iHaroon 3c ^nlJi
MARCH 13, 1970
Editorials
Important Issues for Senate
Swift ■ But Just?
By Larry Sage
It has been oft quoted that the process of law is swift and just.
At Elon the process is swift but as to whether or not it is just is a
very significant question.
The swiftness of the school to press charges against four mem
bers of the staff of the new Veritas, a liberated press, was amazing.
Three students were charged with the use of obscenity and the
other as being the editor, therefore responsible for the entire news
paper.
However, the entire staff acknowledged the fact that they were
all responsible for the newspaper but it seems that the judging body
of the hearing assumed that one person was the editor, thus the charge.
On the question of obscenity, it should be interesting to see how
the judges define the word and see whether or not it is coherent to the
established law defining what obscenity constitutes.
The committee decided to suspend these “criminals,” who refused
to enter a plea without legal advice, until such time as these four
decided to stand trial.
Hopefully, now that they have indicated their willingness to
stand trial, these four students will receive a just trial from the
Honor Court and be found not guilty because the charges are ridiculous
under the concept of law.
However, it is becoming more evident that students at Elon, par
ticularly a certain segment, are under a different legal system than
guaranteed in this country—laws that are made up and enacted in the
minds of those who judge.
Freedom of the Press
By A1 Zink
In the March 12, 1970 edition of the Veritas, the Maroon and
Gold was called a censored newspaper. The Veritas staff is greatly
confused between what they like to call censorship and what we
call—excuse the out dated term—standard of quality. In particular,
we would like to answer the statement that “Miss Marilyn Spencer,
the faculty advisor, censors all material which may be offensive or
against the administration.” We suggest that the author of this mis
informed article come by the Maroon and Gold office and read some
of our past editorials; in fact the Maroon and Gold supported in its
editorials both the aims and objectives of the Moratorium and the
reinstatement of Professor Mike Smith. This was hardly the view of
the administration.
It might be a good idea to check the facts and get both sides
of the story before the pen is put into action. Yes, the freedom of
the press is a great thing, but its abuse makes a mockery of the
intent.
The Elon College Student Sen
ate was busy this week with a
full slate of bills and resolutions
on many important issues.
The session began with a report
by Phil Larrabee on the recent
meeting of the State Student
Legislature in Kaleigh. After a
brief financial summary, he an
nounced that the Elon delegation
had been awarded honors for the
best delegation among the 30
schools represented and as runner-
up for the best bill presented.
This was the first time that a
small college had received both
of these awards at once. Besides
the formal awards, Mr. Larrabee
stated that the Elon delegation
was consulted and praised by
many individuals from other dele
gations. Mr. Larrabee received
a round of applause from the
Senate for the outstanding job
he had done to make our delega
tion such a success.
Mark Jordan now had the floor
and reported on the activities of
the Honor Court concerning the
“Veritas” issue. He announced
that the administration had given
the responsibility of trying the
students involved to the Honor
Court. He also asked that the
Senate take no action on any
bills or resolutions affecting this
issue to protect the rights of the
individuals accused and to afford
them an unbiased trial.
S.G.A. President, Lee Loy,
spoke next on his appointment of
Marvin Morgan to fill a vacancy
which existed in the Honor Court.
He again stressed the fact that
no undue pressures should be put
on the Honor Court in the
“Veritas” issue.
The Senate now acted on pend
ing legislation and passed a bi
which would allow students hold
ing a 2.5 cumulative average to
take six hours during the Winter
Term. Permission to participate
in the program would have to
be obtained from the student’s
advisor and head(s) of the de-
partment(s) in which the courses
are offered.
The next bill passed would
allow students with a junior or
senior standing, holding a 2.0
cumulative average to live off
campus.
The Senate also approved bills
authorizing the appropriation of
$125 from the S.G.A, bus fund to
purchase a new filing cabinet for
the attorney general of the Honor
Court and the appointment of
Lindsey Wyatt as chairman of
the Student Affairs Committee^for
the remainder of the 69*70 S.G.A.
Letter to the Editor
By Richard DeLowery
administration.
Many important resolutions
were offered from the floor.
Dormitory students will be in
terested to hear that one resolu
tion would allow co-ed visitors in
both men's and women’s dormi
tories on Saturday and Sunday
between 12 noon and 5 P.M. It
asks that the policy begin on a
conditional basis for the rest of
the Spring semester. A joint
student faculty committee would
be appointed to evaluate the suc
cess of the practice and to report
to the student body not later than
October 1, 1970. After a lengthy
debate, it was decided to put the
bill into committee in order that
a detailed study be made. Im
mediate committee action was
urged so that the issue can be
presented to the administration
prior to the April meeting of the
As an average uninformed stu
dent at this progressively back
ward institution I would like to
know the rationale behind the
recent suspension of four con
tributors to Veritas. The supposed
'harge of obscenity is completely
without basia.
The First Amendment to the
Constitution dictates that Con-
“shall make no law . . .
abridging the freedom of speech,
press.’’ The Fourteenth
niendment requires that state
tutea on obscenity do not inter-
with constitutional rights of
e^resaion. In accordance with
® ourteenth Amendment the
eneral Statutes of North Caro-
a define obscene thusly: “A
is obscene if considered as
is r predominant appeal
° ' P''“''ient interest, i.e., a
“I or morbid interest in
nudity, sex or excretion, and if
it goes substantially beyond cus
tomary limits of candor in de
scription or resentation of such
matters . . Can a few isolated
words of profanity used for
emphasis appeal to the prurient
interest ? This seems to be an
impossibility even when worked
through a vivid imagination.
