Newspaper Page Text
by Larry Finkl*st«in
Letters to the Editor
-
Dear Dr. Harris:
I read with peat unhappi
ness the story In today’s
Atlanta Constitution concern
ing an anti-war rally on the
Mercer Campus. As the parent
of a Mercer student and a
member of a family long con
nected with the university, I
put the paper down, unable to
think beyond what is happen
ing to an institution in which I
have long had great faith.
I am a Baptist but I have
been able to part with some of
the long held Baptist beliefs.
Federsl aid makes sense.
Scholarships horn foundations
to deserving students make
sense. What does NOT make
sense is the pressure of “collec
tive” thinking advanced to stu
dents indicating that they are
not capable of thinking indivi
dually. I speak of a rally or a
riot.
What does a rally accom
plish? It gains headlines as it
detracts from the academic
atmosphere for which so many
parents are paying dearly.
Rallies and riots are bom of a
thought, nurtured by an im
mature mind but strong in its
sophomoric false assurance.
They feed upon the intellec
tually immature, those too lazy
or too unsure to think for
themselves.
The article I refer to quotes
your editor as saying “a list of
speakers is being furnished
from the Washington office
that co-ordinates some 400
colleges and universities. John
son said he did not know the
name of the Washington
office." This is irresponsible re
porting to say the least but
that is not the point.
The point is that this all
gives implementation to the
theory advanced by many that
campus rallies or riots are
planned carefully on a national
scale. This detracts from the
dignity of the individual stu
dent and the purpose of higher
learning and understanding I
had thought better of Mercer.
It Is notable that this comes
prior to the formal opening of
school. The student body may
agree but it seems It should be
their prerogative to so express
themselves before Mercer faces
the world as starting its year
with a “rally”, contrary to the
concepts of its Federal govern
ment.
My children have been
brought up to believe in the
democratic processes. When
our candidate did not win, we
acknowledge vox poputi! Mem
bers of our national, state and
local governments have been
elected to speak for us. Georgia
is one of the fortunate states
where the 18-year-old can vote.
Is the young person using this
privilege?
I think that the theory of
church and state is frequently
carried too far. But I question
the idea of using a denomina
tionally sponsored university
for a partisan rally.
Having thought of myself as
a middle-of-the-roader in Mer
cer’s recent controversies, I
now feel inclined to cast my
lot with the die-hards. One can
be only so independent with
other people's money. Let Mer
cer give some heed to its en-
dowers or go it alone!
Concerned parent
of a Mercer student
ONLY STUDENTS CAN SAVE
WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY
Although not professing to
be a reporter or to be associat
ed with the Cluster staff for
that matter, I have found a
danger to our Wonderful Wed
nesday that surprisingly few
other students have witnessed
and that needs to be brought
to the attention of all students.
Wonderful Wednesday has a
good chance of being abolished
with the termination of Winter
quarter because too many
pupils are cutting classes on
Fridays
Students should remember
that Wonderful Wednesday is
still in the experimental phase
on this campus This 4-day
system has been under the in
tense preliminary investigation
of the faculty since spring
quarter and will be until % vote
to continue its existence is
taken by the faculty during
winter quarter when the ex
periment ends Yet the same
ardent majority of faculty
members, who voted ‘yes’ for
Wonderful Wednesday and
trumpeted its ideals, are now
questioning their fervor. A
major gripe of faculty mem
bers, reported to Dean Trimble
spring quarter, was that the
number of students attending
classes on Fridays was some
thing to be desired.
Most wise students interest
ed in their education will agree
that courses, involving lectures,
labs, and credit towards gradu
ate school eap., demand fall
participation on the student's
part. And cutting classes on
Friday is a ritual of the pre
(Cont’d on Page 6)
Pro and Con
Viet Moratorium
Are Draft Reductions
A False Illusion • by Larry Finklestein
people, or the political consequences would be
too much for the Republican party to bear. To
this end, a series of unilateral actions on the part
of the U. S. must be made to create the illusion
of a sincere search for peace.
So far the plan has worked something like
this. Between January and September of 1969,
the Administration has replaced all combat
deaths and casualties in Vietnam, sending an
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for what
soever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
Epistle of Paul to the Galatians VI:7.
