PAGE 2
THE DIALETTE
DECEMBER, 1966
EDITORIAL
A SALTY TALE
Last month, this newspaper found
it necessary to express its concern
over the food served in Howerton
Cafeteria. We tried to constructively
criticize cafeteria policies that were
not in the students’ best interest,
with the hope that these matters
would be dealt with by the proper
officials.
In many respects, we can say that
we have been encouraged by the
progress that has been made, and
commend the cafeteria management
for their sincere interest in this situ
ation. Although there are still sever
al matters to be dealt with, we are
confident these problems will soon
be resolved.
All problems have two sides, and
we think it necessary to criticize the
students for doing things in the
cafeteria which will only hinder the
progress being made.
For example, one night recently
seven sugar containers had been
dumped upside down on different
tables, leaving white mounds of sugar
for someone to clean up. That “some
one” was a cafeteria employee. Did
any student attempt to clean up the
mess? Students only laughed at the
situation.
A CALL TO CREATE
By Jane Maples
Some people consider the fine arts
to be the salt of the intellectuals, the
highbrows, long hairs and eggheads
and avoid culture with a dry disin
terest or even censor the arts. Those
who do usually either misunderstand
the arts or simply fail to understand
them. The inability to comprehend
does not give the individual a valid
excuse to shun aestheticism. One
should accept his inability to com
prehend and proceed, considering this
lack of understanding above his level
of understanding and at the same
time develop his mind to even greater
capacity. Moreover, a person’s mind
combines the materials offered it in
most astounding ways, but if it has
nothing with which to work, then
it is unable to function. If one’s in
terests are wide and of value, then
his mind is able to combine these
elements into beautiful, even creative
patterns. As one observes works
of art, his mind not only begins to
function, but suddenly commences to
perceive the intentions of the artist,
and his mind is sometimes itself in
spired to creativity.
The person with a creative mind
searches for qualities beyond those
within himself. He inspires to beauty
and perfection;; thus he draws from
a limitless source. But he also seeks
material from within himself — his
emotions, thoughts, desires, and be
liefs. Thus, creation is an intimate
experience and borders on revelation.
In creating, a person forges a weapon
against his own limitations, and lone
liness, and attacks forces under which
he might be denied his own individ
uality. Without this creative process
he might become absorbed into the
mediocrity of the masses and find
himself and the memory of his be
ing actually erased, unnoticed. His
ability to create both from within
his being and from without allows
him to surmount his own imperfec
tions and be challenged by them.
The ability to create exists in pri
vacy. However, in this age privacy
is frowned upon, and considered un
usual; one who rejects and even de
fies the constant pressures which
tend to retract him and keep him
THE DIALETTE STAFF
WISHES YOU
A MERRY CHRISTMAS
among the mediocre, is socially sus
pect. Privacy has become rare and
costly. Morever, creativity is not
easy, it consumes not only time but
mind and energy. It requires gargan
tuan qualities of dedication and ef
fort, and it is a most private and
intimate experience which partakes
of the Divine. It provides an insight
into man, and gives man faith in him
self and in his potentialities for sal
vation. This does not come entirely
from his soul, but from the totality
of his being. Thus man exists in
dark uncertainty when a great cre
ative mind is snuffed out and he
gropes uneventfully until another
creative individual once again brings
light to his passage through space
and time.
In creating, one draws not only
from the so called fine-arts, but also
from his own inner strivings that he
might express in his art the whole
ness of humanity. When creating
in this manner one opens the way
to perception, reality, imagination,
the substance of life itself, and he
receives an inner awareness that it
is indeed glorious to be alive.
Thought and emotion are ineffec
tive without the awareness of one’s
self. If one can acquire this aware
ness then he is able to attain free
dom of expression and expand the
limits placed upon him. As Aldous
Huxley, in “A Man-Machine World”
has said, “Such exposure germinates
and fertilizes seeds of creativity and
may lead to fulfilling harvest. With
out germination the seeds of individ
ual endeavor remain, at least, only
dormant.” “Who we are is a chal
lenge not of decay, not of death,
but of life and of faith and of deed
... of the here and now, and of all
our remaining tomorrows, unto eter
nity itself . . . For indeed, the cre
ative mind regardless of public ac
ceptances or rejection, changes the
world;; the creative mind partakes
of the substance of eternity and ex
pands the lives of those, even if few
in number, who seek through effort
and extension, intimate dedication
and internal courage to share in the
grandeur or man, in the gardens of
creativity itself . . . And in God’s
name, what else is there?
