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THE DECREE
• FRIDAY, MAY 23, 1975
Wesleyan^s Manifesto-
We Will Stand Strong
For years North Carolina Wesleyan has
been in a very awkward position. We are the
“Castaways” of the North Carolina Con
ference of the Methodist Church. We have
played a secondary role in the higher
education plans of the church. We seem to be
of little significance when compared to the
air-conditioned auditorium of our counter
parts in Fayetteville. We even rate below our
Junior College counterpart in Louisburg.
Simply speaking we have had to go it alone.
Our support from the church has been only
monetary in the past. As soon as our financial
situation was revealed we were counted out
by the church. The only people who thought
otherwise was the faculty, staff and student
body of our school.
So we, the college, went at the problem
with all our resources. We put the issue of
who or what was to blame behind. Onward we
went with marathons, dances, and auctions.
As we did we formed a bandwagon full of
concerned Rocky Mount citizens and alumni
and friends all over the country. Our school
was rejected by the state but that did not
bother us because we didn’t want to become
part of the infinitely political state system.
Admittedly things have looked grim at
times. In fact, most of the time. Our goal has
seemed unreachable. The situation has been
difficult and very trying. Uncertainty piled on
uncertainty has been the rule causing nothing
short of complete frustration.
We have though, with the leadership of
Judge Carlton stayed in the fight and now it
appears that our fortitude is being rewarded.
Recently the City of Rocky Mount, in a town
meeting unanimously voted to raise funds
necessary to keep N. C. Wesleyan running for
at least three more years. Since then the
Methodist Church has met and in a dramatic
change of policy decided to raise $400,000 for
Wesleyan over the next two years. We are not
out of the woods yet but now there is a very
strong chance that with some more work we
will make it to our goal.
Our job has been tough from our inception
but we have consistently met the challenge.
The college exists now because it’s lifeblood,
the faculty, staff and students have willed it to
continue. N. C. Wesleyan will stand firm in
the future for just that reason. All of us here
at Wesleyan see things that are good and
worth preserving. We are far from perfect,
but it is because of that admission that we
grow stronger as a community of higher
education. We change with the times but
remain proud of our heritage.
In conclusion it can only be said that North
Carolina Wesleyan will stand stronger in the
future. We will stand that way because of the
support of our friends in Rocky Mount, our
alumni all over the country, along with the
strong willed Methodist ministers who rose to
our support when we needed it the most. We
at Wesleyan can rephrase Churchill by saying
never before have so few been so thankful for
so many! Finally it is as Dr. Jones said in class
one day, “The best time to buy stock is when
the market is down.” We the Wesleyan
community and our supporters have and we
shaU reap the dividends!
— Matthew Wentz
Read This!
says Al Horne
On Thursday, May 8th, all Wesleyan
students received a memo concerning the
open and flagrent violation of rules concerning
the use of alcoholic beverages on campus, and
the visitation of dorms by the opposite sex
during closed dorms. This memo, was
conceived, written and distributed by the
Dean of Students, Al Horne. When asked why
this memo came out with only three weeks
remaining in the school year, Horne stated
that the open disregard and violation of these
rules and regulations began with the
beginning of the May Term. “I did not like
having to send it out,” stated Horne, “but I
cannot tolerate wholesale disregard for rules
and regulations.” Dean Horne also stated that
he feels that the open use of alcohol is the
most important problem on the Wesleyan
campus. Horne fears that there is a problem of
alcoholism among some Wesleyan students. “I
feel that alcohol is a contributing factor to
other problems on campus,” stated Horne.
Dean Horne named a few of these problems as
being in the forms of broken bottles in the
streets and on the side walks, destruction of
school property, and general roudiness. When
asked to name some instances of the violation
of these rules, he cited an open bar in the back
of a station wagon between South and Edge
combe dorms one weekend, and the visitation
of males into the girls dorms not during open
dorms, via windows, and the same for the
girls into the boy’s dorm. He stated before
this violation of rules according to Horne
begins with the beginning of the May Term.
Horne stated that because of this violation of
rules and a few other factors, that there has
been serious consideration as to the
educational value of the May Term.