Eleven months ago, Richard Nixon knew that
he hadn’t the faintest idea of how to go about
extricating the United States from the war in
Vietnam. He also knew that if he admitted as
much to the American people, he would never
be elected President So he announced with
greatfanfare that he had a master plan that additional 45,000 troops along in anticipation
would bring peace to a war weary nation. ofUre troop cut back to be announced by the
Almost a year has passed since then and the President. In this way, RMN could temporarily
war rtUhragea^ronsuming the lives of hundreds h*ve his cijke and eat it too. Saigon would stay
of GFs eThmonth. BufRichard Nixon wasn't l»ppy, because the U. S. prerencewould remain
lying. A. acandidate for President, he did have a Intact, and the war w«*ry American public
• w . Hraiu consistent would be thankful to see the first detachment of
p, « U. S. soldiers come home from the war. For the
with hi. of Richard Nixon has accomplish-
elevenmonthsj^adsomeU.ing«ketote. id ^ ^ hfe ^ But where cjm ^ ^ from here?
made* in*the^course*of the £xf!£lve months. Eventually, the public will grow impatient for
This fact must be kept from the American to p££ *£*
l ITTI C a a ▲ kJ r\W r A kSDI 1C Now the Administration has announced a
LIT I Lb MAN UN LAMrUj _ Induction in draft calls for the remainder of this
year. Not surprisingly, serious questions have
been raised about the validity of these draft call
reductions. It appears that for the first ten
months of this year, draft calls have been
| running considerably higher than they were for
the similar time period of last year. In fact, the
average monthly draft call last year was 24,667
wa opposed to 29,040 this year. That comas to
over 4000 men per month more than were being
drafted last year. Small wonder, then, that the
Administration has been able to announce
“cuts” in the draft calls for the two remaining
months of 1969. Cause the fact Is, the Govern
ment has already inducted the necessary men to
sustain current combat levels in Vietnam. In the
words of a leading Southern Senator, “If these
developments indicate any sort or trend in the
way this administration intends to deal with the
American people, they are perpetrating a cruel
hoax on this nation for which they wM be held
accountable.” As a student of the great Rabbi
■liel once observed, “Whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap.” Richard
Nixon’s harvest is beginning to ripen. Let’s all
watch it rot.
Ths portions of our nation's Isadart on the issue of
the moratorium are predictable on the basis of their post
tions on the war policies Of ths Nixon Administration.
Ths views represented hare are those of (a) the leaden of
the "hawk" and "dove" factions, and (b) those which
seem most representative of those factions. The readers'
comments are invited on any of the questions raised here
in.
PRO I: SENATOR J. W. FUL-
BRIGHT OF ARKANSAS.
The following is taken from the
proceedings of a debate between
Senator J. W. Fulbright of Arkan
sas, Chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, and Senator
Hugh Scott of
P snnsy Ivania,
Senate Minority
laeder
The more-
torium on normal
activities planned
by students on
campuses across
tha country for
Octobar 15 it in
American tradition pf
peaceful protest for the redress of
grievances. Rejecting the crude
chauvinism of "my country - right
or wrong," the participents in this
Vietnam moratorium are doing
their country tha honor of setting a
high standard, and of settling for
nothing less. They seek to sat it
right.
When tha United States invaded
Mexico in 1846, two former Presi
dents - John Quincy Adams and
Martin Van Bur an - and one future
President - Abraham Lincoln -
denounced the war as a violation of
American principles. When the
United States fought a war with
Spain and then suppressed tha
patriotic resistance to tha imposi
tion of American rule in-the Philip
pines, tha ranks of the opposition
included two former Presidents,
Harrison and Cleveland, as well as
Senators and Congressmen includ
ing the Speaker of tha House of
Representatives, and also such dis
tinguished individuals as Andrew
Carnegie and Samuel Compare. In
their peaceful but determined pro
tests against the stupidity and
immorality of Vietnam, tha stu
dents who participate in the mora
torium of October 15 will be up
holding one of our country's best
democratic traditions: the refusal
of responsible citizens to acquiesce
in silence to a war they deem up
just.
One may hope that President
Nixon will reconsider his assertion
of September 26 that "under no
circumstances" will he be "affect-
Corrupt
Thieu?
;*«K»WRMS8!aW
prupeNw;
According to Time Maga
zine (Oct. 3, 1969, p. 14),
“The Thieu government ...
holds power under a demo
cratic constitution.”
To study the religious and
political freedom of the South
Vietnamese people, an eight-
member group of clergymen of
all faiths spent eight days this
summer in South Vietnam, in
terviewing both the political
leaden of the country (includ
ing President Thieu) and many
of the 35,000 prisoners in
South Vietnam’s jails. Their re
port is discussed in the Septem
ber issue of Together Magazine,
a Methodist publication.
Among the prisoners inter
viewed were, Truong Dinh Dzu
runner-up of the 1967 presi
dential elections, Nguyen Lau,
publisher and owner of the Sai
gon Daily News, and Thich
Thien Minh, head of the Bud
dhist youth movement None
of these men are communists,
but all criticized the Thieu
regime.
Such is the nature of
Thieu’s “democratic govern -
. ment” that over 500,000
American troops are support
ing ... and for which almost
46,000 Americans hare died.
•d" by opposition to ths war in
Vietnam on tha campuses and in
the country. If tha President is
going to close his mind in advance
to the peaceful, orderly expreesions
planned for October 15, the likely
result will be disillusionment on the
pert of the majority of young
people who still have faith in their
country's democratic procedures
and tha swelling of the ranks of
that dissidant, violent minority
whose excesses the President him
self has so frequently and so elo
quently deplored.
