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/Utter* to tke Sditoe
It Imb m<|1 * to my attention *****
you hw boen editorially critical at
the Georgia Baptist Convention (or
not allowing Manor to nek fundi
torn the United Stain Govern
ment I am sure that you would not
Intentionally ingput that Georgia
Baptist disobey om of God’s Com
mandments, but this la what you
have done. It is obvious when some-
»ne takas money from another by
force that God’s law forbidding one
to steal has been breeched. It is
not so obvious whan one prevails
upon Congress to peas a law to take
money from the taxpayer. Even if
we see examples of this every day.
let us not (all into the trap of be
lieving that if it is legal it is not
stealing.
Another danger in becoming too
dependent on the Government in
volves the First Commandment. In
this age of pensions, grants and
subsidies, we are in danger of feel
ing that the Government can do
more for us than God. Let us re
member that we are first dependent
on God for our life, our being and
ill that we have.
The Bible tells us to render unto
Caesar but it does not say to give
Caesar mors than one gives to God
or to expect more from Caesar than
Is expected from God.
Do you think that it is wise for
you to seek financial support from
the biggest debtor in all history
when an institution founded by
God and centuries older is support
ing you with more then just money.
Very truly yours,
Robert 8. GeUentedt. Jr.
East Point, Ga.
this letter, we include s tetter to
he president which we feel is fair
ly representative of student spin-
on on this issue.
November 30, 1966
Mercer University
Macon, Georgia
Dear President Harris:
A meeting of the Student Gov
mment Association and other cam
pus lendete has been held to discuss
the recent action of the Georgia
Baptist Convention, and this letter
reflects the spirit and unanimous
expression of that meeting. The ur-
lency of this matter and its close
mnection with the future of the
University compete us to voice to
you our deep concern and our re
quest that you convey it appropri
ately to the Trustees of the Uni ver
ity
Four years at Mercer has not
nly provided us with opportunity
o pursue an education and a de
rive, but has also given us a deep
ove of the University as an institu-
ion and even as a personality in
ler own right Thus, our concern
Rnd devotion will not cease with
commencement but will continue
■h rough the years ahead. Wa are
writing, therefore, both with a con
cern for Mercer’s present and an
even greater concern for her fo
urs. We believe that we are not
inly mirroring the concern of our
Wlow students, but also voicing
hair almost unanimous opinion of
what mute be done.
The needs of this University, or
iny quality university, cannot be
net with tuition alone. Wa cannot
*ut voice our concern that Metoar's
liability to accept federal funds
will be reflected in mounting tui-
'km coats. Unlaw additional sources
>f revenue are soon found. Mercer
sill be forced to recruit bar teu-
fents from only very wealthy fam-
Ites. which will be a dspiosabis
tepsrture foam bar tTadtioa. Wa
toougly doubt that substantial gifts
from private benefactors will be
forthcoming when we refuse to ac
cept tod from our government. It
Seems logical that the benefactor
would want to place his money in
an inteittuion which has demon
strated fiscal responsibility and
which he believes will continue to
exist. We therefore urgently rec
ommend that federal assistance be
. We see no prostitution of Mer
cer’s integrity, spirit, or way of life
by accepting federal funds. If wa
refuse federal aid, are will be sacri
ficing bar future for principles
which when critically examined
are not relevant to contemporary
education. Such a sacrifice is be
yond comprehension. To emascu
late this University on the altar of
prejudice and worn out tradition
will be a tragedy too great to com
prehend.
The Georgia Baptist Convention
has already demonstrated that it te
either unable or unwilling to pro
vide for our minimum current
needs, much lew for the cost of fu
ture development and program to
ward excellence. If we are to grow
and prosper, if we are to maintain
our scholastic standards and pro
gress, we cannot wait hat in hand
as the years go by. Our continued
reluctance to face this basic issue te
not only hurting future progress,
but also impeding our efforts in the
present Meanwhile, we are im
mensely concerned that our accred
itation may be placed in jeopardy.