The faculty, according to Home; however,
has already voted to retain the May Term for
the seventy-five-seventy-six school year.
When asked if there would be any changes in
the present rules for the next school year,
such as the allowing of alcohol on campus, and
twenty-four hour open dorm, Horne replied a
flat no. He said there must be a change in the
feelings of the church towards alcohol before
it will be allowed on campus, and he does not
see that change in the near future. Horne did
state that he was looking for an alternative to -
the present open dorm policy because he feels
the present one is inadequate and out dated,
but as of yet he has been unable to find one.
These problems, and the open disregard for
rules and regulations have made it necessary
for Dean Horne to crack down on the violation
of these rules during the remainder of the
May Term. When asked if he was serious
about the suspension of students for the
violation of these rules, Horne replied that he
had to be serious.
— “Pig Pen” Peters
Vietnam, An American Tragedy
. Approximately 25 years ago Harry S. Truman obligated the
United States to an anti-communist position. In the Truman
Doctrine of 1947 he stated that, “it must be the policy of the
United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” Thus
began the Cold War. His policy was reinforced by strong United
States intervention in the Korean Conflict. Truman’s idea was
expanded on by Dwight Eisenhower when he said in the
Eisenhower Doctrine that, “the United States is prepared to use
armed forces to assist any such nation or group of such nations
requesting assistance against armed aggression from any country
controlled by international communism.”
So the United States entered the 60’s with an aggressive
attitude toward communism. Vietnam was a natural place for
United States intervention. The French had left earlier, suffering
from an exhausting and endless war. They negotiated a treaty to
gain some honor for seven and a half years of blood. The United
States then saw a necessity to enter to prevent the spread of
communism. First we sent supplies and advisors and then in 1965
we entered with combat Marines. Support from the United States
was strong. Congress backed the troop intervention and American
citizens applauded President Johnson’s actions.
Now we see that it was everyone’s fault that the Vietnam
tragedy occurred. We then expanded the war to tremendous
proportions involving billions of dollars in destruction and lives
lost by the thousands. No one knew in 1965 what Vietnam was to
become but it’s escalation caused Americans all over the country
to realize what a mistake our involvement was.
What we were all guilty of was carrying over the thoughts of the
50s into the 60’s. We did not look at the world situation
realistically. We grossly over-estimated our power to control the
world’s destiny. We stuck our noses out too far and got it’s end
chopped off. Now we are faced by the heavy burden of guilt and
are trying to rationalize by adopting South Vietnamese babies and
transplanting many other South Vietnamese on American soil. But
the mass removal of Vietnamese citizens is as unrealistic as our
military intervention years earlier. Our leaders are suffering from
a guilt complex as they well should along with the rest of our
country but we must overcome this feeling and learn from our
mistake of meddling too much in other’s affairs. Our president
seems more willing to move foreign citizens to the United States
and provide for them rather than facing the 8.9 per cent of
Americans who are unemployed. None of his proposed
$600,000,000 for the 70,000 Vietnamese will helpi our unemployed.
In conclusion, we, the American people, have a moral obligation
to help in any way to restore Vietnam through humanitarian
gestures. The airlift of Vietnamese to America has already begfun
and cannot be changed so we must make the best of the situation
and help them fit into our society. We must try to heal the wounds
though they can never be totally erased. Only time will rid us of
our guilt. We must recover and stabilize ourselves. It is up to us to
pick up the pieces and learn from our mistake, our “American
Tragedy”, and never pass that way again.
— Matthew Wentz
Legend has it that amber is formed from the tears of birds!
M\\t
OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF
NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
Editor-in-chief Susan Kelly
News Editor Sterling Bodenhamer
Feature Editor “Hank” Piacentino
Editorial Connie Bryan
Matthew Wentz
Sports Editors . Janie Morgan
“Pig Pen” Peters
Reporters Joe Shearn
John Conyers
Dean Rouke
Artist Cindy Holiny
Staff Advisor Charles Rogers
Business Address: Box 358, Wesleyan CoUege
Rocky Mount, North Carolina 27801
Opinions Published Do Not Necessarily Represent
Those Of Wesleyan CoUege