A CASE OF
REVIEW
By Dan Bayluss
Do you drink? Do you “lie, cheat
or steal”? If so, you are the direct
and most immediate concern of the
Montreat - Anderson College Honor
Court, a new and not yet perfected
organization provided for by an equal
ly new constitution of student gov
ernment.
This constitution states (VIII 4B)
that the Honor Court shall deal with
all infractions of the Honor Code (that
is, lying, cheating or stealing), ma
jor questions of student conduct, and
cases referred from the Dormitory
Council. The latter two might in
clude drinking cases or any of a wide
spectrum of offenses. The idea, it
would seem, is that anything too hot
for the dorm council or any case
which is deemed by that group to
be too serious to be handled in the
dorms should be under the jurisdic
tion of the Honor Court. In fact,
it seems to this writer that all but
the most inconsequential of crimes
(if indeed any crime might be con
sidered of little consequence) might
after a token dorm trial become the
domain of the Honor Court.
To deny that the Court is an im
provement over prior systems, espe
cially by anyone who was here last
year, would be foolish. But nonthe-
less let’s take a look at some of the
founding ideals of the new organiza
tion.
The Honor Court was conceived
and organized to prevent the trial
of the student from being ultimately
a case review by the administration.
It was to be a group comprised of
students and faculty with an auto
matic administrative review in cer
tain cases. This was to be the final
step, the source of severe discipline.
Another judicial body and the one
basic to our judicial system at Mon
treat is the Dorm Council. The pur
pose of the Dorm Council is to pre
vent students being tried for a first
offense, other than an Honor Code
violation, from having to be brought
before the Honor Court. It was never
the intent of the student-faculty
groups who set up the system last
semester to have the Honor Court
become a system of overall discip
line.
Thus the question arises: What is
the jurisdiction of the Honor Court?
To be sure, the previously cited clause
of the Constitution defines the do
main of its authority, but who is to
define that clause? Much of the un
rest and controversy in this writer’s
mind stems from that passage about
“major questions of student con
duct”. A perusal of the Student
Handbook reveals the duties of the
Court; it states many rules and regu
lations (some sufficiently clear, a
few rather vague) which when broken
become the concern of some judiciary
group, but nowhere. Reader, does one
find a definition of that phrase.
To you students, to the Student
Government Association which is re
sponsible for the wording of the Con
stitution, to Judge Wilshire and his
colleagues, who seemingly are respon
sible for its interpretation, and to the
administration these questions might
well be put. What is major? Or
minor? Does a dorm council try a
major first offense, or how about a
minor second one? Does a complex
ity of minor infringements constitute
a major offense? Is there a definite
policy of specific punishment for a
specific crime. Is there in fact even
a compilation of specific crimes?
Think about it . . .
In all honesty we must say that
the 1966-67 Honor Court is doing a
singular and devoted job, and that
it does not seek to abuse its consti
tutionally granted authority. Nor
could one seek to hinder the Court
in its proper function. For a strong
judicial system is an implicit factor
in, and the very backbone of a suc
cessful Honor System, and the Honor
Court is a basic part of that swstem.
But if there is to be complete and
equal justice, is it not the duty of
every member of this community of
teachers and scholars to strive con
tinually to question, improve and
clarify the various branches of our
government and their respective do
mains? Is it not everyone’s respons
ibility to guarantee every member of
this student body the benefit of the
fairest and most reasonable system
possible.
This is what we must ask ourselves.
And not next week or next semester,
by which time dangerous precedents
may already have been set. If there
be controversy, let you, the student,
exert the pressure needed to clarify
and amend. If the court is to try us,
it must also be able to stand trial by
us, and the time to issue the sub
poena is now.
Author’s note: It is encouraging
to report that a joint committee of
members of the Honor Court, Ad
ministration, and the S. G. A. has
been formed with the intent of study
ing and clarifying the section of the
handbook on college regulations.
Their purpose is to elaborate on the
material there in specific and precise
terms. We wish them patience, dili
gence and insight — and much suc
cess. We hope that similar attention
will be given to the remaining facets
of this controversial subject.
THE DIALETTE
MONTREAT-ANDERSON COLLEGE, MONTREAT, N. C.
A1 Weisiger
Assistant Editor Dot Randall
Feature Editor Eugenia Tomason
Sports Editor Mike Clark
COLUMNISTS
Political i Dan Bayluss
S- C. A Carson Norton
Fine Arts Jane Maples
Staff: Dianne Zitsman, Phil Ramsey, Sue Myers, Bernie
Osterman, Mary Gramling.
The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those
held by Montreat-Anderson College.