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I I ' I From tha Editor "Hi>■ South's Musi Indr/K iulml Luth^iute Svutpaiivr'' GARY JOHNSON MEMBER EdiiOf JOHNNY TURNER associate Editor CARL BROWN, Businen Manager Executive Editors: Tom Cauthorn, Bobby Phillips lUnsignad tditoriah are tha opinion ot tha Clunar and should not be oonfuaad with naws stpriet. Signad columns and cartoons ara tha opinions ot tha authors and not tha Clustar.) Deferred Rush Would Benefit Freshmen The Cluster commends the sororities for de laying their rush until the freshmen girls have at least begun to orient themselves to college life. Unfortunately the fraternities were too impa tient to delay their rush, and as a result many freshmen boys were unfairly forced to hastily decide on the merits of going fraternity. Fraternities have been an Integral part of col lege life for many years, and it is only recently that unaffiliates in any appreciable number have been able to attain positions of leadership and status at college. The number of freshmen pledg ing fraternities at Mercer has declined in the past few years, and it is difficult to determine whether this is the result of disinterest or disillu sionment. The first weeks, and indeed the first quarter, of college life are rough. Having to cope with new freedoms and new ideas, coupled with hav ing to meet the criteria of college professors is formidable. Add to this the difficult task of An Answer to the Cafeteria Problem by Emm Robinson “Oh Joy! 5 O’clock. Once again I may feed my little body.” Rushing down to “The Cafeteria” I find a long line of similarly famished friends, mostly freshmen, awaiting the delicacies. Yum, mystery meat. So what if it takes fifteen napkins to drain it of its pungent greases, THERE’S MEAT. Now let me say I’m not the type of guy who needs to feed a gigantic football machine: in fact I’m more the traditional “90 pound weak ling” who gets sand kicked in his face on the beach. I also get hungry — eating in “The Cafeteria.” My soul aches for the many starving stomach increase in meal costs to students most pro bably went toward combat ting the inflation bugger; cer tainly we can see it didn’t go for quality or quantity. I try to eat all I’m allowed, good ness knows with the buzzards Robin ion hanging above you as you are interrogated at the end of the line you couldn’t get more, yet like so many others I find myself complaining of genuine insufficiency. Nature demands a remedy to the dreaded “stomach growl” disease so my friends and I engage in a migration to the Pancake House nearly nightly. Not only is this solution costly, but also consuming of valuable study time. Mr. Krakow cannot be expected to provide more food for the same charip without sacrifi cing whatever quality we now have at Mercer. Some solution outside the Co-op or Greater Macon Establishment must be sought I propose to you now, and will later to the Senate Auxili ary Services Committee, the placement of con- Hk i ne consequence Of A Decision ^ deciding whether or not to pledge and the pledge duties of thoee who do pledge, and many freshmen find the demands too exacting. The Cluster advocates a policy of deferring rush for one quarter. This would enable the freshmen to properly orient themselves to col lege life and at the same time allow them to aee the fraternities in their day-to-day operations rather than being forced to select a fraternity solely on the basis of the beat rush party. If the fraternities sincerely have the best interests of the students in mind, they should not object to delaying rush and giving the freshmen more time in which to make a more objective appraisal of the Individual fraternities and the fraternity system itself. The Waverly Conference (attended by Greeks and non-Greeks) unanimously adopted a resolu tion calling for an in-depth study by the SGA to determine the feasibility of deferring rush. The Cluster hopes this study will get underway soon. In its ium Call definite stand. The tend position and muddle the imue was reminiscent of Senate’s extended debate over the Steering Committee’s Report last sprfcg.- Being an independent or ganization representing the student body, the Senate cannot afford to lend Itself to indecisive actions and middle- of-the-road positions. Last week a proposal for the restructuring of the intra mural program came to the floor and was tabled for reconsideration. This action would have been understandable if an active study were to be made. However, the come Senate has got to come to the question at ! OPEN LETTER TO STUDENTS “Wonderful W«dn«doy” Versus “Free Friday** THE MERCER CLUSTER • October 21,1969 • 2 venient, appetizing, inexpensive vending machines in the dormitories. Machines dispensing sandwiches, soup, deserts, ice, et cetera should be operated by the Student Government Association. Why would we, as SGA members, want them? Well, we could regulate the prices to keep them minimal and use low profits for funding student projects. Yes, a small profit would be realized. We as Mercer students demand many services not now provided. All these take money from the University Budget. While some Administra tive priorities and funding might not necessarily meet with student (or faculty) approval we as a University are facing a monetary crisis due to Federal cut-backs in student aid. Therefore, we students cannot presume to leech upon our selves, as we pay the majority of Mercer's revenue, for some projects not directly relating to educational activities. Money coming from vending machines is a legitimate source of Income. Not a tax, the profits are on low cost convenience services. Should this proposal be adopted in some form and profits be realized from operation, one of the expenditures we might consider is for a student radio station. WMAZ (Watch Mercer Achieve Zenith) began on our campus some years ago. Today without convocation we are without a truly effective communicative device on campus The station need not be very power- fkit, just sufficient to broadcast clearly over the campus Georgia Tech has several low coat in stallations operated privately by students admirably serving their campus community. Mercer’s station would provide entertainment of the variety most sought by students without commercial interruption. Educationally our Speech and Drama Department would benefit by its practice. The Insight Series and Concert productions could be made available to students comfortably situated in their rooms Announce ments an possible to inform Mercerians of the information we claim so often to be lacking Other projects could also be accomplished with student’s controlling certain of our own hinds not already committed. A radio station may not even prove to be priority. 