PAGE TWO
THE CAMPUS ECHO
SATURDAY, OCT. 23, 1954
Self-Direcfion Is Re-Affirmed In
The Actions Of Last Week
. The students of NCC are grateful that the program of
Self-Direction encompasses the right of appeal. Although
this basic tenet of any democratic society is usually taken
for granted, it was the cause for much rejoicing last week.
For had not the right of appeal existed on NCC’s campus, a
grave injustice might have been done a citizen of the col
lege community.
This situation, which served as a compliment to the
philosophy that everyone has the right to appeal, grew out
of the refusal by the Dean of Women to endorse the sopho
more’s candidate for Miss Homecoming- When the mem
bers of the class learned of the action taken by the Dean,
and the apparent reason motivating this action, they felt
that their candidate had been done an injustice which could
be rectified by an immediate but well-organized appeal.
Democratic processes can be sufficient when utilized in
their most elementaiy form, but they are much more effec
tive when coupled with the force of unified action. The cam
paign which was staged was not instituted in lieu of the ac
cepted channels of appeal. Rather, it,was used to give im
petus and lend importance to the gravity of the situation. At
no time was there an attempt to contradict the basic doctrine
of the program of Student Self-Direction. The campaign
merely indicated that there is so much faith in the NCC
philosophy of appeal that the students have accepted its in
dispensability with sincerity and proceeded to give this doc
trine teeth.
The net result of the action taken by the Student Wel
fare Committee is more important in this incident than the
ramifications of this action. For although we do not totally
agree with the rationalizations which accompanied the Stu
dent Welfare Committee’s decision, it is fortunate that this
decision did not thwart such an earnest attempt on the part
of the students to exercise their right of appeal. It is com
mendable that the members of the Sophomore Class rec
ognized and took advantage of this opportunity to be self
directed.
The election results served to indicate that: (1) re
gardless of pre-election confusion, the student body did ap
prove of Miss Sykes; (2) any injustice that might have been
done was repudiated; and (3) the program of Student Self-
Direction with its powerful right of appeial is our most pre
cious heritage as NCC citizens. '
Miss Sykes, whom the NCC students have chosen to
represei^jrf-hem on Homecoiping Day, is i\o be congratulated
f^vyggl^Kng calm andjdlgnified throughlthe ordeal, :
iMsarythe lieturVing alumni can I# satisfi'eid thaffthe
program ^ Student Sel!f4Direction is not only growing in
age, but is also growing in strength and importance to the
NCC students.
Book Review
By C. L. GITTENS
Tlie Duty Of This Study Body
(Reprinted from The DAILY
TAR HEEL, University of
North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
N. C., October 8, 1954.)
Not a single graduate of a
Negro high school in North
Carolina applied for admission
to the undergraduate schools
of the University this year.
Some may have wanted to,
some may have looked from
their hometowns to this citadel
of North Carolina learning
and wanted to. But they did
not apply. They turned instead
to North Carolina College or
Johnson C. Smith or A. and T.
for their college educations.
And why is that? We believe
it is because they thought they
would not be welcome. Be
cause they felt as all of us did
upon leaving high school and
choosing a college — anxious
lest the school of their choice
be a formidable and unfriend
ly place.
That, we think, makes the
duty of this student body re
markably clear. A legal in
junction opening the under
graduate schools to Negroes is
already in sight. Before it
comes, we must find a way to
say to the Negro high school
graduates that we welcome
them, that they will find on
the campus of their University
a place where in peace they
may take up their books and
become a part of Carolina.
It will be to the enduring
credit of the students of 1954
if they do find a way to say
that, before the courts force
integration with sterner lang
uage.
NORTH CAROLINA COLLEGE AT DURHAM
The CAMPUS ECHO, official student publication at North Carolina; Col-
lege at Durham, is published monthly during the regular school year. AppUca^
tion for entry as second class mail is pending. Subscription rates: $1.00 per
school year.
