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MERCER CLUSTER APRIL II. ISM Letters to the Editor Dear Sir: A few years ago, the University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill Press published a book about Amer ican colleges and universities that had been founded or co-founded by Jews Mercer was among them. Jesse Mercer, founder of the Christian Index and the Georgia Baptist Con tention, was a smart man and great preacher. He wrote the section on religious freedom in Georgia's Con stitution and managed a campaign from Gov. George Troup against General Elijah Clarke whom he dis liked But Jesse Mercer’s Jewish second wife, Nancy Simon, was the gal who put up the money that launched Mercer at Penfield, Geor gia in 1833. She handed him $75,000 without a quibble for the project. Josiab Penfield, a Savannah sil versmith, gave $2,500 to buy land. So not a dime of Baptist money went into the founding of Mercer. It has been just about that way ever since. Up until the 1950's the Georgia Baptist Convention was giving Mercer around $30,000 a year to educate its ministers. They were spending ten times that much on training foreign missionaries. The Southern Baptist Conven tion under which all the Baptist Colleges are supposed to be. has never given them a nickel, although it drains the State Convention funds annually and heavily. Of the 50-odd buildings cur rently on the Mercer Campus, all were erected by gifts from private individuals, the students and alumni. (People like the Ryals family (law building), the Potters, the Roberts, the Lees, the McCom- mons. the Willetts, the Wares and the Stetsons) The Administration building, prid, of the campus, was built in 1874 with $100,000 given by the City of Macon; Willingham Chapel by the Willingham family and alumni; the original library by Andrew Carnegie. The same is true of Mercer’s en dowment funds. Approximately, of $11,000,000, all but about a mil lion was given by private individ uals, foundations and alumni. So there really isn’t much Bap tist money at Mercer. Of the school's annual $5,000,000 opera ting budget, 82% is paid from stu dent tuition, auniliaries, endow ment funds and private individuals. The Baptists pay about 7% of the total, but they wan and demand 100% control. So the best possible outcome of the church-state row would be the amicable severance of Mercer from the Georgia Baptist Convention. Both would profit. James Henry Jones Dear President Nixon: Regarding the tragedy taking place in Biafra, we urge you to devote your energies to furthering the policies which you stated in your speech of Sept ember 10, 1968. The fol lowing statements are from that speech. The terrible tragedy of the people of Biafra has now assumed cata strophic dimensions. Starvation is daily claim ing the lives of an esti mated 6,000 Ibo tribes men, most of them chil dren. If adequate food is not delivered to these people in the immediate future, hundreds of thou sands of human beings will die of hunger. Until now efforts to relieve the Biafran people have been thwarted by the desire of the Central Government of Nigeria to pursue total and uncondi tional victory and by the fear of the Ibo people that surrender means wholesale atrocities and genocide. But genocide is what is taking place right now-and starvation is the grim reaper. This is not the time to stand on ceremony or to “go through channels’’ or to observe the diplomatic niceties. The destruction of an entire people is an immoral objective, even in the moat moral of wars. It can never be jus tified; it can never be condoned. Voluntary organiza tions such as the Red Cross, the Church World Service and Caritas have rushed thousands of tons of protein-rich nourish ments and baby foods to the vicinity of the stricken region. Much of the food remains nearby while these children starve to death. The time is long past for the wringing of hands about what is going on. While America is not the world’s policeman, let us at least act as the world’s conscience in this matter of life and death for mil lions. The President of the United States is a man charged with responsi bilities and concerns all over the world. But I urge President Nixon to give this crisis all the time and attention and imagination and energy he can muster. Every friend of humanity should be asked to step forword to call an end to this slaughter of the inno- cents in West-Central Africa. America is not with out enormous material wealth and power and ability. There is no better cause in which we might invest that power than in sparing the lives of iimo- Who Holds Veto Over RW6A? XS™ The purpose of this article is to clear up matters concerning who has the power, the Dean of Women, the President, or both, to veto rules passed by RWGA, and the circum stances under which such power is exccrcised.. The answers came from Presi dent Harris, and are best expressed by him. President Harris writes, “AH power regarding the conduct of all the University endeavor resides by the law in the Board of Trustees." But, “the Trustees dele gate by one method or other their legal power over campus arrange ments to the President of the Uni versity. The President, in turn, dele gates to different campus bodies and persons various functions and responsibilities. He has delegated to ... in this case RWGA, the power 'to initiate rules of life and action. He invites this actively, sub ject always to his review . . and he is charged by law to disapprove or modify decisions which in his dis cretion he judges to be unwise in the overall interests of the college.” “The Dean of Women is the special advisor to the President on matters relating to the life and ac tions of women students have. The Dean of Women is called upon to express her points of view or rec ommendations on proposed actions by RWGA. She does not veto. The President vetoes if any is done, or modifies.” But certainly, as the President goes on to say, he “gives extended consideration” to the Dean's views. Conference On Radical Southern History By Alex Hurdcr White Southerners justifiably call themselves rebels. The long struggle of Southern rebels against the system of big business and Northern capitalism will the