January 31, 195^
MUto^dUf' Qcuuiidate Can
Witt ^ 3atftfuti Cleciiott
Under the present system of electons it is possible for an officer to
be elected who does not have the support of a majority of the students.
Any time three candidates are running in a final election, this may hap
pen. Let us say that Mary, Sue, and Betty are running for an office.
Mai-y gets 40% of the vote; Sue gets 3S.% ; and Betty gets 25%.
cording to the present system, Mary would receive the office because
she had a plurality, even though 60% of the students did. not vote for
her.
The correct procedure would be to have a primary vote between the
three and choose the two with the highest number of votes, in,thi§ case;
Mary and Sue. Then, a final election would be held and a simple ma
jority would decide the winner.
This is the only way that we could avoid the chance of having a minor
ity candidate in charge of a campus organization. Kach time that there
are more than two candidates on the slate for an office, there should
be a primary election and then a final election.
Primary elections were proposed at a recent meeting of the Student
Government’s committee for studying election procedures. The com
mittee will submit this proposal to the Student Council. If it passes the
Council, it will be sent to the student body in the form of a constitu
tional amendment for a vote.
It is necessary that the Student Council and the student body accept
this proposal, regardless of the extra work and time that it would in
volve. If it fails to pass, the success and the future of a student or
ganization may be jeporadized because its elected leader and her policies
were not endorsed by a majority of the members, resulting in lack of
co-operation, loss of enthusiasm, and absence of respect. For example,
think of whether or not you would like, to be represented by a girl who
had more people voting against her than for her.
Nuclear Ban Proposal
Tops In Soviet, U. S. News
Why Are We Here?.... Learning How
We Should Hold A Drink?.... Intellectual
Interest?.... Using It,... Someday?
U. S. S. R. AND U. S.
Foremost in the news lately is
the proposal for talks between the
Soviet Union and the U. S. Both
countries realize that there should
be negotiations, but the question
is raised as to how and on what
level they should be begun. In
two notes, the first on December
10 and the second on January 8,
Soviet Premier Bulganin proposed
a hroad summit conference. He
wanted to discuss disarmament, a
han on nuclear weapons, and mak
ing East and West Germany, Po
land and Czechoslovakia a nuclear-
free . zone. ,
President Eisenhower replied on
January 12.‘ He said mainly that
progress should be made in lower
level negotiations, on the ambas
sadorial or foreign ministers level
or at the U. N. before summit
talks take place. Since then Mos
cow has been trying to have talks
begin at the summit rather than
below. Krushchev sai din a speech
that a summit conference was
“very urgent”. He announced
that Moscow was ready to discuss
a ban on intercontinental ballistic
missiles if the West would agree
to liquidate overseas military
bases, end nuclear tests and put
a ban on nuclear weapons.
The State Department firmly re
jected this proposal from Moscow.
And there has been no reply to
President Eisenhower’s proposals
of January 12. There seems little
hope for a constructive outcome
of a conference between nations
who cannot even decide who will
attend and what they will discuss.
Mr. Dulles’ announcement to at
tend the meeting of the Baghdad
Council brought a scorching mes
sage from the Soviet Foreign Mi
nistry. He was accused of attend
ing the meeting to “force” the
Baghdad nations to accept nuclear
weapons and missile - launching
sites on their territory. Mr. Dulles’
purpose according to the State De
partment was “to show U. S. sym
pathy and support for the 'security
and independence of Russia’s sou
thern neighbors.”
The Baghdad powers (Britain,
Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey)
are meeting in Ankara, Turkey
this week. The U. S. is not a full
pact member, but Mr. Dulles is
attending as an observer. On Wed
nesday, the allies in the Bagdad
Pact establi.shed a combined mili
tary planning organization. This
may be the beginning of a unified
command in the Middle East like
that of NATO.
BILLION-DOLLAR PROGRAM
Speaker Sam Rayburn and
House Republican Leader Joseph
Martin, Jr. agreed that trouble
■could be expected in Con
gress for President Eisenhower’s
emergency billion-dollar education
program. The main part of the
program provides for 10,000 college
scholarships a year for four years
for high school graduates who
show ability in science and math.
It also, calls for government aid
to give fellowships 'to train teach
ers in these fields.
PEOPLE
Despite the efforts of her par
ents, British heiress Tessa Ken
nedy escaped to Havana with 'her
lover, Dominic Edives. After a
4,000 mile trip Miss Kennedy
found in Havana a law that al
lowed her to marry.
Rita Hayworth and producer
James Hill obtained a marriage
license this week. They plan to
be married early next month. This
(Continued on page three)
tide ^alemtte
1‘ablMiaJ avary Friday of tha Collaga yaar
by iba Stadant Body of Solam College
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Why are you here?
Because of the conventions of going to col
lege or because you want to find your own
identity? Dr. Harold Taylor, president of
progressive Sarah Lawrence College (no
exams, no grades, no required courses) was
quoted in the Miami Herald from a speech
he delivered at the Association of American
Colleges meeting last week.
“College women are victims of a wish for
security. They marry for it and they marry
early, without finishing college for it.”
Why are you at Salem?
