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THE DECREE
MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1970
Over Troubled Water
By J. ALLEN WINTER
My study motto is, “never do today what you can put off
'til tomorrow.”
Man’s state of mind distin
guishes the farce of the ro
mantic from the absurdity of
the realist. The assimilation
of a body of people is charac
terized by a state of mind. At
present the mind of Wesleyan’s
clubs is stale and farcically
absurd. How long will the clubs
at Wesleyan exist just for them
selves? How long will the drift
wood of our society at Wesley
an be allowed to saunte the
path of emptiness? As long as
our mind as a community al
lows them that opportunities,
this must be the answer and our
state of mind.
The most stagnant of groups
on this campus is the Inter-
Club Council, A coordinat
ing body that can do so much to
ferment an enthusiastic Wes
leyan, a body that can organize
and develop as in the past, has
too infrequently, yet empha
tically shown the presidents of
our organizations are select
Editorial
Senate Committees
Orientation Rebuttal Begin Yearns Work
Hast week we criticized the orientation program that was fol
lowed this year and perhaps failed to make any constructive
suggestions for the situation.
We_shall proceed from that point. First, let us suggest that
the orientation committee m:ght consider the purpose of orien
tation and establish a code of guidelines to follow. We comment
ed last week that placing m ich emphasis on entertainment was
hardly to be considered orientation. This does not mean that
entertainment does not have a place in orientation period, but
contrary to one committee member’s observation, we do not
agree that the primary purpose of orientation is to prevent home
sickness.
By establishing these guidelines of purpose, the committee
could pursue the task of acquainting freshmen to the campus
with a format that would provide for personal and academic as
well as social guidance during the first week at Wesleyan.
One of the things that we felt ought to have been included this
year was the much neglected tour of the library. Some members ■
of the orientation committee have said that the tour was drop
ped from the agenda because of lack of interest. Perhaps, if
lack of interest is shown in a cut and dried tour of our research
facilities, the committee could organize an academic session
where fresh could discuss perspective major subjects with upper
classmen of those majors.
Many freshmen have commented that very little personal in
terest was shown in them, and that the feeling among the com
mittee mt'mliers was sometimes rather cold. Speaking construc
tively again, let us say that we are not condemning the committee
for a lousy job. We are saying that the aim.-? of the orientation
may not have been what were needed. We are not denying that
many man-hours went into ttie planning and executing of this
three day period. We are merely saying that perhaps greater
emphasis should have been placed on academic and personal
orientation.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ed Gunter,
President of the Senate, re
ports to the students on the first
Senate meeting. Ed will be post
ing the Senate happening every
week in this column.
Elections Committee action
started when Allen Winter and
the elections commission met
this year. The student parti
cipation 85 to 90% of our stu
dent body in the last election
was the highest percent ever.
When this support was express
ed, the Senate began its first
long awaited session.
Within twenty minutes of the
opening session, the Senate was
completely organized intospe-
cial committees to begin work
on the problems and issues of
1970-71, The Constitution com
mittee was formed with the ap
pointment of Doug Kozlowski
and Linda I,and as co-chair-
men. Their purpose is to serve
as advisors to the Senate on
all constitutional changes.
Steve Pierce began serving
‘his second term as chairman of
the Grievance committee. This
committee acts as a sounding
Another May Term ... (yawn)
% DR, JOHN S. DAVIS
And so seemed the attitudes
of the students assembled today
(Thursday, October 1) to dis
cuss and suggest May Term
projects for the end of this
year. Here was a possibility
for each student to put forth
a proposal that the faculty teach
a May Term project in the par
ticular -area of the student’s
greatest interest, and what was
the result? The few of you who
attended the meetings saw the
result: two or three desul
tory suggestions by two or three
students. “Why not have a
course in Mythology?” “Why
not offer more courses in En
glish?” “Why not take a miisi-
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cal group on tour?” It seemed
as if students are missing the
whole purpose of the ^^ay Term,
which I see as an opportunity
to do something which you are
unable to do during the two re
gular semesters.
Let’s look at the catalog.
“GROUPS Csic) STUDIES
PROJECT. Any Given Term.
1-3 Semester Hours. Under
the direction of a faculty mem
ber, students may be organi
zed into seminars to pursue an
area of special interest for
elective credit”
Instead of trying to squeeze
these courses into the May
Term, why not take them dur
ing the regular academic year?
Find out what wants to study
Mythology and go to Dr. Tea
garden or Mr. Haggard or Mrs.
Pennington and say, “Hey! We
want to study Mythology and we
you to teach us- Will you'-’”
and you’re in. Go to Mr. Mi-
zelle and say, “Hey- We want
to take a Group Studies course
in Middle English so we can
swear like tlie Wife of Bath-
Wili you do it?” and you’ve got
it. Go to Mr. McCoy, Dr.
Sasser or me and say. “Hey-
Let’s tour!” and you’re off.
