Newspaper Page Text
PAGE TWO
EDITORIALS
For good state government
State government should get things done. Closer to the people and
more responsive to their needs than the federal government, it is
the best agency for handling education, roads, mental health, and
welfare.
Yet state’s rights does not mean seccession from the union but
rather cooperation within it. If state government holds up its end of
the bargain, little federal intervention will be required.
One gubernatorial candidate seems to realize this. He also has a
record of service that proves he knows how to get things done. For
this reason the WEST GEORGIAN endorses ELLIS ARNALL for gov
ernor of Georgia.
Farsighted leadership and a record of accomplishment and capabili
ty is no less important in the state’s second office. This is why the
WEST GEORGIAN strongly urges the election of GEORGE T.
SMITH as lieutenant governor.
Study, study , study! (?)
With classes just beginning and professors trying to weed out the
less serious students, newcomers may have gotten the impression
that they are expected to spend all their time studying.
After all, the sole purpose of coming to college is to acquire
knowledge.
This is only partially true. Social life is important too.
Of course those who plan to stay here for very long will have to
take a lot of time out of their social life to study, but all is not so
black and white.
There is a large grey area that combines education with socializa
tion-extracurricular activities.
These are worthy of a portion of every student’s time.
In working in activities such as sports and publications, a student
meets people with common interests while acquiring skills that will
be useful in later life.
Career possibilities can be explored.
Freshmen can either continue with activities that interested them
in high school or try new fields.
Those interested in journalism will be welcomed by the WEST
GEORGIAN staff.
That's what they're here for
While a record number here at West Georgia are just beginning
their college career, a smaller group is looking forward to ending
theirs this year.
Fall quarter is the time when seniors are having their credits
assessed and frantically trying to plan a year’s schedule that will
enable them to graduate in the spring.
This always presents problems, usually in the form of course
loads totaling more than 15 hours. Required subjects may even be
scheduled at conflicting times making it impossible to take all the
necessary courses. Many seniors faced with this situation find them
selves coming back extra quarters to finish up.
People who have to do this usually develop a persecution complex
centered around the faculty. “They just want to keep you here to get
more money out of you before they give you your degree,” they
think. “They should know that scheduling those courses at the same
time would create conflicts.’’
Wait a minute! How should they know? Are department heads sup
posed to be mind readers when they plan course schedules three
quarters ahead?
Actually the faculty has no way of knowing what courses students
need unless the students themselves tell them.
Seniors hoping to graduate this year who are faced with scheduling
difficulties should talk to the department head in their major. It
might be possible to reschedule courses, if not for this quarter for
winter and spring.
This is especially likely if there are several seniors in that major
with the same problem.
Talk to the faculty - it might help.
(Efje Deal droroiatt
“Representing Georgia's fastest
growing college''
Editor .. Sarah Lee
Managing editor Ed Collier
News editor Elaine Gossett
Asst, news editor Linda Terrell
Feature editor Malcolm Fordham
Business manager Carole Bradley
THE VEST GEORGIAN
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS
FRESHMAN | |~
sel iuLJ£ < 2
'■un*"— ■* ssiom^
THE HEKSKT MeAGUPBMZNTZ."
Linda Terrell
Civil rights-12 long years
and a long way left to go
Twelve years ago the Supreme Court handed down its historical
school desegregation decision. Georgians reacted, and those “sep
arate but equal” facilities granted in the nineteenth century Plessy-
Ferguson ruling were hastily started.
Three years ago President Ken
nedy introduced his sweeping civ
il rights bill to Congress.
Again Geor-
gians reacted.
of them,
Senator Inch -111 l|k
ard B. Russell, V
attacked the f
bill as commu- "Mm k
nistic and un- ,-t*
const i t u
tional. Every- **
one agreed - “progressives” in
cluded -that “you can't legislate
morality,” but nobody offered any
other means of insuring justice.
RECENT DEVELOPMENT
Recently, federal school deseg
regation guidelines and medicare
programs have brought the issue
into own local schools and hos
pitals.
Again a hard core of Georgians
have reacted. Arch-segregation
ist Lester Maddox faces the pro
gressive candidate Ellis Arnall,
in the Democratic runoff elec
tion, Sept. 28.
Civil rights is an old subject.
We've heard it argued and ra
tionalized so many times that it
seems to be an insoluble issue,
an issue we would prefer to
ignore.
But we can't ignore it. We must
explore it, dissect it, analyze it,
and reach a decision as hon
estly and objectively as possible,
if we are ever to vote fairly in
any election. It clouds all other
issues.
For a Southerner, that decision
is by no means easy.