To find your own identity with what you
really want, or to find security? The follow
ing articles written by two Juniors present
opposing views on the value of a college edu
cation for women.
Victorian Attitude Is
The Wrong Approach
Last summer I had an argument with a boy
who had just completed his fifth year and
second degree at Georgia Tech, and thus sup
posedly an educated person. We disagreed
completely on the purpose and value of a col
lege education for women. He felt that the
only reason a girl should go to school was to
find a husband' while preparing herself to
carry on a half-way intelligent conversation
while in public with him. He also thought a
girl during college should pick up certain
social graces, such as how to play Goren
bridge and what drink to order when. He
conceded the fact that some girls had enoiigh
ability to take their places in fields that men
previously had dominated. But these girls
he put off as failures socially; not at all the
type of girl to be a wife or raise a family.
From the conversation I made up my mind
that he was a mid-Victorian, narrow-minded
idiot. Since then I have met other men who
feel that what girls really need is a finishing
school. Personally, I think college should be,
not a finishing, but a starting school; and a
college education should prepare a girl, if
she has any ability whatsoever, for a, useful
and challenging occupation. Whether this
occuptaion is in the business or professional
world, or in raising a family, I believe that a
college education—I do not mean a diploma
per se-is a necessity. Most people nowadays
will agree that it is important for a girl to
be able “to do something in case of an em
ergency.” But I feel that this “emergency
exit” is being stressed entirely too much and
very little stimulus is given girls to develop
or acquire any definite ideas about a job after
graduation which uses their abilities. For
four years boys are constantly urged to pre
pare themselves to utilize their own interests
and abilities. Girls, on the other hand, are
always advised, “Whatever you do, get a
teacher’s certificate.” Then IF you don’t get
married right after you graduate, or IF
something should happen to: your husband,
you’ll always be able to get a job. It does
not matter whether you are interested in
teaching. This attitude, I think, often lets a
girl get out of (?bllege without having chal
lenged her a bit to investigate her interests,
the job opporturnties in that field, or the pos
sibility that she might like to work instead
of having to work because of an emergency.
Naturally I think that having a. home and
family is the purpose of every girl; but I also
think that often a woman could be a much
more stimulating influence on her family if
she had a challenging interest outside the
confines of her home. But whether or not
she ever enters the business world is not the
question. The important thing is that she
does not become bored with herself, or let
herself become boring to other people, es
pecially her family.
If a girl gets married the day after her
graduation and never works a day in her life,
it is still important for her to have taken a
course of study that has developed and added
to her interests intellectually. In fact, it
might be even more important in her case
than for the girl who does work and is in con
tact with business people every day. In a
home where the husband goes out to work
every day and the wife stays home caring for
the children, he continues to grow and to
develop. She becomes firmly set in a. dull rut
if she has developed no,other interests than
the everyday happenings of her home and
her bridge club. She falls behind her hus
band’s growth and no matter how much love
they have for each other their relationship
lacks something.
If she has developed her interests in liter
ature or politics or business or art or any
field, she is in a favorable position to en
courage her children’s interests and develop
ment.
I believe in a college education for girls
that stimulates the maximum development of
their abilities. These abilities may lead her
to an interest in teaching, a major in math-
amatics, or a degree in medicine, an appre
ciation of music, art and literature. I feel
that a girl should go to college to grow and
to develop her own specific interests, and that
such growth increases her chance ftir a happy
marriage, I think that sending a girl to col
lege to take a few courses so that she can
get a diploma, social graces, and thus the art
to ensnare a husband is a 'waste of her par
ents’ money and four years of her time!
— Ann Brinson
It Will Be Worth
It ♦, . Someday
It was five years ago 'when you first de
cided to enter college. “An education is
something every girl needs,” your father told
you, “you can learn a lot of things. Your
mother and I’ve been saving money and buy
ing stock so you could go to Meredith or St.
Mary’s or even Salem. Yes. Every girl
needs an education—makes you cultured and
makes you smart.”
You enrolled at Salem and began taking
courses—required courses in the fine arts—
history, English, Latin, music.
In your history class you learned about
Napoleon and the American Revolution. You
rushed to your 8 :15 class, after dropping by
the dining room at 8 :13 and relaxing over a
cup of coffee and scrambled eggs, and then
began taking notes. How fast the instructor
talked and how fast you had to take do'vvn
every word! By the end of the course a hard
wart had formed on your middle finger where
you had pressed your pencil against your
finger. But then you were educated about
how the Greeks were once the most powerful
empire, and it really didn’t matter whether
the appearance of your right hand was
ruined.—It would all be worth it—someday.
You took English—in fact you took six
hours of English. You tried to stay awake
in your American Lit class, even though the
teacher had a monotone, soothing voice tha
could easily effect sleep. Therefore, jo'j
tried to listen to the rhythmic scratching a
other students’ pens — (Dear Mother and
Daddy . . . ). Llowever, you did learn tha
Thoreau spent his life in the Concord pasture
watching the movements of the cows because
he was a transcendalist—and not because h®
had a hypo-case of kidney trouble.—Yes, i
would all be worth it someday.
You took Music Appreciation so that yah
could learn all of the works of the three B®'
You spent three to four hours each day tha
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