When facilities are not built or con
struction te postponed; when there
are shortages and slashings to meet
budgets; when we have cramped
quarters and curtailed programs,
then something has to be done.
We are grateful for your efforts
and your rich accomplishments. We
are writing to implore that you car
ry on with the work of improving
this institution and making plans
for its growth and future develop
ment To postpone te to lag. While
we are hindered today, the students
who follow will be more sorely
hurt Our love for Mercer and our
concern for her future impel us to
write. The time is passing quickly,
and some accommodation or solu
tion that will enable Mercer to
reach the Twenty First Century
must be achieved.
We know that you share our love
for Mercer and our concern for her,
and we are confident that you have
the ability to do whatever is neces
sary to insure her future. We thank
you for your attention to this mat
ter, and we want you to know that
you have the complete support of
us and our fellow students in what
ever action you undertake.
Sincerely yours,
(Signed)
Steve Moody, President
Student Government Asso
ciation
Jacob Beil. Chief Justice
Mercer Univeimitv Honor
Council
Davis Laney, President
Interfratemity Council
Senior Class
STUDYING
CAUSES
CANCER
In the weeks ahead students
will be given an opportunity to
t k e I r instructors,
ad the general course
at Meteor In a
by Margaret
Wells, sta
te sociology who are coo
LETTERS POLICY
letters on any subject pertinent to and fa-
Tbs editor r—tow the right to edit letters
to style, good teste, spans limitations and liboi laws
seed 300 words,
i withheld upon
MERGER CLUSTER
January IS. 1M7
ERCER
/4SSCCN By
Academic Incest and the Brain Drain
Will members of this year’s senior claw be al
lowed to teach at Mercer next year? What te being
done to replace with qualified people those
teachers who leave Mercer each year? And, who
will teach in the science center when it te com
pleted?
Such questions may seem at first exaggerated,
but they are becoming with time quite pertinent.
The plight of Mercer’s faculty te becoming em-
brmasingty obvious; to pretend that these problems
do not exist, that all te as it should be, is to be
either incredibly naive or purpoeely deceptive.
Few people would disagree that Mercer needs
new buildings. But more than new science centers,
or swimming pools, we need competent teachers
for the class rooms we already have. The cover is
not w important, really, aa the book inside it.
and a glance behind the chamber-of-commerce
idea that the value of a school is proportional to
its modem buildings te revealing and disillusioning.
Mercer’s psychology department, to be specific,
includes only one Ph.D. who must teach four
courses, two part-time teachers, and a “visiting
instructor” whoae only degree is an A.B. from
Mercer. Two full-time Ph.D.’s left the English
department last year, and to replace them, a re
tired Wesleyan professor was hired to teach one
claw a quarter. His competence is not in question,
but he can hardly fill the vacancies left by Dr.
Snipes and Dr. Christopher.
Of the eleven courses listed under Political
Science in the catalogue, two are taught by a
Christianity teacher (Cox), one by a history
professor (King), and three by the only member
of the Political Science department. The catalogue
rends, “A Political Science major consists of seven
courses above Political Science 50.” (p. 110).
Since only five courses above Political Science 60
are taught, this must be quite difficult.
And other inequalities exist The art depart
ment, which hw four members and offers no
major te juxtaposed against the sociology de
partment whose two members must teach all
twelve courses. In several departments, notably
psychology, part-time people are hired w tem
porary measures.
-s A careful reading of the bade of the 1966-67
catalogue reveals several interesting and not en
couraging, insights about the faculty. Of 113
faculty members listed, 25 had received at least
one of their degrees from Mercer; this sounds
alarmingly like academic incest. There are four
Emeritus professors listed, none of them teach;
three of them hold degrees from Mercer. The
faculty roster te further padded with names of
people who either do not teach or are not present;
most notable te that of Nathanial Lewis Kaderly,
Ph.D., whose title in the catalogue indicates that
he te an English teacher, but in the last 4 years,
at least, he hw not been here. There are 10
teachers listed, in such departments w math
matics, psychology .and German, whose only de
gree is an A.B. Finally, last quarter. Economics
50 wa! taught by the “Assistant Professor of
Secretarial Studies.”