The -Minimester should be a
time of total involvement. If
you want to spend twelve hours
a day in a Chemistry labora
tory, do it! If you wanttospend
ten hours a day doing profes
sional caliber rehearsals for
a theatre production, jump in!
If you want to take a field
trip, whether it be to Tarboro,
Mexico, Carnaby Street, the
salt-water marshes of North
Carolina, or gay Paree, great!
If you want to get involved in
community service projects 24
hours a day go to it! But
don’t let this great opportun
ity pass you by. Don’t let
the May Term be “just ano
ther semester,”
If you have a pet project,
or just a strong interest in
some particular area, take it
under Group Studies, But if you
can think of something you want
to plunge into, to totally im
merse yourself in, quick! Write
it down and send it to the ap
propriate faculty member. Re
member that address: A[)pro-
priate faculty member, NCWC,
Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
And if you send it in today,
we will give you. absolutely
FREE! an exciting, stimula
ting, academically and person
ally rewarding May Term at
Wesleyan.
board for student complaints.
The traditional Food Service
Committee is under the direc
tion of Glenn Rhodes and Beth
^eake, but the issues of this
committee are far from tradi
tional this year. The Senate
Rules Committee is under the
direction of Dave Forrest and
Wilbert Harrison.
Three new committees were
organized outside the Consti
tutional committees to workto-
wards immediate issues. The
Patio Committee was formed
under the direction of Joe Vin
son and has already started
making plans toward an impor
tant campaign. Details on this
campaign will published later.
The Senate has organized its
first Communication committee
directed by Carol Di Blasi and
Debbie Jennings. It will aid in
direct communication between
the S.G.A. and the student body.
Finally through President Bob
Leyda’s proposal, a committee
was established to investigate
all dormitory rules and regula
tions under the co-chairman
ship of Becky Frankel and Joan
Afertin. This committee will
consist of two representatives
from the Senate, two faculty re
presentatives, the dorm presi
dents, and one student from each
dorm. A complete survey will
be taken of student opinions on
the existing regulations. New
proposals will be developed to
support the feelings of concern
ed students,
I wish to remind everyone that
the Senate is dependent on stu
dent involvement and student
support, and Senate meetings
are open to all students.
President of the Senate
Ed Gunter
leaders use the council that
could organize to be of valuable
rewards? At present we must
point up last year’s weakness
es in order to create this co
ming year’s strengths. The lack
of student participation at dan
ces, the catch word of a suit
case college, the stale atmos
phere of “just” being in Rocky
Mount--these were the facts of
last year’s students. For, as
each year does begin, this year
has the earm?jk of a refresh
ed student body enjoying Rocky
Mount as well as N.C.W.’s cam
pus. To enjoy the campus stu
dents have reached to the or
ganizations on campus. And in
return the organizations should
reach back--back to the streng
th the Inter-Club Council can
display.
Yet as I write I realize that
criticism is unfair to a great
extent. For there is no chair
man, the council in the past has
been a convience for the Ad
ministration—when ever there
is distance among the students
this council has been finding a
solution. This reason to aid
the administration is a good
one and one that I hope will al
ways exist. Yet that singular
denominator cancels the coun
cil to an empty set. The empty
set will exist, too--as long as
the council lingers without a
chairman. An established for
mat of meeting times should be
set and a few of the clubs
now in existence should be dis
solved. Once these measures
come about then unfair criti
cism may be extinguished and
fair action developed.
Recently the Orientation
Committee was attacked not just
by the words of the DECREE
but also by the words and ac
tions of the student Life and
Services Committee. The
thought of criticism is deve
loped from the belief that an
academic and social settingwas
not adequately presented to
freshmen. The acquaintance
with a community rather than
segmental classes is the pleas,
yet the plan to present an orien
tation that could do this has
yet to be devised. An Inter-
Club Council that could bring
the students into a community
rather than separate classes
may hallmark the resourceful
ness of the council. Propose
to your presidents of your or
ganizations these and other
ideas. And through your state
of mind Wesleyan may become
actually beautiful.
Letters To The Editor
Dear Julie,
Without involving myself in
a philosophical discussion of
the goodness of man, Iwould like
to expound upon the subject of
dishonesty, I think that every
one realizes that such conduct
exists on our campus but I
wonder if anyone realizes the
extent of the thievery on this
campus.
There are many varieties
of stealing. The courts dis
tinguish between them by as
signing different penalties. So
ciety make distinction between
the types of items stolen, the
frequency of the act and the
attitude of the thief. Academic
communities have their own
peculiar brand of theft: plaga-
rism. But few acknowledge a
second kind that is also uni
quely academic: textbook stea
ling.
In general, the object of such
a theft is either the college
bookstore or a student, I am
aware that students brag to
their cronies that they have at
tended Wesleyan for such-and-
such number of semesters and
have never had to purchase a
book. They have also been
known to tell tales of getting
their extra spending money by
stealing books they don’t need
and Selling them back to the
bookstore.
The bookstore takes precau
tions just like any other busi-
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