Page Two
THE SALEMITE
Friday, April 24, 197q
Reflections on the Future
Under the leadership of Dr. Gramley, the past twenty years at
Salem College have been progressive ones. Dr. Gramley has pre
sided over many successful projects, and he has pioneered im
portant changes. His resignation will leave vacant not only the
top administrative office in the college structure but also an im
portant position of influence.
Important decisions will be made at Salem in the next few years.
The new president will affect the direction Salem takes in the
future. He (or she) may be the decisive influence in important
issues such as curriculum changes.
Dr. Gramley's recommendation that the Board appoint a com
mittee including faculty, students, alumnae, and the Academy is
a wise one. Responsibility for decisions will lie on members of all
parts of the Salem community, and the committee itself will have
the advantage of a wide range of viewpoints.
Salem is preparing to celebrate two hundred years of past; we
must also think seriously about the future.
# •
Dear Editor:
Senator Attacks Pollution
Dear Friend:
The destruction of our environ
ment is a matter of urgent concern
to all thinking people. One of the
largest stumbling blocks to mean
ingful environmental repair is the
powerlessness of the American peo
ple to challenge, through legal
channels, those responsible for the
pollution that destroys our air,
water, and land. This situation
seriously handicaps the struggle for
a clean environment.
challenge administrative decision
making where it is lax or in the
implementation of environmental
policy generally.
We need all the support we can
muster and all the interest we can
generate to enact this important
measure. I hope you will help.
Enclosed is a copy of the state
ments made when the bill was in
troduced, as well as a copy of the
bill itself.
In recognition of the urgent need
to deal with this problem, I intro
duced, together with Senator Philip
Hart, S. 3575, a bill designed to
“provide every person with an ade
quate remedy to protect the air,
water, land, and public trust of the
United States from unreasonable
pollution, impairment, or destruc
tion.” It would do so by opening
up the Federal and State court sys
tem to anti-pollution suits by ordi
nary citizens against other citizens
or government agencies, and by
granting every citizen the right to
With all best regards, I am
Sincerely,
George McGovern
Committee on Agriculture
and Forestry
United States Senate
Washington, D. C. 20510
(Ed. note: The above letter from
Senator McGovern illustrates a tan
gible way in which citizens can
work to solve pollution problems.
Anyone interested in this legislation
may contact a staff member for fur
ther information.)
The symposium shoved me out
of a winter of introspection into a
re-aw'areness of social injustice; the
real jolt came wdien I suddenly
realized that I am a non-active
propagator of it. I speak in parti
cular of the non-active violence
done to Jim Kunen at the final
panel in which we all participated.
Kunen should have been on that
panel. We should have felt (and
perhaps did) indignant over his not
being included, but indignant enough
to ask from the floor for an ex
planation. Some, perhaps many, of
us smoldered through the discus
sion—silently.
I heard Kunen’s speech Wednes
day morning, attended the question-
answer session later, and sat by him
at lunch. He looked me in the eye
when I talked with him and seemed
sincere in his convictions. He de
served to share rapport with Brown,
Reiss, Bettelheim, and us in the
wind-up; we deserve to have the
finger pointed at us for our fear of
rocking the boat.
Some students resent the fact
that requests that the group in the
abominably crow'ded Fine Arts Lib
rary be allowed to move into empty
Hanes Auditorium were denied, pre
sumably by Dr. White. Late Wed
nesday afternoon when I asked Ku
nen, who at lunch had fully ex
pected to be on the panel, why he
was not, he told me, “Dr. White
didn’t W'ant me on it.” We may
all be victims of misinformation; if
so. Dr, White has a right to know
it and to clear the slate with us.
Similar occurrences will no doubt
arise again; a “hotbed of student
rest” does not become a hive of
concerned action overnight. But I
Students Give Their Opinions
On Petition For Self-limiting Hours
Salem has lived through countless
petitions attempting to update the
school socially and academically.
The latest petition concerning so-
ciM rules is one asking for self-
limiting hours for girls twenty-one
and over, and for girls with paren
tal permission. This week the
Salemite presents various opinions
concerning the idea of individual re
sponsibility for dating; we asked
girls, “Do you approve the possi
bility of self-limiting hours under
certain conditions, and why do you
hold this opinion?”
Miriam Manning: It’s a good idea
for anyone who wants to accept
this responsibility. Anyone here at
Salem should be able to judge for
herself whether she is responsible
or not. It’ll never do me any good
because I won’t get parental per
mission. Of course, if you can limit
your hours at home, you should at
least be eligible to at school.
Kelsey Bistline: I’m definitely for
it, but I can’t stay out past 12:00
usually anyway, so it wouldn’t effect
me too much. The idea of being
able to stay out for special events
is great.
Lynn Jones: I think it would be
good, but we’d have to carefully
work out a system. Perhaps the
girls w'ith this privilege should be
in separate dorms.
Donna Wadsworth: 1 think it’s
good because it would help the girls
develop a sense of responsibility of
limiting themselves. Parental per
mission is good if you’re not 21 be
cause we’re still a responsibility to
our parents and need some gui
dance.
Marilu Pittman: It’s a definite
necessity that students start taking
some of their responsibilities if they
ever hope to be responsible in life
later.
Josie Peeples: I think self-limit
ing hours would be fine.
