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May 5, 1M7
THE MERCER CLUSTER
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Hundred Tltty-For Years
By Reid Banks
tturty-four yean till Ciceronian Literary
d at Mercer. At times its vigorous and
has easily twlted its age; at dim times it
aU the senility and
But somehow it keeps
I schedules go up, and the
^enthusiastic response to the
javannt respect for the
luatter of peat aodetic
renfield, the Franklin
and Phi Delta debating
r for more than a century, each amassing
building great meeting hatia, and poseees-
, . the books of which have been on loan to
?4‘ library since 1903.
Having moved to the campus in Macon, the Ciceronian
Society took up residence in the Administration building
Where now the Dean’s office is located. The Society’s motto,
Veritas et Etoquentia (Truth and Eloquence), seined to thrive
on new Mercer soil, for the Society was soon challenging the
Phi Deltas to rigorous debates in what is now the Economics
buildilifF
Until the 1930’s and the death of the Phi Delta Society,
the tarn erganizations debated literary and political topics of
every conceivable magnitude or sometimes triviality. A brief
glimpse et the old Ciceronian Society minutes now filed away
in the Stetson Library reveals a number of interesting subjects
debated. ‘‘Which has the more influence, money or women?”
Surprisingly enough the latter was preferred. “Ought drunk-
on ess to be an excuse for crime?" The decision (unfortunate
for soma, of count) want negatively. However, when it came
to deciding whether man sprang from an original pair, there
mm a hung jury. For some reason they did not want to
Commit themselves on this issue.
There were of course more realistic topics then these. In
Penfield days, for instance, to the question, “Ought Beauregard
to advance on Washington?” the response interestingly enough
was negative. A similar answer came to the question, “Would
reopening the slave trade be beneficial to the South?”
Just last year the Society tackled the question, “Can it
be proved from Shakespeare’s works that Hamlet was a
Christian?” As Mercer’s oldest organization, then, the Ciceron
ian Society possesses a tremendous fredom of discussion. In
fact, former faculty member Dr. Wilson C. Snipes of the Eng
lish department once commented, “The Ciceronian Society
has the potential for being the nucleus of an intellectual re
volution at Mercer.” It is no wonder, then, that the Society
still thrives. Somehow those schedules continue to go up, and
the Ciceronian Society continues to meet; perhaps it will
always thrive.
Topics discussed by the society this year have ranged
from “Lesser known aspects of Sidney Lanier” to Samuel
Beckett’s Waiting For Godot. The next meeting will be Thurs
day evening at 7:00, in room 314 of the Student Center. The
program will center around a talk by Tom Cauthom on the
works of Ernest Hemingway.
The Legend of The Charter
Legend often aacorapaniee antiquity. And so it is with the charter of
fee Alpha Beta Chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. The charter of
the Alpha Beta Chapter wai the second charter granted by the present
fata Chapter of the University of Virginia in the first drive to expand
the fraternity into a national organisation. The charter is dated Decern-
htr 10th, 1874, Kappa Sigma history, which is somewhat limited in its
account of the Alpha Beta Chapter, shows that the chapter established
ia 1874, waa the second one established by the original University of
Virginia organisation — but this chapter went out of existence a year
«r so later. The only reason on record to explain this collapse of old
•Beta” is “undue conservatism”.
The chapter was reorganised by a more liberal group of men in
1191, renamed “Alpha Beta”, and has flourished since then. But the fact
iwnains that for a little over fifteen years there was no Kappa Sigma
Chapter at Mercer University. Despite the inactivity of the chapter for
those fifteen years, the original charter of 1874 still remained in the
jroud possession of Mercer’s Kappa Sigma group. How the charter
■ervived those years is somewhat of a mystery.
Legend has it — and legends are often true — that the “Beta”
charter, after being lost for several years, was found behind the fire
place among the ashes at the old Kappa Sigma room, what a remodel-
hg job waa being done an the administration building — then Mercer’s
ady It ia said that the janitor, upon finding the charter, turned
is a slialsal handing bp and asked: “Can you tell me whet this is?”
^rtnaahaly the studs nt recognised the charier and explained what it
sas to the janitor. He complimented the janitor on his alertness, and
aid that ha had dona tha fraternity an invaluable service. The janitor
apiliad “Do you really think so?” “Moat asm redly”, answered the
Itnilsat “You will be heeriag about the Kappa Sigma Fraternity again
And that student proved to be right,
very intonating story about tha obtaining of the “Beta”
charted and the eatafcttohteg of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity at Mercer
k preserved in the history of the fraternity. The founder of the chapter
■as William Anderson Thomas of Daviaboro, Georgia. Thomas had
dteadad Trinity OoUaga before coming to Mercer, and it waa there he
had been initiated into the Eta Chapter of Kappa Sigma. Apparently
Thornes had haard about the establishing of the new university in
Macon from his parents; and the desire to go to school closer to home,
this the missionary seal to spread Kappa Sigma abroad, led him to
transfer to Msrcer in the fall of 1874. The story goes on to recount that
shen Tin anas arrived at Mercer he was immediately set upon by the
klteraity man of tha campus. He, of course, told them that he waa al-
itedy a Kappa'90*2. the “rushers", after assuring him that his
baternity would surely die out in a year or so, magnanimously gave him
mtil after chapal of the following day to agree to join their fraternity.
But William Anderson Thomas was a Kappa Sigma. That night he set
b work. The Mat day after chapel he met the other fraternity men in
accordance with his agreement. To their surprise he declined their
iavitation with the announcement that he had secured five friends and
promised brothers during the night and that he intended to organise a
Kappa Sigma chapter on Mercer’s campus. And that he did!
Tha two signatures of the “Beta” charter present another intereet-
hg fact. The signatures are those of Lyon G. Tyler and James Blakey.
lyon G. Tyler, tha Gcand Scribe of the Zeta Chapter, was the son of
A* ritehlnri of tha United States, John Tyler.
Dear Dr. Harris:
I wish to commend you and the
Trustees of Mercer University for
your refusal to discipline Dr. F. R.
Otto in his use of controversial
language in a recent chapel sermon.
I learned of the controversy
through an article in the New York
Times last Friday.
When I attended Mercer, there
was no professor on the faculty
whom I held in higher esteem than
Dr. Otto. His lectures challenged
the intellect, while his charity
wanned the heart. His sermons
brought meaning back into a theo
logy that had grown sterile through
the monotonous repetition of moral
platitudes. This man helped me
not only to hear the Gospel, but to
understand it, both with my head
and my heart.
His dismissal would have been a
great loss to the University and
especially to the student body,
whose welfare he has always kept
uppermost in his mind, as well as
in his conduct.
I hope that Dr. Otto will con
tinue to lead students to put away
rhiidiah things.
Very truly yours.
W. Franklin Maxwell
AB. 1960
cc: The Mercer Cluster
The Macon Telegraph A News
Michigan States
Summer Program
Is Still Open
Students from 30 states have al
ready enrolled in Michigan State
University's summer overseas study
program, but there are still open
ings for qualified students, ac
cording to MSIJ officials.
Credit programs are available in
French at Paris^France; Spanish
at Madrid. SpauJf and German at
Cologne, Germany.
Parents of students participating
in the AMLEC summer program
can also take advantage of the
economical transportation rates to
Europe.
For additional information on
the summer AMLEC program,
contact the Office of International
Extension. 58-A Kellogg Center,
MSU, East Lansing, Mich. 48823.
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