PRO II: CONGRESSMAN
WILLIAM F. RYAN OF NEW
YORK.
The following comments were
mede on the floor of the House
during the session of September 19.
1969
in his press conference last Fri
day, President Nixon, in response
to e question asking his view of the
student moratorium against tha war
in Vietnam planned for October 15.
said, "under no circumstances will I
be affected by it."
That was a rather appalling
statement from tha President of tha
United States, and I hope he will
reconsider.
If the President really means he
will not be affected by campus
opposition to the war, then there is
very little hope that he undemands
what is happening in America
The October 15 moratorium is
intended as a peaceful expression of
student opposition to the war
which will extend beyond the
campuses, for it has the support of
Americans all over the country who
went an end to the war in Vietnam.
Both the primaries and the
general election of 1968 should
have convinced the President, who
was the principle beneficiary of the
tide running against the war, that
ha had a mandate for the American
paopta to bring the war to a prompt
conclusion.
In the winter of 1968 presi
dential candidate Richard Nixon
said he had a plan to end the war
Now. 9 months after his inaugura
tion, Preaident Nixon not only hat
not dona so, but it bogged down in
the same quagmire as his predeces
sor; and his latest press conference
revealed that the rhetoric has not
changed either.
The President's seemingly in
flexible attitude toward opposition
to the war will only make it more
difficult for him to extricate him
seif from the Vietnam policy which
he inherited and which he is per
petuating
It is time for the President and
the Congress to realize that pallia
fives and ploys will not make the
wer eny more acceptable to the
American people. And It is time for
both to be very much affected by
public opinion - on and off the
campus
CON I: WILLIAM 8. SAXBE OF
OHIO
I have been invited as have other
Senators, to join in the Vietnam
moratorium.
As one who has been especially
critical of the failure to respond to
what I think is justified national
pressure in regard to the war in
Vietnam, I want to state unequi
vocally that I want no part of such
an effort as this.
No one has been more critical
than I of the war in Vietnam. My
criticism has bean baaed primarily
on the belief that any hope of mili
tary victory was abandoned when
we failed to isolate the battle field
- one of the basic rules of combat
- and destroy the enemy.
Whet we have been engaged in
since that time is a losing operation,
because we cannot do that effec
tively, end because we are fighting
against a well supplied enemy who
(Cont'd on Page 6)
Rocky Wade n
In The Right
An old adage in political theory states that violence breeds
violence. In the caae of the new trend of social democracy to
expand from non-violence to the desperate means of violence, the
new right under the auspices of the Young Americans for Free
dom has found it necessary, in their opinion, to bear arms.
This concept frightens the not through active violence. He
hardline conservative ideologist
— he questions the validity of
such an advance into the
modem scene under a disc ip
line that ration
alizes restraint.
Is conservatism
to be marshalled
off to die by the
zealots who find
reciprocation in
action neces
sary?
Another
tenet of conser
vatism is the belief in placing
one's principles above that of
political expediency. Recent
demonstrations query the aver
age conservative — should he
retain his cool state as a peace
ful but also principled
observer, or should he be ex
pedient and rid himself of his
problem by activism?
We find ourselves faced with
a dilemma of identity. The
New Left has evolved to the
state of neo-Nazi ism that fol
lows the ultimate dogma of
having rule of the collective
mass over others in the society.
The New Right has evolved to
a state of quasi-liberal ism that
advocates change of the world
now, not tomorrow. The indi
vidual must seek to find him
self in a cumulative mess or try
to keep his identity without
getting involved.
The poor lost man in this
whole changing cosmos of
political activism is he who
seeks change through the con
ventional modus opemndi and
is the only one with aloofness
enough to analyze the problem
from afar, and the noncom-
mital attitude necessary to see
the solution to the problem
dearly. Yet he Is going to be
consistently damned by both
sides as a shirker who neglects
his beliefs when it comes down
to putting your beliefs on the
line — the battle line.
The college student 1970
has found himself faced with
this agony and this ecstasy He
wants to be active and yet
there ’is the necessity of his
gaining an education to serve
his society, if it survives the
violent turmoil, to bring forth
social advances. He is secondly
faced with an ego problem,
either he must serve himself
and then others or surrender all
to others. Serving others is an
ideal grace but the average stu
dent must take Care of his
whims first.
Polls, buttons, speeches and
marches, and even an occasion
al prong on the seat can moti
vate some people, but regret
fally not all. The college stu
dent 1970 has a commitment
to tomorrow not today and so
he will allow himself not to be
an activist and not to get vio
lent.
The college student of 1970
will keep his occupation as a
fall-time student and as such,
will serve his country at a later
date with better succere than as
a makeshift activist of either
the left or right.
THE MERCER CLUSTER • October 14.1969 • 3