Newspapers / Mars Hill University Student … / Feb. 9, 1990, edition 1 / Page 2
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Page 2 Editorial On Brotherly Bonding Ken Gahagan Staff Writer Well, of all the articles I have written this year, this one is the one which has received the most comment. Because it is time for pledge season to be in full swing again, I decided to reprint the ar ticle in hopes of getting to more of the audience. It has long been the tradition, on this campus and many others, to have a pledge season for potential members in a fraternity or sorority. The whole idea behind the pledge season is to educate the new members or pledges as to what ideals are held by the fraternity, as weli as to provide a bonding experience be tween the brothers or sisters and the pledges. All of this is well and good. However, the idea of pledge season has been misinterpreted and misconstrued to allow all sorts of activities which may be of dubious vaiue. Many of these actions are against the law. It is often difficult to define hazing. Is it detrimental to the health or mental well being of a pledge to sing “You are my sunshine” at each dorm on men’s hiil at 6:30 in the morn ing? Probably not, but what does it ac complish? The action annoys anyone who is trying to sleep at that time. It may be embarrassing to the pledges who have to “perform” at that time of the morning, and what is the value? If some one wants to learn to sing, let them take singing lessons. (Some of the people in that particular group could have definitely used a lesson or two.) It seems to me that the pledge season should be a time when the brothers in the fraternity try to win the respect of the pledges-not the other way around. Ideally, of course, the fraternity wili have such a reputation that the piedges will want to be a part of it anyway, but how does pledge season help the goal of encouraging the pledges to continue the pledge season? I have seen pledge season from both sides-both as a pledge and as a brother, so I do know that of which I speak. Pledge season is a time for people to have fun. Pledge season should be a time when you have some activities to break the monotony of the academic year. But pledge season is neither supposed to be a time when you are regularly harassed or embarrassed, nor is it a time for an organization on campus to expect ail the rest of the cam pus to tolerate unsolicited invasions of their privacy. I know of one pledge class who tolerated the tyrannical tendencies of the brothers ali through pledge season, and when pledge season was over, all they wanted to do was beat the life out of two of the brothers. How did the pledge season help promote brotherly love in this instance? What is the pur pose in having a pledge season like that? There are, believe it or not, people on this campus who are not a part of a Greek organization, and do not wish to be a part of one. Should they have to put up with pledges singing in the cafeteria? Should people who are sleeping peace- fuily in their beds at 6:30 a.m. tolerate being rudely awakened by a group of pledges singing the world’s only atonal version of “You Are my Sunshine?” The answer is a firm no. The fraternities on this campus need to rethink their pledge seasons so that they conform more to what they are sup posed to be in the first piace. Pledge seasons should be unobtrusive, they should educate, and they should mold the members into a group. Let’s face it. A group has no identity without individuals, but an individual can have an identity without the group; therefore the pledge season should consist of activities in which the piedges and the brothers or sisters work together. The pledge season should not be purely the burden of the pledges. It should be a fifty-fifty effort on the part of the brothers and the pledges-meeting haifway so that each member of the group gets to know ali of the others. Fraternities are by nature cliquish, but they cannot survive if they are sub divided into iittie cliques within themsel ves which can be caused by traumatic pledge seasons. It strikes me suddenly as pointless to reprint this article. The article In the last Issue “Jesus loves the little children...All the children” did not get a single response. Come on, people. That article could have been interpreted in many dif- ferent ways. Why was there no response? Does the Mars Hiil College public not have an opinion worth ex pressing? Does the Mars Hiil College public hold itself in such low esteem that it does not consider its opinions worth expressing? If you have views that you would like to share, or a soapbox that you would like to stand on, the Hilltop offers you an opportunity to do so. If you would like to write an editorial, please do so. Send it to the Hilltop-the box number is 1148. (Please Include name, P.O. box number, and phone number. We do not have to print your name if you do not wish.) if you write, that means that I don’t have to, and it means that you do not have to put up with my babble. Friday, February 9j, February 9, im Forum Parking at MHC has always been a problem, especially for commuters, but the situation is now getting entirely out of hand. I’m sure we’re all thrilled that a new cafeteria is being constructed, but the lack of parking spaces is no thriil, in fact, it is very inconvenient. Every year students are given a handbook that clearly states the desig nated parking areas for students, facul ty and others. The book states that spaces with white lines are student areas and those with green are for facul ty- If a student is “caught” parking in a green facuity area, he or she wiil definitez ly receive a ticket for doing so, however, a faculty vehicle parked In a white stu dent area has never been ticketed to my knowledge. What is the point of assigning specific areas to different categories of peopie when everyone inevitably parks wherever he or she can find a con venient place? Students must pay tuition costs, fees, books and then a 8-15 doliar park ing registration fee every year. Facuity must purchase their sticker once every four years and then they can park anywhere they wish other than restricted zones without any complica tions. Students are ticketed for parking anywhere but white-lined areas and then they are given tickets for parking too long in some of those areas. If one group is to be ticketed, all groups should be ticketed, it is very an- imbing noying when a person arrives at to find that ail of the student area filled, with the cars in the most' venient-student-areasdisplayingfc^j'; ty stickers, i’m sure some facuter™,h.D inconvenienced to find that their sP, . are sometimes filled with stuj vehicies, but at least they have the* ° faction of knowing that the of ijfg and^mak receive a ticket if security sees vehicle and besides, faculty have L ... other areas to park in wkhout TITn'‘be argued that there more student parking areas than ® ■ ty, but . can also be recognize^'^^^^ there are far more students than are faculty here at MHC. 5^,^^ It just does not seem logiciteadershio oos\ bulldoze the majority of student spaces, then mark the ones that u ® as restricted to facuity and staff. I s* g ^ ® logic in restricting the chapel parkic. e ay. tolacuityand staff.. .Oh, 1 knowth* dents are ailowed to park now ^eSe our iarge number of spaces are « commission, but that area need f be off limits to students, especially'j muters who might come out on T mornings especially for chapel ings. *sponse I Students have to park sorneWp,^ especially those who are yq’ ^ Certainly, students should be ticl ^ i in the No you think a lit w—-.. - a for breaking the rules, but so everyone else. i thp Everyone should be allowed t0|i,. ® ^ m just lettin ^ nen I came to on campus ^ ,'^ashowthe Hilltop Staff White pop ®'^'acks they’re continued on page 6 Co-editors Tammy Condrey and Becky Hornerund., SpodsEdkor Sports Editor ^ Administrative Assistant/Distribution Manager Gina Stewa a and | were b Paste-up ' Cartoonist againsi Advisor John Campbe feeUngs,' Staff Writers Melanie Childers, Duane Partin, Stan Tone) ure, we’ve all Lisa Ramsey, Frank Powell, Machelle Cathe) 'vi/ayg Michele Medlin, Erik Taylor, Ken Gahagan, |^ot everyone Andrea Deaton, David Smith, Jennifer Enricii^a Marion Ward, Stephanie Pierce ■this ^om the re The Hilltop is the official student newspaper of Mars Hill College. The opinions contained in this pub lication do not necessarily reflect those of the faculty and staff of Mars Hill College, nor do they necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors. Written response is en couraged and should be directed to the editors. The Hilltop P.O. BOX1148-C Mars Hill, NC 28754 (704) 689-1419 ^ Cliff everywhei ®cence be Printing by Groves Printing. ie'^^;;®®'sofelt 1 in our c impre! I, delate you' n^?®ourenti ^iocxl is a 9ase /■/
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Feb. 9, 1990, edition 1
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