^abmttp
MEMBER
Editor-In-Chief — Sara Engram
EDITORIAt staff BUSINESS STAFF
Associate Editor .— Linyer Ward Business Manager Phyllis Melvin
Assistant Editor Ginger Zemp Advertising Manager Martha Bernard
Managing Editor Cori Pasquier Manager Libby Seibert
News Editor Jeanne Patterson published by Students of Salem College
Feature Editor Laurie Daltroff —
Fine Arts Editor Libby Cain Printed by the Sun Printing Company
Special Projects Editor....Catherine Cooper Subscription Price $4.60 a year
Copy Editor Jane Dimmock —
Photography Editor __Tricia Allen Member U. S. Student Press Association
Roving Photographer _..Billie Everhart Advisor Mrs. Laura Nicholson
Melissa Turner: I feel girls
should have the same privileges at
school as at home, although I real
ize certain rules and regulations are
necessary.
Marily S2iacke: There’s no need
for us to have a set hour to come
in, PERIOD! It’s practical, it would
save on noise on the floors, effort
on the part of watchmen and house
counselors, etc.
Gay Murrill: I think it’s great so
long as you have to put a limit on
yourself, but otherwise, it’s too
great a burden on the house and
hall presidents, the house mother
and everyone else.
Sally Wilson: I don’t see the
need for it in Winston-Salem.
Ann Gibbs: I don’t think it’s
necessary, but in order for Salem
to compete with other schools for
new students, we would have to
keep abreast . . . just for the con
tinuation of the school.
Paige French: I think it’s per
fectly marvelous. As soon as a
satisfactory system could be ar
ranged, we definitely should have it.
Kris Danbury: I think it’s a great
idea. It’s about time girls learn to
accept their own responsibility.
Pelham Lyles: Parental permis-
yeah; over twenty-one, yeah.
But it d be just as good if you had
your own apartment and went to
a large university.
hope that the next time I, for one,
will feel enough immediate concern
to take the risk of being construc
tively irate.
Carol Watson
To the Editor;
The Symposium has come and
gone. It brought with it the pro
mise of a new intellectual excite
ment at Salem. Ironically it left
behind a strong current of mis
understanding and anger. Speaker
Kunen’s absence from the final
panel discussion precluded the
direct exchange of ideas between
the speakers present.
This I criticize as do many others.
We are all quick to acknowledge
and express our anger; we must be
just as quick to make every effort
to understand why Kunen did not
speak.
Various members of the Sym
posium Committee stress that the
planning of the schedule of events
was near completion before Kunen
accepted the invitation to speak.
Therefore, his role in the Sym
posium could not be a major one,
as were Reiss’, Brown’s, and Bet-
telheim's. Kunen’s invitation in
cluded participation in the Five
Voices panel and in a seminar. It
was decided that he would speak
separately from the Five Voices,
but when it became apparent that
he belonged on the final panel no
action was taken by the Symposium
Committee to change the plans to
include him. Neither did any one
of ns in the audience intercede on
his behalf.
The members of the Symposium
Committee with whom I talked ex
pressed their regret that action was
not taken to include Kunen. They
stressed that the fault lay in inade
quate adjustment of the plans to
include him rather than any de
cision to prevent him from speak
ing on the panel or to remove him
from it. The committee has sub
sequently taken action to make
future Symposium planning more
flexible and to “establish machin
ery” for changing the planned sche
dule if necessary,
I still do not understand why
such a simple, vital adjustment
could not have been made to place
Kunen on the final panel. But I
also feel that as an audience, we
too are guilty of failing to take
action to remedy the situation. We
wasted the question and answer
period. Furthermore, we might all
follow the Symposium Committee’
example in preparing to be more re
sponsive and responsible in fj,
future.
Salem College owes Jim Kunen
an apology for failing to accept hi
challenge, and Salem College owe'
herself the conscious fulfillment
this Symposium’s promise of ne;,
intellectual excitement.
Sincerely,
Ginger Zemp
Dear Editor of The Salemite:
I have been greatly distressed all
year by the absolutely disgusting
way in which we conduct what ii
popularly known as the “blessing’
before our meals in the Refectory
Students rarely pronounce it in uni.
son, and often talk or laugh while
it is being repeated. One student
even counted from ten down to zero
during one repetition of the bless
ing at the evening meal.
But the root of this problem lies
much deeper than just irreverence
at meals when the blessing is being
said. Tire real problem is the
priori assumption made by the
Salem College administration that
all her students are Christians, or
that if they aren’t, they will per
haps be converted after four years
of chanting the same blessing it
unison.
I fully realize that no one is be
ing forced to say this blessing, and
many of my peers who are agnos
tics or atheists simply remain silent.
However, let us be realistic. There
are many more people who seem,
for reasons unknown to myself, to
delight in muttering through it as
fast as possible or in disrupting it
entirely by such tactics as the
“countdow'u” I described. As a
Christian, I find this blessing very
beautiful and meaningful, and I de
plore the fact that it is disrupted
and made to seem almost sacri
legious. And, as a student of Salem
College, I feel that my religious
freedom and that of other students
is being seriously infringed upon
We would do well to follow the
example of the Moravian settlers
who founded this college, and who
were among the first practitioners
of religious toleration. I think it
would be best if there were no
public blessing, but that saying a
blessing at meals be left to the
discretion of the individual student
Sincerely,
Barbara Homey
FRANKLYSPEAKIN6
ly Phil Rank