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Faculty Column
Veritas Introduces with pride, the new Faculty Column beglnn^g
In this issue with Professor C. Michael Smith of the English I^- I
nartment. We welcome all articles submitted to campus box 1635,
and we wiU go throu^ each department inviting ^
contribute. We sincerely hope that every faculty member will en- ^
lighten our p^sr with coniinents of any concftriu
Any small college must fight for survival and must sell itself in
a competitive market. Elon seems to have settled on two forms of
sales pitch, one of which is illustrated by the following encounter.
A cold day last winter. About to enter the old Carlton building
Pm stopped by a distinguished, middle-aged gentleman.
“Is this the library?” he asks. His northern accent is capped by
an unmistakable note of incredulity.
I nod.
He turns to a teenage boy who, previously unnoticed, emerges
from the shadows of the colonnades. “I’m sorry,” the gentleman
says to him, eyebrows raised in exasperation. “I never would have
brought you down here if Pd known it was like this.” They leave,
the boy, presumedly his son, traiUng an expensive camera from a
leather strapped wrapped twice around his wrist.
I chase after them to explain that the Carlton building serves
temporary duty until completion of our fine, new library in the
spring I lead them to the new structure, which they survey with
obvious pleasure. I wait to see if the father will pace off the (fi-
mensions. He doesn't, and I leave them there, both smiling, the
son snapping pictures for the family album.
No doubt similar incidents occur. They provide justification for
the diarrheic urgency with ^ich the college expands Its physical
plant The administration chooses to keep pace with buildings
(contracts to be let on two new facilities this spring) financed in
part through its increasingly publicieed and rather high-pcwer^
E-4 fund. Though one may question specific priorities in this
building program, the over-all need is difficult to refute.
There is, however, a second selling point both more based on
tradition and more open to question. It is argued that a small
school can use its very si*e to advantage. Students here can be
kept closer in hand, can be directed in their studies and personal
problems, can be kept away from such worrisome goings-on as
drinking and drugs and demonstrations. In short, the administra
tion can be “the folks away from home,” providing everything
from forced study period and carefully catalogued attendance
records to strict curfews for the young ladies.
Perhaps this sales pitch is the legacy of any small college, but
at Elon it seems to be a creed of the administraUon as well. This
is unfortunate, because though new buildings provide a definite
gain (whether or not they succeed in selling the college, they at
least can be used as buildings), the paternalism of the administra-
tion is actually detrimental. Students feel managed and clostro.
phobic, unwilling to experiment, and are unable to gain the feeling
of freedom which, quite rightly, they associate with college life.
Occasionally their hopes are stirred by some gesture like the
recent administration, student retreat, but such hopes are frus
trated by the realiiation that students have no real voice and by the
suspicion that the conference itself is intended only to pacify the
rebellious. Thus, not only are they forced into a child’s role inap
propriate to their years, but they also become cynical in the face
of administrative explanations and hollow gestures.
The paternalism towards students has an unfortunate corollary
in administrative.faculty affairs. At monthly meetings the faculty
rul)ber-stamps policy decision without having time for proper
deliberation. Most Important committees are chaired by admin.
Istrative personnel rather than senior faculty members, and a
mood of distrust toward teachers forms an undercurrent in ad
ministrative pronouncements. Faculty members are admonished
in the Faculty Handbook to beware of dismissing class early or
calling off a specific meeting, are told they are “expected” to
attend chapel once a week, are also “expected” to file office hours
with various deans. x . « *
The paternalism toward faculty has the same detrimental effect
as that toward students. One can only hope that the encouraging
improvements in the physical campus can be matched by a more
realistic and progressive attitude by the administration, ttough I
am frankly pessimistic. It takes no real skill to put up buildings.
Even fund raising is relatively easy with the aid of professional
counsel. The delicate problems of administration, student-faculty
relations, however, require more diligent application and more
thorough reappraisal. Some progress has been made, but we are
far short of such possible reforms as a student voice in teacher
evaluation and a combined policy-making senate of administrative,
faculty and student representatives.
And what of our camera-toting teenage visitor? We may justly
wonder what happens to him as a student here. After all, the pret.
ty, new buildings soon become commonplace; first impressions
dim; and he may find himself fighting against an academic en.
vironment which seems bent on stifling his drive for self-expres
sion.
Prof. C. Michael Smith
English Department
Coming Up Roses
By CAROL McKINNY
As I sit •''y dormitory room writing this editorial, I am in a
bewildered and agitated mood. I listen appalled at the complaining,
discontented Elon students with whom I ain in constant contact. All
around jpe I hear disgruntlement, disappointment, and disapproval of
Elon’s treatment of these students.
Where has the personal concern for the Elon Student gone? Am 1
to assume that, as in large universities, theiElon student is just a
Culture High
By DAVID SPICER
two one act plays and one mi , . ^ Larry Sage), told of
The first play, The Lgy.-naw which supposedly had
the White family, ^‘''®^LTh^itro)raer Wanting two hundred
the power of granting three wishes oits o^er B ^
pounds, Mr. mite finally ^ white then wished
Sder was appropriately
bert. His calm ""anner a^d poking humor
Si^iraSy to harass him, the homo-sapien finally went mad
immediately. He held their attention through the play, from ms
strueeles to get the water pitcher to his hilarious final s^ence, 1
which he did a beautiful job of cracking up,
Zch cre^t also goes to Jay Wilkinson, who directed the play ^d
eave the audience a few quiet laughs with his city alley «tastling.
