THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1976
THE DEGREE
PAGE 5
Shiloh*s Space
As I’m sure most of you do, I
often find myself asking the
question, “What am I doing
here at Wesleyan? Am I reaUy
here to get education through
Christian thought like the
president says, or am I here
only to get my hands on the
four year B. S. degree which
society deems essential in any
sort of advancement in its
strada?”
The problem with this
‘thought’ line is that first you
have to define “Christian
thought.” Now being a very
unreligious person like myself,
(sorry all you Bible-belters), I
have to rely on my own
interpretation of someone else’s
idea on “Christian thought
education.” I don’t know who
this “someone else” is, but since
the president hands down the
commandments from this
“someone else,” I will use him
as my figurehead.
Christian Thought. Those
two words really sum up the
major difference between Wes
leyan and another non-sectar
ian college. What does “Chris
tian thought” really mean
though? Does it mean that the
sexes should be separated from
each other by library, class
rooms, an administration build
ing, 1 student union, and 1
infirmary? We have two very
distinctly different societies at
the north and south ends of our
campus. It may not seem that
way at first, but think about it.
Here in South dorm we have an
all-male society. We get up in
the morning, go to our classes
and mingle with people and
girls. After classes are over we
go to dinner and mingle again,
this time with girls from
on-campus.
You would hardly realize it
though because you never get
to see or talk to them half the
time because they’re so inac
cessible.
Yes, you can take one out on
a date but the average college
man’s wallet doesn’t allow this
but once every so often. I can
hear the president now, saying,
“Well, you can meet at the S.U.
or the library,” but how cold
and impersonal these two
meeting places are and besides,
they close at 10 p.m. What are
we supposed to do at night
after 10? Study I guess. How
about on weekends? The two
fore-mentioned meeting places
are now gone after a certain
pre-dusk hour. What are we
supposed to do on weekends?
Go Home? That’s fine for all you
suitcase college students, but
what the ones who are from
Mass., New York, Florida,
Penn., New Jersey? They can
hardly go home for a weekend,
especially if they don’t have
cars.
At the beginning of the first
semester we were told that
“date rooms” would be provid
ed for us in either one of the
two empty dorms or the
infirmary. That would have
been a little better than the
way it is now, but due to the
apathetical attitudes of both
the students and especially the
administration, nothing has
been done about it. It was
September when the idea came
up, it is now February.
Promises, promises.
Upon entering college, my
goal was to be prepared for the
big world outside in every
respect, including social. If my
eyes don’t deceive me, I don’t
see a society in which the two
different sexes are forbidden to
enter each others’ habitat.
From what I’ve seen of the
outside world, you can invite a
woman over to your house to
talk, listen to music, study
together in privacy, and to have
an overall good time. It doesn’t
mean that every time a woman
steps upon your domain that
you make love to her, as some
people or person seems to
think. I just can’t see a healthy
attitude towards the opposite
sex evolving from a closed
dorm policy school like ours.
We’re not to the point of a
situation found in institutions
such as a prison, but I daresay
we are nearing it. As I go
through the dorm, I find men
who are more comfortable
around me than women and
after spending a period of time
at this school where Christian
thought dictates closed dorms,
they find themselves preferring
to be around men rather than
women. They know how to act
around men but when a lady is
around they either show
animalistic tendencies or they
become very introverted and
self-conscious.
If Christian thought is where
men and women are to be
separated by lock and key, and
if Christian thought is to think
the only way you can really get
to know the opposite sex is by
taking them out on dates—pres
sure situations where you have
to be right the first date or you
don’t get another, if Christian
thought is where men feel more
cozy with other men and
women with women, then I
think we are there. We,
resident students, are thinking
Christian thoughts. That’s the
interpretation of Christian
thoughts seen through the eyes
of a very typical Wesleyan
resident student.
What am I doing here at
Wesleyan? I again ask myself
the same question. I could go to
another school where the go
verning body of administrators
aren’t so hung up on their ideas
about morals. After all we all
know that as soon as women
are allowed in men’s dorms,
there will be orgies and
increased drug use. (“I don’t
understand why all you young
people think that the only way
to have fun when you’re
together is to have sex.”)
So we must prevent it. Close
the dorms during all hours. No
women allowed in men’s dorms.
That’s final. No mothers,
sisters, aunts, friends wives,
girlfriend, no one. No female at
all is allowed in the men’s dorm.
It’s all right to get high off beer
and other such things in the
dorms, if we don’t catch you,
and we won’t try. But women?
