November 1, U
MARS HILL, NORTH CAROLINA
November 15, 1969
Faculty Outlines Opinions; SGA Volleys
For Standing Committee Representation
tN PARROTT
Blevins Grooves
n Religious Positivism
by Sammy Wallace
• u College is an exclting-
; GdSX with a
L'arri h’*r ^ Opportunity for teaching ex-
hard hitting seemerience.” These are the feelings
. As far as the Li^ one of MHC’s newest faculty ad-
a weak spot on f,ions, Dr. James Blevins. Dr.
e eac si's- levins is the newest member of
her excuses float^e Religion Department and is ex-
suc as poor emely interested in relating reli-
more team spijon to the college student of today,
you want to: e said, “| feel I have a great chaV
In at least halfmge at MHC in teaching religion,
e Lions have bjost students taking religion have
I average o negative view of religion, due
lan. The team erhaps to past experiences making
^®"9ion has noth-
1. When this IS Jg to tell the college student of
js can happen; bday. | feel | have a challenge to
up and chuck jresent religion in a positive way:
r they can stick show the students that religion
mnimum of phys as something to present to life at
practice, hop'ollege in 1969”
s will be made Dr. Blevins is originally from Nor-
jring the week ^Ik Va. and received his under
game or work ligVaduate education at Duke Univer-
0 in-shape wherity From Duke he transferred to
Der ability? As c^astem Baptist Seminary in Phila-
rall has become elphia. While at the seminary Dr
r one. You pc°^vins was given the opportunity to
)re than the scMudy m Hamburg, Germany for a
t I mean. We s^ear He feels this experience
ood shape now ireatly influenced his thinking After
ice of going se eceiving his Bachelor of Theoloqv
t’s stick with from the seminary, he went to
lem what they neSoutheastern Seminary and ob-
Don’t gripe. amed his ThM and he went to
SSs««Mi^;»^outhern Seminary and received his
1 ®'‘^Pym9 for his doc-
' orate degree at Southern, Dr. Blev-
eLh'^^^Aff opportunity to
each. After completing his doc-
1 as the Lions P orate requirements, Dr Blevins
irieaders will escbontlnued teaching at Sm'.thor
e they will be fil 1968. At Sou^theln dT b Jns'
vlll be crowned./vent to school with two of MHc"s
rm, along with breserit religion professors Dr
cheerleaders, ^ Dr. Blevinfhas m^ny outSfcol-
lege activities. He lists swimming
sports as his favorite recreation. Dr.
Blevins is currently writing a column
with Dr. Frazier of Asheville for the
Asheville Citizen-Times. The column
attempts to bridge the gap between
the layman and the church man. Be
sides these activities. Dr. Blevins
states that his wife and three child
ren take up most of his time.
When asked why he came to
MHC, Dr. Blevins said that Mars
Hill is one of the Baptist’s most pro
gressive schools which have a small
student-teacher ratio. Dr. Blevins
is excited about the teaching oppor
tunities at MHC. “I have been given
an opportunity to experiment with
new methods in teaching. I am
presently using a small discussion
group system in some of my class
es. After each lecture, 1 give the
students an opportunity to divide in
to small groups and react to the lec
ture. in this way I feel the students
are better able to comprehend the
material. I also feel I have a
greater chance to relate to my stu
dents at a small college. All of my
previous teaching experiences have
been in a seminary which does not
afford much close personal relation
ship. At Mars Hill 1 feel I will be
able to work more closely with my
students and have a more personal
relationship.”
With his enthused outlook Dr.
Blevins looks forward to becoming
more involved in college life and
relating to the college students.
Freshman class election results;
Vice-President, Pat White; Secre
tary, Nancy Fussell; Treasurer, Ed
Vincent: Senators, Jeanne Bowen
and Dennis Myers. There will be a
runoff election for the presidency
next week; it will be between R. L.
Lail and Dick Morgan.
by Jim Ewart
Senators of the Student Govern
ment Association and several facul
ty members hotly exchanged points
of view at the November 6 Senate
meeting over the recent defeat of
the proposal to place students on
working faculty committees.
On Nov. 4, the faculty at large
voted down the measure, which re
quired a two-thirds majority of those
voting for passage. The vote was
55 faculty members for it and 32
against it.
Joseph Schubert, associate pro
fessor of English, told the senate
body why he cast a negative vote
on the issue of college students
serving on faculty committees. He
questioned whether or not the stu
dent body was behind the issue and
just how many interested qualified
students are ready to serve and
meet all the obligations as full time
committee members. He reminded
the senators of faculty committee
duties such as meeting for long
hours in the afternoon and staying
on the campus from graduation un
til the opening of the summer
school to complete committee busi
ness. “How many students would
be willing to do all this?” he asked.
Schubert said he found many
favorable aspects in the proposal but
that the amendment itself was un
workable at this time. He said it
leaves areas where privileges would
be violated. He cited as an example
where the majority control by stu
dents, with campus experience of
only one or two years, might exer
cise influence on a faculty member
who has served here for 30 or 40
years.
