May 8,1975
The Pendulum
Page Three
Seniors Refuse to
Leave ^\on Anything
Class Isn’t Interestii^
(Or I Don’t Like the Professor)
An Open Letter to the Students
from the Senior Class Meeting:
j The senior class of 1975 met on
April 23 when the proposal of a
senior class gift to the school was
discussed. The class decided to
forego the traditional senior class
gift.
The class made this decision
not because of inadequate funds,
but because of the outcome of
the legislation presented to the
administration and trustees thus
far this year. This legislation
includes: a S2.50 increase in
student government dues that
was passed by the students but
defeated by the trustees; open
visitation in the men's dorms
comparable to the present
situation in the women's dorms;
cuts for upperclassmen with a 2.0
or better; allowing fraternity
houses to be used for social
functions; and lastly, drinking on
campus (which, as everyone
knows, already takes place).
Much of this legislation was
initiated by seniors and with the
purpose of providing all students
with wholesome and needed
changes in the students^ life at
Days of the American
Revolution will be close to the
hearts of the Elon College
community next year as history
professor Dr. George Troxler
heads the Elon College
Bicentennial Committee.
One objective of the
Bicentennial Committee for the
1975-76 calendar year is to assist
the Master Calender Committee
in coordinating programs related
to the celebration of the
Revolutionary Bicentennial.
“We hope to involve just
about all aspects of the college in
the effort,” Troxler stated.
Junior Preston Ruth, student
member of the committee, plans
to involve fraternities, sororities,
and dormitories in setting up
booths to add to the spirit of an
old-fashioned 4th of July
celebration scheduled for the
October 14 home football game.
The 1975-76 Lyceum program
By Paige Garriques
Elon’s PIRG is still plugging
away. But recently elected
President Randy Flynn says, "I
think chances are good for it
coming through next fall." All
PIRG groups find that their
biggest project is just getting off
the ground. Dean Theo Strum,
who will present PIRG to Dr.
Fred Young, is optimistic about
forming a group here on the Elon
campus.
Other NC PIRG groups have
proven to be effective in their
research projects. UNC-G PIRG
has surveyed all the major food
stores in the area and found
evidence of deceptive
advertising of specials. They
checked for the availability of
the product, its actual price
compared with the advertised
"special" price, and the quantity
which had been kept on hand.
They have taken their findings to
the state attorney general and the
Elon. We do not expect
everything passed by the SGA to
be accepted but do expect
proposals to be studied carefully
and progressive changes to be
made.
Alumni responsibility was the
second item discussed. All
seniors are aware of the financial
responsibilities that Elon will ask
us to provide in the coming
years. The feelings of the class
meeting are that we strongly urge
the college to make fair and
needed changes to satisfy the
personal desires and needs of all
students. If the college does so, it
would.seem that the class of 1975
will back Elon in all endeavors.
In summary, the feelings of the
senior meeting plead for sensible
and desired changes for the
students and the college. This is
not intended in any way to force
the hand of the administration or
trustees of Elon College. We
sincerely trust that our
suggestions will be well taken.
Respectfully submitted,
Tom Hall, Jr.
President of the Class of 1975
will include bicentennial themes
in three other programs: pianist
Fred Sahlmann, the
Fioremusicali Quintet and
Ciompi Quartet from Duke
University.
The Social Science Dept, will
sponsor a workshop on the
American Revolution for local
high schools. The Pi Gamma Mu
lecture will be given by Elon
alumnus Hugh Ranken. a
nationally recc^nized authority
and author of many books on the
military history of the
Revolution.
Ms. Terrell Cofield's spring
recital will feature American
music, and two of Jack White's
halftime shows during football
season will reflect bicentennial
themes.
Dr. Carole Troxler will write a
pamphlet on the N.C. Loyalists
for the Dept, of Archives and
History.
FDC.
All NC PIRG groups have
worked together on a study of the
impacts of a Beverage Container
Litter Act which would place a
minimum 5c deposit on all beer
and soft drink containers. It
would also allow for the
establishment of recycling
centers for metal cans and glass
bottles. In their research, they
found that the per capita
consumption of beverage
containers has grown by \M%
from 1959-69, but the actual
consumption increased by only
29%. The passage of this act
would mean a reduction of litter,
fewer solid waste disposal
problems, increase in
employment, and reduction of
energy consumption. Elon's
PIRG would be able to
participate in these projects.
"But first, we need more student
support in gelling PIRG
established," said Randy.
By Mildred B. Lynch
"The professor comes to class
unprepared."
"The class is so boring."
"Why do I have to take all
these dull courses just because
some stuffy, academic
administrator decided it should
be required?"
“What possible use will 1 ever
have for that course?''
"The professor is boring to
listen to."