No. Definitely not. No natural
highs, we’d rather see you use
drugs. We’ll sell you porno
graphy in the form of PENT
HOUSE and PLAYBOY in the
campus bookstore, but we don’t
want to catch you with women
in your rooms. That’s final.
“Don’t you be the example.”
Ask not what your college
can do for you but what can I do
for my college. It is what you
make it, just as you are what
you make myself. And in trying
to make myself ready for the
real world outside, I will have
to move on to another institu
tion more suitable with my
ideas about morals. Until then,
I will sit back and laugh at the
people making these moral
judgments that affect our
everyday lives here at Wesley
an, but in no way affect theirs. I
certainly hope there are enough
devout Christians in these
United States who would like to
come to a sexually seg^regated
school to get an education. This
school does offer 22 department
majors, a wide selection.
This school doesn’t seem at
tractive to me anymore, and
like the president said for me to
do in his first semester’s rap
session in the gym. I’m going to
leave. I just hope for your sake
Wesleyan, that you don’t find
yourself shut down again. This
time due to lack of students.
The lack of students would be
caused by these religious regu
lations imposing upon us by
some unknown supreme being.
I hope y’all heard me out
there in Bible-belt land. If you
did, respond. Remember, this
article is only one man’s opinion
until confirmed by others.'
Show some life, Wesleyan stu
dents. Yes, you my friend. That
finger is pointing toward you. I
know there is still some life in
you.. All we need is a spark to
ignite the flame and before we
know it we’ll have a bonfire.
Well, I’ve said enough, so I’ll be
signing off for a while. Later.
SHILOH
Space
donated by .. .
Society of .. .
dedicated . . .
of breeding . . .
the tar . . .
Just
Wesleyan College. Is it a
commuter community? Or is it
a community of resident stu
dents? Or, is it both? Or, can it
be ONE community?
If this question is not one of
initial concerns to the students,
faculty, and administration,
surely North Carolina Wesley
an College is headed in the
wrong direction.
It seems to me that the
student body is one of the
groups to be consulted on any
problem, especially those ques
tions that concern the students.
I hope the resident students
have hot forgotten the loss of
Open Dorms in September. You
will recall the manner by which
it was done. The action was
taken without student consulta
tion. There was no opportunity
for students to express their
opinions until after the edict.
All we can do now is to work
towards regaining the right or
shall I say the privilege. This
matter does not have much
effect on the day students and
for this reason it does not seem
to concern them.
The failure of the student
government is another major
problem that confronts us. Let
no one misunderstand me, the
students are the primary rea
son for the failure of the
student government. The
group has in essence disbanded
due to lack of interest. The
Student Senate has only once
had a quorum.
If you sit down and really
think about it, would the
student government have any
power if it did exist? The power
of the student government
disappeared with one event.
The loss of Open Dorms, which
the S.G.A. fought so long for,
destroyed the concept of
“power” in the S.G.A. There
are few political issues on this
campus in which the students
can become involved.
Whatever the reason was for
the fall of the S.G.A., the real
issue is the restoration of the
organization. The only way this
can possibly happen is to give
the day and resident students a
vocal and an active role in the
SQcial and academic life on
Ask
campus. I challenge the admini
stration and the financial sup
porters of this institution on
this issue. I ask them to
consider it. Surely an inactive
student government is not a
very positive attraction to
prospective students.
With the loss of Open Dorms,
we also lost much of our social
life. Hall parties were inex
pensive and very inducive to
keeping resident students on
campus over the weekends.
I consider a college education
to incorporate far more than
just the academic enlighten
ment of students. College
should also be a place where
you learn to live with other
people. It should be a time
when one learns what sort of
self-control and self-confidence
one has and a time of social and
academic “experimentative.”
By no means am I professing
the abolition of all rules and
regulation. Society has regula
tions to live by and so should a
college community. I do ask for
meditation and compromise in
regard to the wishes of
institution’s hierarchy and the
wishes of the students.
If the resident students fail
to obtain a more representative
voice concerning student af
fairs, then there soon will be no
more resident population. Our
Wesleyan might just become a
day school. With the loss of
resident students it is possible
that school might fold. I would
hate to see this.
The faculty here is probably
one of the best in the area. I am
asking that our social environ
ment equal the classroom. I also
ask that the “school” allow the
students to express their views
as freely as the faculty allows. I
request that the “school” listen
but also to act responsibly
toward the student population.
I believe that if the resident
and commuter students work
toward a revitalization of this
campus, with the support of the
administration, this goal can be
achieved. This goal can be
accomplished only after student
unity has been established.
By SANDY SAUNDERS
I’m Wondering If Where I've Been Is
Worth The Things I've Been Thru
James Taylor