theme of a CONFERENCE ON RADICAL SOUTHERN HISTORY to be held at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia on April 18-20. The conference has been planned by the Southern Student Organizing Committee. It will fea ture speakers, discussions and pan els, ill emphasizing the radical role which Southern working people have played in the history of this country. Papers on Southern his tory written by Southern students will be printed and distributed. Black people have begun to realize the necessity of learning their own history. They have had to learn that the black rebellion did not begin in 1960 or in 1954, but that it is as old as the presence of a black working class in America. But the white Southerner is still largely unaware that he has a history of combatting the system which has made him poor The mass media tell us only that Southerners are racist and conserva tive. School textbooks tdl us little about ibe South that we can be proud of. The April CON FERENCE ON RADICAL SOUTH ERN HISTORY will deal with those suppressed events of South ern history which are necessary to cent men and women and children who otherwise are doomed. Have the courage to put your own words into actions. " In addition. President Harris modified RWGA’s request for changes in the women’s hours by restricting the hours on Monday through Thursday to 11 p.m. in both MEP and the Freshman dorm, instead of the proposed 12 p m. in MEP. He says, however, “I am open to debate on these hours...” and RWGA hat approached him asking him to reconsider the change. President Harris also stated that “1 am anxious to have the expres sion of the assembled opinion of .the Mercer women students through RWGA. They must live by the rules, and hence should share with me a responsibility for them.” Also, in regard to policy making, it should be clear that the Presi dent, in conjunction with the Dean of Women, makes the polocics. Beth Daniels, President of RWGA, talked at length with Mr. Haywood about this, and was told that he (Mr. Haywood) finds, after notifica tion by the President of a policy change, the additional money that the new rule or policy requires. Mr. Haywood’s job is to budget the fin ancial affairs, not to approve or make policy. In closing it remains true that there must be, in all campus, mat ters, close communication, coopera tion, and trust among the students, their representative, and all admini strators; only then will the best re sults for all concerned be obtained. an understanding of the rebel tradi tion. For instance, few Southern whites remember that in 1934 over half the workers in Southern textile mills walked off their jobs and re fused to go back to work under conditions that amounted to slav ery. The more than 170,000 freed mill workers were rounded up by National Guardsmen and sent back to the mills. In Georgia, the men who quit work were placed in con centration camps until the mills were operating aga Few remember thalin 1908 coal miners in Alabama went on strike against the Northern-owned Ten nessee Coal and Iron Company. Striking black and white workers were evicted from their company- -owned homes. They set up an inte grated tent city in northern Ala bama. The tents were burned down by State Troopers. Black and white workers repeated the strike in 1921 The walkout of 48,000 Philip Mullock, professor of law at Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law has been conferred the Doctor of Philosophy degree in philosophy by the Uirivcr- sity of Oxford. The degree was conferred on the basis ai Dr. Mullock’s studies, at the Universities of Oxford and Pittsburg, of analytical philosophy and mathematical logic. As a result of these studies he wrote s doctoral thesis demonstrating how new de velopments of mathematical logic can be usefully applied in illuminat ing problem areas in the philosophy of law and morals. Dr. Mullock has been on the faculty of the Mercer law'school since 1959. He was conferred the Juris Doctor degree by the Univer sity of Chicago in 1958 and the Master of Laws degree by the Uni versity of Vaginia in 1959. He is a member of the Georgia and Vuginia Sate Bar Associations and of The Queen’s College, Ox ford. Dr. Mullock has written various articles for professional publications. WHAT TO WEAR (ACP) - The Forty-Niner, Cali fornia Sate College at Long Beach. For the coed who doesn't have a thing to wear for the next protest march, a London boutique has just the thing; Featured is a drew in deep red, shiny, aluminum-backed Milium (sheds rain) with large, clear plastic inserts center back and front upon which to scrawl your message. miners shut down all the mines in the sate. In 1928 President Harding tent the 19th Infantry of the U. S. Army into West Virginia to break up a strike and a protest march of while coal miners in that Appals chian state. The Infantry invaded West Virginia with tanks, airplanes and machine guns in what threatened to become a civil war Union organizing was halted in West Virginia for years. These are only some of the in stances in which Southern rebels have halted mills and mines with demands for unions, decent wages and human working conditions. The CONFERENCE ON RAD I CAL SOUTHERN HISTORY will examine these and other historic events and why they failed, why the South is still the poorest region in the nation, and why unionisation is still denied to many Southern working people. Wc\t jHercer Cluster Editor-in-Chief — Associate Editor - News Editor Business Staff _— Managing Editor Cartoons Linda McNeal -Tom Cauthorn' Marie Aggleaon ..Judy Wkhtennan —Gary Johnson Photographers Circulation -Roger Poston Bob Johnson, Sonny Lance .Joanne Houtowtki Carol Ison & News Staff Peggy Sullivan, Elijah Liahtfoot. Angie Hayes, Chris Nordal, Nancy Andrews, Debbie Hewell, Anna Dixon Betty Rosa, Chuck Jackson Advertising i ; -Cornelia Bennett ' Proofreading ——Judy Wich terms id, Betty Ross, Marie Agrieaon Typist — CarofynSmlth Bob Judy Irving • Exec Editors Bobby PMOha. Wright Davis Sports Editor ; Louis Johann 'Proofreadff% _—Claire Jordan, Bob Mauntan Feature Editor —— Lyndon Mayes M CM BCR Lyndotf, . Feature Staff ——Andrea Frost, Debt* Rogers, ' /Johnny Turner, Tyler Loddyn Kennedy j