Member
Pjsociotod Coilp6tcrt€* Pi'ess
,. w. SHERMAN Perry
EDITOR ‘ Retha Hughes
business George Griffin
MANAGING EDITOR ERNEST Waro
ADVERTISING MANAGER BARBARA BROADNAX
EXCHANGE ^ITOR BETTY Redejing
news EDITOR ■ ■ Iona Crawford
FEATURE E^DITOR ■ mebane, Charles Gittens
LITERARY ED TORS • ■ ■ ■ Yvonne Scruggs
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Charles Womack
SPORTS EDITOR JAMES Rainey
SECRETARY Horace G. Dawson
ADVISOR reporters
„ WHITE DORETHEA ARRINGTON, FORESTINA LINE-
ROBERT perry EDITH WH ^ COWARD. LORENZA CLARK. MILDRED
BERGER, WILDER. PEGGY
RUTHERFORD EMMA BULLOC J GREGORY, KITTY SNEED. BESSIE
^MONTgJmER?. WALTER N. DAVIS, MELVIN HOLLOMAN.
circulation staff
CLEAPATRA TURNER B?CK^T^ IRED^EU-A MEETZE, ROBBIE GRAHAM.
mi-AI_L!STER. LUREDEAN WATKINS, BETTYE
queen JOMNSO^N. GEN^^A WILLIAM N. BURNETTE.
The Moment Of
The Rose
By LUCY KENNEDY
This is love, intermingled
with a theme of bitter family
relationship. It deals chiefly
with two young people who
have had their share of mis
fortune and are now seeking
the peace and contentment
that they feel is rightfully
theirs. Tom Dorn is a young
veteran, hurt by -
the war, who
painfully real-^
izes the futility-'Vf''’'
of his desire to
attend medical
school; Cynthia
Abel, caught in
a web of circum-
stances wovenl
by life’s imcer-l
tainties, is living Gittens
an aimless and meaningless
existence. ^Imost as soon as
Tom and Cynthia meet, they
fall in love with each other,
but a dispute between their
parents concerning property
rights keeps them apart.
The situation is this: Glen
Abel owns half of a piece of
property known as The Island,
all of which formerly belong
ed to the Abel family. As a
consequence of poor manage
ment, he lost the other half of
the island, which now belongs ,
to Nick and Agnes Dorn. Abel
cannot reconcile himself to the
fact that,-.strangexs are living
on hi&I^XslijljH^ loves th^
land and i^vitallyf concerned
with what he considers to be
an invasion of property that
had been in his family for
many years. The Island is of
historical importance to him.
On the other hand, the Dorns
have few desires for owner
ship, other than establishing
themselves in a homeplace and
enjoying the security that
comes with owning a piece of
land.
Several incidents occur which
aggravate the antagonism be
tween Abel and Dorn, the
worst of which is an involve
ment over an oil well on the
property. Meanwhile, Tom and
Cynthia can do nothing to
alleviate the growing violence,
and find themselves in a
Romeo and Juliet relationship
on the rim of a feud.
In a fit of uncontrollable an
ger, Abel shoots young Tom,
and it is at this point that Lucy
Kennedy’s artistic ability
reaches its pinnacle. Skill
fully, the author maneuvers
Tom into such a position that
he easily can have Abel put
out of the way by informing
the authorities of Abel’s as
sault against him. When the
moment comes, out of his de
sire for peace of mind and
happiness, Tom has the insight
and the spirit to make what
he considers to be the right
decision. Although I have al
ready recounted much too
much of the story, I shall not
ruin it entirely by telling what
that decision is.
By no means is THE MO
MENT OF THE ROSE a great
novel. The plot is an old one
with a few new twists. One
may readily say that the au
thor’s style is at times un
even, but nevertheless, Miss
Kennedy has written a novel
of deep human interest — a
story that is entirely plausible
—which is well worth read
ing.
Peering Through The
Bir(Ts Eye
By “B O N NIE”
THE STAGNANT LINE
If something is not done
about the atrociously long
line in and outside of the Din
ing Hall each morning, the
discliplinary personnel are go
ing to be subjected to a stam
pede one of these cool, misty
mornings. It is absolutely
ridiculous for an individual to
arrive at breakfast at 7:00
A. M., only to be|
confronted by a*^
line, already^
long beyond any
stretch of the or
dinary imagina-?
tion, to invite^;
each student to ";
“one solid hour
of waiting for
your breakfast
pleasure.” Since
the SG Prexy is
the Dining Hall staff, perhaps
he will be able to establish
enough rapport with the man
agers to arrive at a workable
solution to this problem. I cer
tainly hope so.
