put on the two hour per
formance to an audience which
filled the Chapel.
The concert began with “Vi
vace from Violin Sonata in D
Major,” by Vivaldi, arranged
by Mr. Stryker. The piece was
very fast and had a light ending.
It seemed the perfect opening
piece, because it put the au
dience at ease and prepared
them for the rest of the recit
al.
The second duet was “Sonata
in G Major for Two Pianos”
by Bach, with two movements,
Allegro and Tempo di Minuetto.
With this work, the listener
had little trouble picking out
the conversation between the
two pianos. Dr. Sasser played
the grand piano, supplying the
bass or rhythm, while Mrs.
Sasser answered with the tre
ble on a smaller piano, thus
completing the conversation.
For the next piece, which
was “Variations on a Theme
by Beethoven, C^us 35” by
Saint-Saens, the Sassers swit
ched pianos. These variations
were on the long side, and
some people in the audience ap
peared to be itching for the
intermission, which follow
ed this piece.
After the intermission. Dr.
Sasser again took his place
behind the smaller of the two
pianos as Mrs. Sasser sat be
hind the larger, and started
with “Aria and Toccata for
Two Pianos,” by Norman Joio.
The aria was, naturally, shower
than the toccata, which was
quick and sharp and slightly
dissonant in spots.
The next selection was awork
written by Wesleyan’s own. Dr.
John Davis. Its title, “Short
Suite for Two Pianos”, is ap
propriate because it is a suite,
consisting of three movements;
Fast, Relaxed, and Very Fast.
The suite, though tonal (if ato
nal means contemporary) had a
very new sound to it and stood
out from the other pieces. It
had a quick surprising ending,
which caught the listener plea
santly off-guard.
The last piece was one by
Rachmaninoff which was “Suite
No. 2 for Two Pianos, Opus 17.”
It had four parts; Introduction,
Waltz, Romance and Tarantel
la. For this piece the Sassers
again switched pianos. The
piece was quite romantic and
seemed to satisfy most of the
audience.
Then the show seemed to be
at an end and Mrs. Sasser was
presented with a bouquet of
(Continued on Page 4)
Dr. Sasser closes duo-concert
with second encore.