PAGE 2
THE TWIG
NOVEMBERS, 1974
THE
MEREPITH
TWIG Where were you when the lights
COLLEGE
V.P. move for good
stayed on and the heater and —?
by Meredith McGill
Although little, if any, student input went into the decision to
build offices in the old Blue Parlor, students are likely to benefit
greatly from this action.
In Dr. Sandra Thomas, Meredith has a new vice president for
student development whose main goal is to be acessible to
students. In the secluded offices on the second floor of Johnson
Hall, where she is now. Dr. Thomas does not naturally come into
extensive student contact. Located on the first floor, however,
she will be readily available to students, for almost everyone
passes through Johnson Hall at least once a day.
From her position on the first floor, Dr. Thomas will more
effectively co-ordinate all functions related to students’ activities.
She will head up the Dean of Students operations, college
placement, and counseling and anything else involved with
student life on campus.
According to Mr. Baker, another alternative for the location
of the offices was the third floor of Johnson Hall, but the Blue
Parlor was chosen so students could take maximum advantage of
the student development office. And for those concerned about a
parlor, a portion has been conserved to function as the Blue
Parlor formerly did.
Dr. Thomas is fresh, eager, and excited about helping
Meredith students. Considering this, we should welcome her to an
office where she is close to us.
After all, we could have gotten stuck with an H. R. Haldeman
type interested in nothing but walls. Let’s be grateful for small
blessings.
G.R.
World crisis: oil prices. The
Arabs have lifted the oil em
bargo, thanks to Henry
Kissinger, but they have also
raised the price of oil. So? We
pay more for gasoline, but no
big hassle, you say. Yes, the
United States can afford to pay
the Arab-forced exorbitant oil
prices, but what about the
struggling young countries such
as Ghana and Bangladesh who
desperately need oil based
fertilizer with which to grow
their crops and prevent star
vation of millions of their
people. Well, what if the United
States united and decided to use
less oil, buy less oil, and thereby
force oil prices downward?
What if Meredith College
students, faculty, and ad
ministration decided to work
together to use less fuel on our
campus? An infinitesimal drop
in the bucket, you say.
Think for a while about the
various ways we waste fuel on
our campus...
Moving toward autonomy?
1- Heaters and fans run
simultaneously in the library, in
various dorms, and in
classrooms. Why not open the
windows?
That SDH everynight for sophomores has been reported
favorably out of the Student Life Committee is a healthy sign.
Perhaps as significant as anything else that Meredith should
contribute to her students’ lives is a growing sense of in
dependence. The right to determine one’s own hours is a very
real part of this developing autonomy.
Realizing that social privileges have generally come
gradually and in small steps at Meredith, I nevertheless eagerly
await that day when all Meredith students will be able to come
and go as they please with no restrictions. Sure, independence
will mean a sense of responsibility, but I believe we are ready for
it and we can handle it.
Set a good example with your next privilege, sophomores,
and maybe next year we can extend it to freshmen, and after that,
maybe we can get rid of signing out and meeting any hours
altogether.
G. R.
2- There is a purposeless
elevator in Johnson Hall. Can’t
we all use some exercise?
3- Weatherspoon Gym is lit up
at night like a circus. It’s even
been suggested that airplane
pilots use this spot as a
reference point in landing.
4- Lights are left on in unused
classrooms.
5- Lights in dormitory
are left on all night.
halls
6- Lights are left on all day in
the cafeteria. The window
shutters are closed.
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7- Johnson Hall is surrounded
by cosmetic lights. Why not
save the intense lighting for the
pathways and secluded parking
lots where it is needed?
much by the series of light
changes from around 6 p.m.
until closing hours 365 days of
the year?
^ r' CRAWK. UP
^ HCftT (14
fr TJORPAi OKI
lAiOiAW
8- And, regarding our con
troversial fountain: How much
energy is consumed by the
fountain movements, and how
Unnecessary use of fuel is
thoughtless and stupid. Maybe
Meredith College can’t change
the world oil situation, but
maybe we can help. Will you?
Sharon Ellis’s Movie Review
‘Tfee Longest Yard^
Burt Reynolds of
‘‘Deliverance’’ (and
Cosmopolitan) fame is now
starring in “The Longest
Yard”, playing at the Valley I
in Crabtree Valley. Anyone
who saw “Deliverance” must
have come away not only
convinced of his marvelous
physique, but more important
of his genuine acting ability.
This ability makes “The
Longest Yard”, a movie con
cerned with sadistic prison life,
actually worthwhile. Reynolds,
At Warden Hazen’s in
sistence, Crewe recruits the
inmates for a football game
against the guards. It is around
this game that the movie
centers. Hazen is expecting a
farce; Crewe gives him quite a
game.
as Paul Crewe, plays a former
star football player who has
been expelled from pro football
for shaving points. As the
movie opens he is living a life of
leisure as a gigolo. Bored with
life, of a “don’t give a damn”
attitude, Crewe casually walks
out on his patroness one day,
taking with him her expensive
new sports car. As the saying
goes, “Hell hath nor fury like a
woman scorned”, and she
promptly calls the police. So
the former darling boy of
football ends up in brutal Citrus
State Prison with an eighteen-
month sentence.
And Robert Aldrich, the
director, makes certain that the
game is vivid. Every drop of
blood, every crunch of bone is
included, for this is not a gen
tleman’s football game, but one
played by hardened men who
fight tou^ - and dirty. The last
five minutes of the game are
given in slow motion which
merely heightens the tension.
You want to stand up and cheer
as if you were a spectator at an
actual game; it makes college
football look like milktoast.
The warden, played by
Eddie Albert, is a man who
relishes his power and who lives
out his fantasies of athletic
glory with his semipro football
team made up of the guards.
For those of you accustomed to
the Eddie Albert of “Green
Acres” this role might come as
a shock, for he surperbly
portrays a man of warped
values, a man wrapped up in his
own self. A look of sadistic
pleasure can fleet across his
face, transforming him into a
very hard and unfeeling person.
Needless to say, Reynolds,
as Crewe, is always present -
barking out orders, throwing
passes, grinning his
irrepressible smile, and finally,
inwardly struggling with the
conflict between his own selfish
desires and his loyalty to his
teammates. Reynolds allows
Crewe to develop, to mature
and gain sensitivity as the
movie progresses. Crewe
maintains his droll sense of
humor, but he no longer thinks
of the world solely in terms of
“I”
The movie makes an im
portant social comment on our
corrupt and degenerate penal
system and on our warped set of
values. Unfortunately, the
majority will accept the movie
as a comedy with a rousing
football game without ever
questioning the issues that are
probed.
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor
Genie Rogers
Associate Editor
Managing Editor
Columnist
Faculty Advisors
Allyn Vogei
Rebecca Askew
Sharon Ellis
Dr. Norma Rose, Dr. Tom Parramore
Photographer
Martha Claybrook
Business Manager
Faculty Advisor
Deborah Phillips
Dr. Lois Frazier
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