As citizens of the United States
and subject to the laws of North
Carolina as well as federal law,
the rights of these four students
should be considered. Pesistcnt
harassment by OUIt administra
tion could only alienate an even
greater percentage of students.
“Would you look around you
now and tell me what you see.
Faces full of hate and fear, faces
full of me.^^ —Chicago (C. T. A-)
board of trustees.
Another important resolution
urged the administration to re
frain from the policy of shuffling
professors’ teaching schedules
after registration and after the
beginning of classes unless it is
an emergency on the part of the
professor.
It was also resolved to urge the
administration to withhold the
grades of individuals who are de
linquent in paying class dues and
S.G.A. fees. They asked that this
practice be put into effect during
the current semester.
Finally, the senate passed by
acclamation the resolution to
commend the Elon College dele
gation at the State Student
Legislature for their fine effort
which brought numerous honors
to its members and the college.
Jordan Addresses Senate
(The following are excerpts from Mark Jordan’s address to the
Senate Wednesday night.)
“I have come here tonight in
the capacity of the Attorney
General to the Honor Court to
give to you—the Student Senate
— a complete updated report of
the issue that has grown from
the writing and/or publishing of
material containing obscene words
in the March 6, 1970 edition,
labelled vol 1., no. 1, of the
“Veritas Liberated Press.” I do
this with the consent and advice
of Dean Fletcher Moore, Presi
dent of the S.G.A.-—Lee Loy, and
Chief Justice of the Honor Court
— Pete Fleming.
“On Monday and Tuesday of
this week—Pete Fleming, Chief
Justice of the Honor Court, spoke
with Mr. Baxter, Dean Berry,
Dean Strum, and Dean Moore —
and they came to a general de
cision that the Honor ^ Court
would have jurisdiction in this
case if the Court made a formal
written request to Dean Moore’s
office to handle the case.
“On Tuesday at approximately
2 p.m. the four said students did
submit a written statement that
they would stand trial to Dean
Moore’s oflSce, and thus the tem
porary suspension was lifted by
the administrative committee.
“On Tuesday p.m. the student
members of the Honor Court, the
President of the S.G.A., and I
decided that for the best interest
of all the students on this campus,
including these four, that the
Honor Court would assume the
responsibility of the trial of these
four students. The charges
brought against these students
shall be the following:
“That each did act in an un
gentlemanlike conduct insomuch
as the writing and/or publishing
material containing obscene words
in the March 6, 1970 edition,
labelled vol. 1, no. 1, of the
“Veritas Liberated Press,” know
ing that said publication was to
be sold and/or distributed on the
campus of Elon College, and in
fact said publication was sold on
said campus.
“On Wednesday at 5 p.m. the
responsibility of the trial of
these four students was turned
over to the Honor Court and to
my office from the Administra
tion.
“Thus, I ask that this Student
Senate make no stand on
‘Veritas’ until such time as after
the trial. I wish that no political
power be influenced to cause for
this to be an unjust or biased
trial.
“Therefore, I ask that this
Senate take no action on Senate
Eesolution 70-3.1 or Senate Bill
70-3.1. This is essential to the
safety of the rights of the four
Elon College students.”
Four Staff Members of ‘Veritas’
to Come to Trial
By Larry Sage
This administration is rapidly
becoming an omnipotent regime
based on fear, using the power of
suspension as an ax, hanging over
every one’s head. This is an
intolerable situation and can only
bring the demise of our beloved
Elon. There only remains being an
impressive fascade with unthink
ing automators for students and
a gestapo like administration
censoring everything and then
programming the students.
“Some day you will see how
long we’ve waited for the time.
Show you how we died to get
together with you all.” —Chicago
(C. T. A.)
The martyrs have been created,
the time is NOWI
—Francis Hammond
Four students members of the
new Veritas staff, were suspended
after an administrative hearing
on Saturday, March 7.
Mark Shockley, Walter Kale,
and Dale Kaufman are charged
with the use of obscene languap,
and Randy Spencer as the editor
of the paper.
However, Tuesday afternoon,
March 10, the four students
siened statements indicating their
willingness to stand trial. They
were then reinstated, the date of
the trial being set for
day, March 18. The four will be
tried by the Honor Court, who
asked permission to do so.
At the hearing on the 7th, pre
sided over by Dean Strum Dean
Cry, Mr. kssell Mr Baxter
and Mr. Butler, the entire staff
of the Veritas entered a state
ment that said they considered
all the members of the staff
trial, because they were all re
sponsible for the newspaper
equally.
One by one, they were called
in before the hearing and asked
to sign a paper stating that they
were the publisher of the paper.
Bach one declined to sign with
out the advice of legal counsel.
The Veritas listed, as reporters,
two dogs. Tag and Head. A
comical situation arose when the
hearing unknowingly called these
names. However, when it was
discovered that they were dogs,
they were refused entrance.
Then the four accused were
called in one by one and each re
fused to enter a plea without the
advice of legal counsel.
After about 15-20 minute delay
the four were called in again to
hear the decision of the hearing.
It was decided that the four stu
dents were to be suspended until
such time they decided to stand
trial.
Twenty minutes later they were
called in again to receive state
ments regarding their suspension.