Although most West Georgia
College students were in gram
mar school when the 1954 de
cision was made, we have grown
up in the segregated South. We
know how segregation works. We
know how it affects us.
NEVER REFUSED
And segregation has never
caused white students to be re
fused admittance to a public fa
cility or forced to sit in the back
of a bus. There is nothing so ob
jectionable about it.
But judging from the demon
strations and sit-ins and recent
riots by Negroes, the status quo
is not so pleasing to him.
Negroes have organized. White
groups have organized also. Ex
treme racists are found on both
sides. The battle wages: “you've
got the rights I want,” and “you
can’t have my rights (because then
I won’t have any?)” Black power
is pitted against white power. It
is all or none. Everyone can’t en
joy the same rights.
We are prejudiced. We are
afraid, but of exactly what we are
not quite sure. Just exactly how
integration would affect us, we
are not sure. But our imagina
tion helps out, and our imagina
tion “justifies” our prejudice.
Organizations like SNCC seem to
be respresentative of all Negro
thinking.
Every man and woman who has
grown up in the segregated South
feels the prejudice, the desire to
protect his “way of life” when
threatened. For the Southerner,
I it’s all mixed up inside-too con
fused and too confusing to be ex
plained, but there, affecting atti
tudes and reactions.
CAUSES VARY
The causes and reactions vary
from individual to individual. And
it is a matter of individiual ethics.
We cannot hide behind our par
ents, our churches, our race. The
decision is a matter for each in
dividual, each West Georgia col
lege student, his and his alone.
It is a matter of trying to un
derstand, a matter of putting one
self into the place of a Negro sol
dier who fights in Viet Nam while
his family back home in America
must eat only in designated
places, sit only in movie bal
conies, and ride in the backs of
busses.
NO EASY TASK
It is a matter of forcing oneself,
and it is no easy task, to look at
life through the eyes of a Negro
in the segregated South -a Negro
whose greatest expectation from
life will probably be a meager liv
(Continued on Page Five)
SEPTEMBER 23. IMS
Ed Collier
Responsible
voters will
pick Arnall
In the state of Georgia young
people eighteen and above are
given the precious right to vote,
the right to help choose the path
Georgia will travel during the
next four years, and the right to
select the man who can and will
do the most for Georgia.
This election
year the field
has already j M
been narrowed ,%> ***
by the primary fT
voters to Les- - *
ter Maddox and y %
Ellis Arnall, Mr Mk
and by petition to Howard Hollis
Callaway. Which man can do the
most for Georgia? Atlanta busi
nessman Lester Maddox is, to
put it mildly, the least qualified
of the three, having had no past
experience in either local or state
government.
The second candidate is the
suave, multimillionaire con
gressman Howard Hollis Calla
way, who was elected as a Gold
water Republican. Callaway has
one of the most outstanding vot
ing records ever compiled by
any freshman congressman-out
standingly negative. He has voted
NO on almost every bill brought
before the House (he even voted
no on the minimum wage law). To
this date congressman Callaway
has been running on a secret plat
form, and this coupled with his
refusal to allow any other Repub
lican to seek nomination for gov
ernor or It. governor has cast a
haze of doubt on his candidacy
(G. Paul Jones wanted to run for
It. governor, but was stopped by
Callaway forces).
Nevertheless Callaway will be on
the ballot for the general elec
tion, and chances are he will be
running against the third can
didate, Ellis Arnall.
Ellis Arnall is a successful law
yer and businessman, who has the
distinction of being the youngest
governor in the United States and,
according to E. Merton Coulter,
the most dynamic governor Geor
gia ever had. Today Ellis Arnall
is the youngest candidate for gov
ernor, not in years perhaps, but
in outlook and vision.
DEFEATED ‘GRANDADDY’
When Ellis Arnall ran for gov
ernor before some people said he
could not win, but he did. Not
only did he win, but he defeated
the “granddaddy of pol
itics,’’ Eugene Talmadge. Now
Ellis Arnall is running against a
segregationist and a pseudo-Re
publican, neither of which is the
granddaddy of Georgia politics.”
Ellis Arnall is the candidate who
thinks of the people of Georgia
first, he is progressive, dynamic;
he is the man who is qualified
to lead Georgia into the future.
He is a man with sound and “con
servative” policies in Georgia fi
nancial matters. He is the man
who established Georgia teacher
retirement benefits, and the man
who will raise the teachers sal
aries above the national average.
Ellis Arnall is a man of action.
Georgia needs action, not com
plaisant self satisfied govern
ment.
Responsible and thoughtful young
men and women all over the state
are selecting Ellis Arnall as the
man most likely to lead Georgia
forward. Lets go Georgia
ELECT ELLIS ARNALL ~
GOVERNOR