"The professor expects too
much. If you aren't majoring in
the subject you shouldn't be
required to do so much."
"The professor won't let me
smoke or eat in class like some of
the others do."
"If I'm one minute late. I can't
get into his class."
"The tests aren't fair."
Do these sound familiar? Sure
they do. We've all heard them
again and again. We may have
said the same things ourselves at
one time or another. We may
have been justified in doing so,
too.
The mature Elon College
student will know the difference
in using these as excuses for
class absence and using them as
reasons for seeking counselors
and administrators to discuss the
problem with and find a solution.
Either we or our parents have
paid for this experience. If we
feel we have a legitimate
complaint about the manner in
which a professor is conducting
his class, we must not allow
ourselves to be cheated out of
what we have already paid for. A
tactfully inquisitive student may
Bill Phillips has been traveling
around the state lately with his
guitar and a tape recorder strung
under his shoulder. Just
bumming around? No, not
exactly. Bill has been touring
North Carolina public schools
for the N.C. Department of
Education and the National
Endowment for the Arts to
introduce to people a vanishing
art — folk music.
He was attracted to Elon to
demonstrate folk music and its
evolution to Dr. Eleanor
Moffett's English class, "Studies
in American Folklore."
With tape recordings, some he
has made on mountain back
porches. Bill traced the stream of
folk music from its headwaters in
isolated North Carolina
mountain enclaves where
English ballads are still taught
and sung, to where it has
broadened into Piedmont's
bluegrass.
Bill compared folk's evolution
to the growth of the guitar and
provide the spark that the
professor needs to rekindle his
enthusiasm for the subject. If
students do not attend regularly
and do not actively participate in
class sessions, the professor may
lose interest in trying to arouse a
group of dead-beats.
Learning is like any other
experience in human relations. It
involves two-way
communication.
If efforts to communicate our
feelings to the professor fail,
then we should go to our adviser.
No problem is ever solved by
avoiding it.
The problem of taking required
courses that we are not interested
in is not so easily solved. There
are a few things in life that we
should do because those who
have traveled the road before us
can see a need or value that our
limited experience has not yet
revealed to us.
Life and our place in society
and business are so uncertain and
unpredictable that there is hardly
any experience in learning or
living that will not at some time
be of value to us. This we must
accept by faith from those who
have experienced more than we
have.
If a subject is not interesting
we can usually find some aspect
of it that relates in some way to
something that does interest us.
We must be serious in our
attempt to find meaning or it will
elude us.
CHALLENGE; Demand that
you receive the education that
you paid for and' be in class to
collect.
anributed this growth to the
influence of the northern cities'
radio.
Once used only to provide
rhythm accompaniment for
vocalists, the guitar developed its I
distinguished position as a lead
instrument from the effect that
radio's sophisticated guitar had
on guitar pickers, bored with
playing rhythm. These guitarists
of the I930's discovered a
versatility and range never
known to them before radio.
Soon they were learning bar
chords and playing jazz, or
picking notes in what became
bluegrass.
Bill called the state’s
mountains a "goldmine for
traditional folk music," and said
North Carolina was "the most
influential state in the
development of bluegrass. " His
recordings of old musicians,
some long deceased, are helping
secure North Carolina’s
reputation in this segment of the
arts.
Symposium:
A Success
By Lance Latane
The crowd that attended the
"Play of Daniel" offered
obvious evidence for the success
of this year's Spring Symposium.
But success at attracting large
audiences to such a program is
secondary to the impact that the
program delivers to those that
attend, so faculty adviser of the
Liberal Arts Forum Dr. John
Sullivan attests.
"I think it shows that
intellectual and cultural life is
alive and well at Elon," he said.
Sullivan added that the
symposium, approaching both
the cultural and intellectual
aspects of the past, is "what a
Liberal Arts college is alwut."
The symposium let people
discover the middle ages through
the play, see the Renaissance via
sculpture, and capture the spirit
and mood of today with the help
of modem dance. Introducing the
past through various and exciting
media, he said, opened up area^
in people they didn't have
interest in. “It pushed the
frontiers of their interest and
widened their world by creating
connections with the past."
Linda Sullivan, a member of
the Liberal Arts Forum, added
that it allowed you to "time
travel" from the 12th century to
the present. The symposium, she
said, "showed that the Gothic
period has as much influence in
our life as today's computer."
Dr. Sullivan was "very
pleased" with the response the
symposium received from
students. He said the success of
the symposium came from
meeting the symposium’s
objectives. "That of showing
people that the thought and art of
other ages can help us discover
what it is to be human."
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Dr. George Troxler Makes
Elon Bicentennial Plans
By Debbie Cochran
PIRG Is Launched
Vanishing Art - Folk Music
By Lance Latane