No comment te really needed; every Mercer
student te aware of what has happened to the
faculty. It seems to us that this problem, the
rebuilding the faculty to make Mercer competitive
again, deserves top priority on Mercer's already-
full list of problems.
Without a good faculty, imposing buildings are
useless. If we had wanted to be taught by
graduate assistants,” we could have gone to the
University of Georgia and saved a lot of money.
COLLEGE EDITORS PUZZLE EVERYONE
tt
DIANA DENTON
Some time ago a piece carrying this title fell
into my hands. At the time I found it quite amus
ing and somewhat relevant, since I had only re
cently gone into retirement from that position
of time-ho no red “ecape-goatism,” and looking
back with all the wisdom of one who just a few
short weeks ago had held the job, I could under
stand only too well what the author must have
meant.
At times like this, however, I find it more rele
vant still Why te the editorship a job that no
one wants (the answer to that one is quite ewy,
but here's the cincher)—until one editor hw for
some reason or another been dropped from the
office and it becomes a job that no one in his
right mind would touch with a ten-foot pole? Or
does Mercer merely choose an astrologically-
ominous season to elect her editors? In the spring
elections for the past four years, an editor hw
been elected for the Cluster in a completely un-
conteetod campaign, yet when fall quarter of the
pwt two years hw seen the demise of those
wearing the ink-and-blood-stained apron of the
votary, there hw always ensued an election with
a surprising number desiring the poet and often
surprising in the identities of those who then of
fer themselves for public service.
But such idiosyncTaciss of Mercer’s electoral
proc tsiss are not foe only interesting aspects of
the editorial question. Editorialist Mike Engle
man of the Dallas, Texas, Morning News once
wrote in his column: "College editors pusxle
everyone, and no one in his right mind could ever
figure out why college editors write what they do.
Being editor of a college newspaper is liln
driving doom the highway with one headlight
burned out everyone knows you’re cockeyed ex
cept you. Not only does foe college editor believe
his pen is mightier than the provabssl sword, ha
is convinced it’s more powerful than the dean
of man, more popular than the captain of tbs
football team and, tones aO, mors far
than the Otoiwlk ftoajfato.
THE COLLEGE editor must prod an uncon
cerned administration into getting the chug holes
in the campus streets patched. He must expose
the brutal tactics of the campus police who insist
on ticketing automobiles parked in fire lanes.
(“And why do we need fire lanes on this cam
pus? All the buildings are made of brick.")
He cannot allow any hot story to escape pub
lic attention, including the one about the profes
•or who ww seen in a nightclub across town with
a blonde.
Not only te he charged with the sacred respon
sibility of publicly advising the school’s president,
he must also give public counsel to the president
of the United States.
And what does he receive in return? The pres
ident tells him he will lose his job the next time
he proposes an all-school panty raid. His Eng
lish professor chides him in front of the entire
class for writing "like" instead of “as.” He te con
demned by the student council in a 20-0 vote
(his fraternity brother voted "present”).
He te expected to edit a 27-page letter on the
meaning of mankind for the letters from readers
column. And the chug boles never get filled.
Some critics believe that the policy of letting
the student editor be his own boas te the best an
swer. After spending an exhausting year advising
everybody on everything, he usually grows up to
be a newspaperman—at which time he learm
quickly that he doesn't know very much at all.
When he has worked for a while on city news
paper, he looks beck and admits that no oan can
explain why a collage editor writes what he does
—not even an ex-college newspaper editor. And
that includes this writer."
This writer might add that the college editor
te also at trines informed he writes "like" an
“as"—and at times may stoop to plsgariniil