Constantinople Smith, directed by Sam Roberson, blew my mind
and the audience’s too, I think. From the moment Dale Kaufmann (in
the title role) scared the hell out of the audience with his toistrous
entrance untfl the end of the play, it moved, '"oved moved. B^i^l y
a lousy written but weird play, it was about a guy that ^
bed with Christina, who is found in a garbage cm. Reality
-you can’t do something like that on stage and in front of everybody.
So then what? Do it symbolically, suggests Reality. So that s what
Christina and Constantinople do. Dale Kaufmann was excellent as the
sort of “anti-hero.” He had the audience howling with his interpreta
tions of lines and his reactions to the sly seductidns of Christina ^d
Reality He even talked to them and had them listening, something
which is verv hard to do here at Elon. Janet Svlvester nortrayed the
pink-cheeked, love loving Christina very well Her “you’re silly's”
to Dale were wacky and “ cute.” Rosemary Chiartas came on sexy
as a Playmate foldout with her minidress and her short shcrt hair.
The sauve sexy tone of her voice reminded me of the Noxzema take
it all ofP’’ girl. The direction of this play was very imaginative and
original. Sam explored new horizons in Elon theater by having Mott’s
apple sauce jars crack, passionate embraces, assorted music danced
to by sexy Fontayns of the “dirty jag” scene, and strobe lights flash
ing at a speedy speed-.horizons that may enable Elon to have a major
in drama next year. Encore!
Dear Beverly Axelrod
By RALPH MOORE
Black Power, is that soclo. economic movement calling for the
unification and liberation of all the Black People of the world. It in
vokes the Black Man to become a complete being and not some
assimilated half being.
The Black Man has an identity. I speak not of that shoe shining,
loud laugtiing, door answering, yes sirring, car washing, table wait,
ing, back dooring, white teeth showing identity the White Race has so
graciously bestowed upon him, but a true and black identity. Not that
sub-cultural quagmire the White Race has given him, but his own
black culture, his own black reality. I speak not of that “existence”
which calls the Black Man “boy”, forcing him to hide and flinch from
his true existence. Not that “existence” which eats at his soul every
minute he is alive and transcends through his grave. I speak not of
that hollow, empty, coldness super. Imposed upon him, simply because
he is black, but of a true and black soul. That soul which h^ thrown
off the humility of the past and lifted itself to its own fulfillment. I
speak of the inner black man, a being wiiich has never existed in the
white mind.
In the weeks to come I will attempt to aid the white mind in gaining
a better understanding of black culture. Also, I will endeavor to ex
plain the real theory behind Black Power so the gap that separates
the Black and White Races might l>e narrowed. It will suffice to say
here, that when speaking of Black Power, the usual reaction is that
of condemnation. That is, before the white community even begins to
feel into Black Power, it condemns it, a method the White Race has
^lied to anything with which the Black Race has been connected.
Contrary to general belief, speaking now of the White Race in gen
eral, Black Power is a positive force.
Black Power, consists of much more than what the white mind
might wish it to be. What you call your American Revolution, with
its hldious Boston Tea Party, the British might call a mass riot of an
unappreciative child. So let us not pretend that the Black Man is in
volved in something unprecedented in history, even “lily white”
American History. Black Power is, just as you have called the events
from 1775 until 1783, a revolution, but a very complex one. It en.
deavors to educate its people to theirownheritage. Is that a negative
force? As with every revolution it has its slogans, “We’re moving on
up”, . .Pm blackandPmproud”. Is pride a negative force? I think
not, for behind these slogans and that revolution, are a mass of peo-
pie; and this last word seems to be the key to the entire movement,
for we are PEOPLE, and we will be recognized.
Wednesday, November 13, iggg
Veritas
editiorial staff
co-editors
barton c. shqw
randall s. spencer
sports editor
charles t. butler
lay-out editor
raymond y. sorrdl
associate editors
dovid Spicer
earl white
advertising manager
linda 1. long
reportorial staff
ri chard beam
jay fisher
tom harris
cheryl hopkins
kathy mangum
margie mcclung
denny mcqulre
edward mcginnis
john mcconnell
carrof mckinney
morrow miller
onn patferson
nancy reger
bee sklpsey
bruce v^ashbum
barbara waugh
linsey wyatt
publisher
noel alien
Letter to
the Editor
Dear Editor:
There is a strange breed of
animal roaming about the to
Campus, a hybred animal subject
to double standards of obedience.
This animal my friends is not the
little grey squirrel or the laiy
brown hound oblivious to all that
goes on at Elon. This strange W
obvious animal is the fraternity
brother who lives in the frater
nity house that “jack” owns.
What exactly is the status of the
fraternity brother--com muter or
resident student? To any astute
observer this poses, a unlQue
question. If one will tWnk about
this hybred status it will become
obvious that a Uttle clarification
on the part of the administration
is In order. .. „
Many of the fraternity brothers
receive their mail with the com-
muters, and have to park off
pus with the commuters, which >s
really a pain in the neck and lor
those who buck theestabUshnient
and it can develop into a pau>
the pocketbook. It
rent in an apartment
being forced to parkWocteaway,
not in the area provided for ®
residents. The school has create
a great barren parWng lo s're -
ching from the library tothestt-
dent common, which is
only half filled, but still we
keep the other half clear fo M
visitors...BULL! Why not alg
the “halfbreeds” to park i
empty area since
residents, but yet cannot park w
the resident students lot.
If the fraternity brothers
going to be classified
muters it seems
that the school has taken the^
tion of landlord jegardto”
houses collecting their app
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