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PAGE FOUR
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Editor-In-Chief Managing Editor
U Manger
Sport* Editor BUI Harper
Copy Editor Erin Bowers
Photographer Edgar Tirado
You're In —
But, What Now?
Well, you made it. After twelve years of struggling
through the trials and tribulations of primary and
secondary schools, you are finally in college. And, the
big question confronting each of you now is, What do I do
about it?
Most of you are away from home for the first time.
There will be no Daddy to run to with your troubles, no
Mommy to come along and pick up behind you. The
doctrine of “in loco parentis”, which protected and
hindered previous generations of college students, is on
the way out. In fact, you will find yourself so alone with
your decisions, sometimes, that you will long for the
protection and security of the womb or, at least, of
your childhood days when someone else was always
there to tell you what to do.
But, those days of yore are gone forever, and you must
now stand on your own two feet and make the day-to-day
decisions that were previously so taken for granted. It is
a challenge, one you will have to accept and conquer, if
you are to begin functioning as an adult in an adult
world.
We do not desire to sound pompous and preachy. You
will get plenty of that type of well-meant propaganda
from other sources around this campus. But, we do want
to point out that life at college will not be all parties and
pot, beauties and beer.
In some ways, college is going to be very similar to the
various high schools which you have so recently vacated
—and, yet, in some ways it will be so very different as to
make that comparison seem meaningless. But, be it a
glorified high school or a center of academe which stirs
the intellect, the experiences you share here will in
fluence to a great extent the rest of your life.
The years you are to spend in college will be years of
growth and change. But, how you develop will mostly
depend on you.
A Letter
To the Incoming Freshmen
Fall, 1972
I am delighted to welcome you to Georgia as you
embark upon your college career.
Georgia is an exciting and stimulating place to be now
with much credit due to the activity and interest of our
young people—the average age of my own office staff is
approximately 30 years old. Georgia was the first state
to grant voting rights to 18-year-olds and more recently
one of the first to lower the age of majority to 18.1 hope
both those of you who are in-state students and out-of
state students will take the time to share your ideas with
us and become involved in the progress we are making.
One of the most immediate opportunities for in
volvement is the election November 7th. Asa result of a
recent Supreme Court ruling, you may now vote either
in your home district or in the district where you' are
attending school. Our state and our country needs your
‘‘full citizenship” participation now, and I urge you to
register and vote for the candidate that you feel will best
represent you and strengthen our country.
My office is open to you at all times if you need help or
advice or want to share your ideas and opinions. We can
direct you to some challenging volunteer service op
portunities or state government career opportunities.
Best wishes to you in your studies. You have made an
excellent choice of schools, and we want you to get the
maximum benefit from it.
Sincerely,
THE WEST GEORGIAN
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The fall quarter freshman of
1972 finds himself at center stage
of an era vastly different from
that of his predecessors, even
those of just a year ago.
The college and university
scene is changing more rapidly
than ever partly because of the
tumult and the shouting of the
recent past. The seeds of reform,
revision, and change planted
during the Swinging Sixties are
now springing into full bloom.
Colleges and universities have
always been serious places,
whether the activity at hand was
work or play, and too often it has
been the latter.
But I see developing anew
consensus of seriousness among
faculty members, students, and
other members of the academic
community at West Georgia
College and elsewhere.
It’s a seriousness of purpose, a
resolve to get the learning job
done, a realization that resources
are limited and must be carefully
utilized, a maturity of thought
Ann Seig
Choosing Your Major
Deciding on a major in college
is mainly a matter of getting in
touch with who you are. In
making a decision about a major,
there’s a place for logic and a
place for cool objectivity...but
later! Right now, since your
major can lead you toward your
life’s work, what you really need
to do is find out the kind of work
you enjoy doing, and the kinds
of people you feel comfortable
with.
Now some people have known
they were going to be a doctor or
an entomologist or a tree
surgeon, for example, ever since
they first played doctor,
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-Viewpoint
Tracy Stallings
College Discipline
In The Seventies
and action not heretofore evident.
What’s the reason for this, and
how will this vague thing I’m
talking about be made manifest 0
What forms will it take?
One of the more obvious areas
of change involves disciplinary
matters. A sophisticated system
of due process awaits those
charged with violations of in
stitutional regulations. The
regulations (on pages 81-95 of the
Student Handbook) have been
made clearer and more specific
than ever, in keeping with
progressive trends and federal
court rulings of the recent past.
Also specified are the various
levels of appeal and review.
But there are fewer
disciplinary cases now than ever
before, for two reasons. One is
the new seriousness on the part of
students that I cited earlier, plus
the higher academic ex
pectations established for them.
The other reason is the fact that
many acts formerly treated as
institutional disciplinary matters
squashed, a bug, or sawed a tree
down. Then there are the rest of
us wondering, wandering,
floundering, while we search for
a life's work. Finding out what
you feel good doing and who you
feel good being with is not all that
easy sometimes because
essentially it’s a process of findd
ing You, with a capital Y.
A lot of times, You is an
unknown element. What, for
example, is this “you” like in
terms of what makes You happy
or sad? What builds You up and
what brings You down, crushed
and bruised? How much do You
need to be with other people, and
how important are other people’s
SEPTEMBER 18, 1972
and handled by college personnel
will in the future be treated as
law violations and referred to
public authorities.
Asa result, a wayward student
is more likely in 1972-73 to find
himself facing a local judge or
jury than he is to find himself
facing the Student Judiciary
Commission or the Dean of
Student Affairs.
Another major factor in the
new environment facing the 1972
freshman is Georgia’s new Age of
Majority law making 18 the of
ficial advent of adulthood. This
law hopefully will serve to make
the student more a colleague and
less an infant in the academic
community.
New academic demands
confront the 1972 freshman.
Stringent new retention
regulations are in effect, thus
making it imperative that the
student’s “adjustment” period be
shortened. He and she must make
the transition from high school to
college more rapidly and more
effectively.
opinions to You ( much more than
most of us realize, usually)? And
what’s more important to You—
—challenge or security? These
are things you need to know about
yourself in order to head toward a
life’s work that will fulfill the
needs and interests you have.
The Counseling Center might
be considered a sort of Lost and
Found Department they do a
lot of searching for Selves. And
then they provide some in
formation about careers and
majors that can be useful when
the time comes to Select a Major.
There’s another side of the coin
in this Selecting-A-Major
business: who else do you feel
you have to satisfy besides
yourself? Sometimes you major,
in medicine to please a parent
who always wanted to be a
doctor and then find out in
Medical school that sick people
make you sick! Sometimes you
major in math to prove to your
big sister that you can too count.
Sometimes you major in
something easy a crip
because your high school
counselor said you’d never make
it through college but at heart
you really would like to get into
physics. So it’s important to get it
straight in your own mind about
whose needs you’re satisfying
anyway, yours or theirs.
At the Counseling Center you
can take some tests, if you like,
and you can get into the career
information area and start
thinking about what to major in.
But mainly you can get into
your Self —do some searching,
clarify some values, find out who
You is (or are). You can find out
who you are by sharing your Self
with another person you trust.
That’s how it’s done. And if
you’re searching, it’s worth
doing. The Counseling Center is
located on the second floor of the
Administration Building, Room
204, cm the front driveway of the
campus.