Schubert said that was unfair and
questioned whether the majority
vote on the measure was due to
faculty acquiescence. “1 question
the right for any student to know
private faculty business. Before I
could vote yes to this, students
would have to prove themselves.”
Schubert commented on the large
number of academic delinquencies
recorded at mid-semester and
several recent water fights on cam
pus. These, he claimed, were not
evidence of this proof. He went
on to mention that in spite of the
water fights there were many re
sponsible students on campus.
Dr. Bill Sears called the proposal
basically sound but said that it con
tained several serious loopholes
that would require future study. He
commented that opponents of the
amendment had perhaps given it a
more serious look than those who
favored it.
Schubert challenged the student
senators to state ways they could
do a better job in committee work
over and above what is now being
done.
Senator Eleanor Duckett replied
that students had a right to a voice
in the community of learning on
principle. She felt she also had a
right to know and participate in the
formulation of the program under
which she is learning on the cam
pus.
Senator Sandy Altizer, in noting
dissatisfaction with her own aca
demic program, countered Schubert
by saying, “We want teachers who
can teach and who are Informed
on their subject.” She alluded to
the Tutorial Program and the Com
munity Development Institute as
evidences that students at Mars
Hill have proven themselves and
are responsible and concerned in
dividuals.
Senator Jim Wikle declared that
responsible students could be a
benefit on certain committees such
as curriculum and athletics com
mittees.
Mrs. Elizabeth Watson said, “Stu
dents should be on student activity
committees, but not faculty com
mittees as they are not faculty mem
bers.” She contended that students
on committees were beneficial in
certain areas but in others they
were beyond their necessity.
Dr. John Hough felt that defeat of
the student committee proposal was
due primarily to a lack .of proper
communication between students
and faculty members. He admitted
he saw substantial reason for stu
dent in-put on faculty committees,
but could not see It being brought
about at this time. He added that
the fault was that students and
faculty had discussed this measure
only in their respective groups and
not together.
Dr. Page Lee added a more pleas
ant note, saying that the measure
was a promising one that merited
further study. He called on the sen
ators to help out faculty committee
members in obtaining the necessary
information and to make them more
aware of student beliefs and ideas.
SGA President Bill Pons called
for an end to the discussion after
student and faculty views had been
exchanged for two hours. He called
on the senate not to give up the
drive and to bend every effort to
working for a goal that so many
have cherished for so long. Griffin
greeted this pronouncement with a
strong resolution and vowed to con
tinue the drive up to May 17, 1970.
See editorial, page 2.
Board Of Trustees Upped
A proposal to expand Mars Hill’s
board of trustees from 28 to 36 per
sons was approved at the annual
sessions of the Baptist State Con
vention in Fayetteville this week,
and 15 persons were named to the
board, which will meet on campus
early in December.
'Named to full four-year terms
were Dr. Claud Bowen, Greensboro:
Ed Beach, Lenoir; G. T. Cornwell,
Morganton; Dr. Robert Garrison,
Charlotte: Jack Madden, Asheville;
Cecil L. Porter, North Wilkesboro;
Dr. Ernest Stines, Canton; Ernest
Teague, Marshall; and J. Euell Tay
lor, Waynesville.
Named to shorter terms (as indi
cated in parenthesis) were (3 years)
Dr. Paul Early, Greensboro, and
Claude Hinson, Belmont; (2 years)
Webb Ellis of Asheville and Edwin
Powell; (1 year) George Pickering
and Charles Bruce, Mars Hill.
The 2,500 delegates to the con
vention dealt favorably with the
seven Baptist colleges for a change.
They received a lengthy report on
the colleges and approved the re
port’s suggestions and recommend
ations, which called on North Caro
lina Baptists to give greater finan
cial support to the colleges.
Some observers at the conven
tion interpreted the acceptance of
the report as paving the way for
the colleges to participate more in
federally-funded programs.
Reachout Needs Support
Mars Hill College students have
thus far failed to communicate with
the on-campus phase of the $3 mil
lion development program. Opera
tion Reach-out.
Great concern has been voiced
by Ray Conlin of the development
office on students’ apparent lacka
daisical attitude toward this cam
paign. He claims that student par
ticipation, no matter how small or
great, is vital to this massive fund
raising effort.
“Mars Hill College is the first col
lege that has failed to respond to a
development program that I have
ever directed,” he said. He feels
that many students have misunder
stood the purpose of their participa
tion and have failed to respond to
the pledge blanks that were mailed
out several weeks ago.
Conlin said that student participa
tion in Operation Reach-out is vital
for the purpose of inspiring the
many firms and organizations whose
support is counted on so heavily
by the college administration and
trustees.
In the past it has been found that
major corporations have willingly
come to the aid of non-profit educa
tional institutions whose students
demonstrated their faith and desire
by pledging their own savings and
pocket money. The development
office does not want to force com
mitment on the students and is not
immediately concerned with the
amount of money contributed.
It is the number of students that
contribute that is the Important fac
tor. “Whether a student pledges ten
cents a month or a dollar a week
makes no difference,” he continued.
“The main idea is to show potential
donors throughout the country that
the students here are behind the
fund-raising campaign all the way.
“Alumni are asking what the stu-
(Cont. on P. 4)