'However, by opening the SGA to this source of income we (1) enhance the food service at low costs; (i) relieve the burden of begging Administrators far certain non-academic improvements; (S) author ize some responsibility to ourselves as students without need tar radical interruption of campus affaire; (4) prove our capacities to reluctant Administrators and faculty; (6) bring our com munity closer togMbsr at during partners in Mercer Untverdty’s progress. In addition to the potential danger of losing Wonderful Wednesday, as previously discussed in the Cluster by Doug Hightower, there’s a nasty rumor going around that Wonderful Wednesday may be replaced by Free Friday. I personally have heard several faculty members as well as several students suggest that although four days of dam per week is better than five days of clam per week, a further improvement would be to make the “off-day” Friday rather than Wednesday. 1 do not agree with tills opinion and furthermore feel that If the stu dents wish to keep a four day dam schedule then they must also decide whether Wonderful Wednesday or Free Friday has the most to offer. Once the students have formulated a common goal in regards to the future of Wonderful Wednesday, the student body will be in a posi tion to make appeals in the event that the administration acts contrary to the students’ opinion. Keeping the need for unified student action in mind, I will proceed with what I con sider to be a logical argument in favor of Won derful Wednesday m opposed to Free Friday. One major argument in favor of Free Friday is presented by the faculty members who com plain that everyone “cuts” on Friday, anyhow. However, I hypothesise that if Wonderful Wednesday wm replaced by Free Friday, the situation of “mam cufeday” would merely be shifted to Thursday or Monday. More impor tant, how is “mam cut day” hurting the teach ers? There are universities where every day is “mam cut day”; granted, Mercer is not one of those universities. On Mercer’s campus, the general consensus in regard to “cuts” seems to be that three absences per course an allotted to each student However, 1 know of no rule that tells the student he is not permitted to take one, two, or all three of hie “cuts” on the last day of classes in any given week. Having disposed with the faculty’s major argument in flavor Of Free Friday, (will proceed to describe a few definite advantages which Wonderful Wednesday holds over Flee Friday. Wednesday occupys a position on the weekly calendar which is midway in the “American work week.” For several decades now, man has been referring to Wednesday as the “hump of the camel” In other words, If you can dhnb over Wednesday, the rest of the week wfll pre sent no problems. Basically this seems to be true and I personally fed that the exceptions to this rule are in the minority. In effect, I am making a claim that Wonderful Wednesday has a favorable psychological effect by releasing “mid-week ten sions.’’ If you ate one who favors a “long weekend,” 1 ask you to carefully consider my next point The “Saturday night fling” bat become almost a ritual in American society. Furthermore, the proximity of Friday night to Saturday has caused the formation of “frivolous Friday.” If Friday wm a “free day”, Thursday would be a day of proximity and “Thursday tantalising" would result If you as an individual am In this world for nothing but fun, habitually long week ends are great but if you want to really do something — like getting grades now — long weekends may prove to be more of a distraction than an advantage. Thus far, I have presented my two moot logi- . cal arguments In favor of Wonderful Werkreeday: (1) freedom from the bump and (2) the dilem ma of having your fine time all at once. Finally, I wish to state that I like Wonderful Wednesday! Wonderful Wednesday gives me time for things which just don’t fit in with weekend parties and weekday classes. Perhaps I am self-prejudiced but at least I’m standing up for what I believe. I hope that l am not alone in principle or in theory. Claudia J. Bicht Thank You, Dr. Harris Thank you President Harris for your recant statement concerning the Vietnam Moratorium. In your statement you defended Everyman’s position in the controversial issue, and this In sures the lasting position of Mercer’s good name mmmMM in tire community. It would be very bad if you came out in support a Moratorium which has caused so mud) MM controve raey- You must be commended on keeping Mer- cer out of controversial isauas, because we am having eoough WWW trouble with tbs Georgia qUMs Baptist Convention and some widow or elderly man might not give Mercer money in their will. It b not the duty of the President of a university to stand up and apeak out on a war of ao much contaevenay, but the President should rather praaant a view that would keep anyone from getting pud at him. Some people my that a President of a eahrar- slty must speak out on such hues, became ot . the immense Importance of the War, borauao a country is. being slowly devastated by a giant military force, became the peppie are not allow ed to eiect their own isadraa, because you til Is piRtiitiQi Is Um stmts, msa m igjiiin fettU* tasting the War, or becasn O/PIs oui uww people ire wrong, ana rrmaeai by Ron Childs Hattie is right, es always, for war ie last a thing that Everyman must accept; betides, the U. S. miltary h doing Ite beet to end tbe war by a Pmtident Harris, you have spin riaen to the occasion as a great leader, for you bare riiown the tactftiiness and aeeourceflilnasa that one can learn from a good education. People da not appreciate a good education In them days, but you have shown them bow to am thair educa tion tg gst around making a stand oo them con- trovartial haunt. Whan am goes to cob*, ha mmt laam how to aoaapthh potitton la aociaty and ha a beneficial pamon, not one that ie always going around stirring up trouble about was war. Ons should accept tha American way of life or have it, for many psat men, at Patrick