CITIZENS OF TOMORROW
The most tangible indication
of progress toward a mature
realization of our duties as
citizens was evidenced in the
unusual proportion of stu
dents participating in the Miss
Homecoming election. If al
most 75% of the students felt
the need to exercise their
franchise, then we are indeed
^becoming educated in our pro
per roles as adults. Here’s
hoping that - this is just the
beginning of an excellent
practice. '
Bonnie
a member of
AROUND NCC ON OCT. 23
Since there will be a great
number of visitors on our
campus during the Homecom
ing Festivities, it would be
well that we again remind
them, subtly, that North Caro
lina College is a pretty nice
place to be. There is an addage
which says: “What you do
speaks so loud, I can’t hear
what you say.” This is parti
cularly important to those of
us who will become involv
ed in argufhents concerning
The school with THE student
body, and THE student body
with THE school. Perhaps if
we show our visitors through
respect, school spirit, interest,
etc., they’d believe us without
having to be convinced.
LUCK TO YOU,
Perhaps it is fitting that we
remind our football fellows
that, although the Homecom
ing game is an important
event in a way, we only ex
pect that they do the best
which they can, and beyond
that is out of all of our pro-
vences. If we win the game,
. .. fine. If we lose, . . . “That’s
alright, boys we’ll still remain
with you.” Put your best feet
forward and good luck.
NOT ON BREAD ALONE
I don’t think that it would
prove too injurious to the ma
jority of us if we considered
the Vesper service as a part of,
at least, our monthly diet. We
have a new minister, and the
choir is better than ever, as an
occasional visit will prove.
One hour is very little com
pared with 720 in each month.
THE SIMPLE GOSPEL
BY REV. P
College
One of the misconceptions
about religion is that it is
something simple. It is just a
few ‘don’ts’. Don’t drink,
don’t swear, don’t engage
in sexual intercourse, don’t
dance. Maybe a little more
than this but not much more.
And whatever else it is, it is
not something that requires
deep thinking and new learn
ing. Any child could tell you
what religion is.
This view, however, is a very
false one. It is just as false as
believing that all the knowl
edge of sex or politics is con
tained in bull sessions with
the local pool hall gang. Think
ing people would not accept
this as being true. Yet, some
of the very persons who would
reject the view that all one
needs to know about sex or
politics can be gained in a bull
session, often feel that the
whole knowledge of religion
can be secured from street con
versations about religion. They
are blind to the fact that re^-
ligion, like sex and politics,
involves a wealth of knowl
edge that comes only through
the discipline of hard, con
centrated study. As a conse
quence, they are apt to dis
miss religion as something ap
propriate for children and
fools but not for the educated
man. In actuality, childish
ness and foolishness do not be
long to religion but to their
immature attitudes toward re
ligion.
Paul once said, “When I was
a child, I reasoned like a child:
when I became a man I gave
up childish ways,” He ap
plied this to his religion and
the whole of his life. This is
the attitude that all of us
N. WILLIAMS,
Minister
should apply to our mature
powers of reasoning, realizing
that most of the great men of
history have done this. As a
result, some were led to re
ject religion, others to affirm
it. But everbody, whether re
jecting or affirming religion,
should do so on sound grounds.
During college, one has a
splendid opportunity to come
upon this deeper knowledge
of religion. One can do so
through reading in English
literature, and through inquiry
into the sciences. Psychology
and sociology are wonderful
avenues to a profounder un
derstanding of religion because
they tell us so much concern
ing the reasons for our indi
vidual and social thinking and
behavior.
A deeper knowledge of re
ligion will lead inevitably to
a desire for new ways of ex
pressing our faith. We will
want to fit religion into our
life as serious students of
English, the sciences, soci
ology, or psychology. The
Sunday School will furnish us
jvith new knowledge of the
contents of the Bible. The
YMCA and the YWCA will
give us an opportunity to ap
ply our faith to social prob
lems, and the Vesper pro
grams will give us insights in
to the significance of the en
tire religious enterprise.
Study, then, to understand
all of life, including its re
ligious aspect. Join a religious
organization in order to make
practical application of your
new knowledge. If you do,
you’ll discover that religion
is not as simple as some sim
ple people think it is.