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MERCER CLUSTER
STAFF 1969-70
Managing Editor ... Lyndon Mayaa
News Editor .... Don Nottingham
Nawa Staff E. Lightfoot,
K. Shaw. K. Bryant, M. Wain
atain, 0. Copeland, I. Parkar, M.
9wanL D. Wood, E. Vanca, L.
High not.
Faatnra Editor .... Chuck JwJuon
Faatura Staff E. Robinaoa
B. Davies, D. Brown, T. Kand-
■ar, AHca Baras, Judy Wright.
Vivian Southwati, Maraha Mat
thews, Cana Wgiiami
Coiumniata Ron Chgdi
loa Hob ha, Larry ilnkiaatain,
Allan WaMaca, Rocky Wada
Sports Editor Lou lohnaon
Sports Staff B. Owans
B. Nottingham
Artiata 0. Middlaton
B. Stanlay, E. Hammond*, P.
Campbell
Advartiatng Mgr. ... Jamaa Boykint
Advert isinx Staff ... Anna Gullay,
Suaan Phimlay
Aaat. Buainaaa Mgr.Mary A. Buckner
"Vs
• L. I
t. St. Dents, E. Poota. B. I.
Bandlow, T. Uraary
Copy EdHora Tylar Hammett
Glands TuBy
Photography - Bob Johnaon
Public Relation* Mgr Renata
Wiliam*. Jamie Dawaon, Nadine
Sherman.
Layout J. Camp
A. Cooper, J. Hatten, K. ICron
quiat, A. Stanton, B. Stanton,
Ed Ftaher
Political Editor .. Larry Flnkleatain
Adviaora J. Paine
A. Stanafleld
The Mercer Cluater it a weekly atu
dent publication publiahed by the
atudenta ot Mercer University. The
phone number ia 743-1511. eaten
lion 321. The addreaa ia Box 29,
Mar car University .Offlc* room 326
and 328 CSC. Office hour* are
9:00-5:00, Monday through Frida*
Subacriptiona are <5.00
Dawn-Time For Truth
by Chuck Jackson
The initial reaction to the first publication
of Dawn has been both heartening and sicken
ing to myself. I am most pleased with its ac
ceptance by the student body and especially
with the commendation for a job well done
given to me by the S.G.A.
I am disturbed with its initial rejection by
some of the administrators of this university
who condemned it on first sight without even
reading the articles and assessing their value
and the subsequent value of the entire maga
zine.
It appears that publications on this campus
are not to be allowed the freedom to repre
sent a true image of fifty percent of the cam
pus. Certain administrators only want an im
age portrayed that is non-offensive to persons
in the Macon and Georgia community.
However, I strongly feel that if a publica
tion is to be of any use or have any purpose
it must report the truth as it is seen. The cur
rent debate in the news media is over this
very question. Certainly in a college publica
tion which is a step in teaching proper jour
nalism we cannot allow news reporting to be
colored by outside influences or we have de
feated our purpose in having a paper.
As I have said before what I myself write
and what I accept for publication in Dawn is
directed to a student audience and their con
cepts of decency; Dawn is not designed for
trustees. Baptist Ministers, College Presidents,
etc., Dawn is fresh and new not archaic.
Professors Are
Leaving Campus
Around this time every
year rumors begin circulating
about which faculty members
will not be returning the fol
lowing year. Unfortunately
too often these rumors turn
out to be too full of truth,
and fall quarter begins with
familiar faces missing.
Since my freshman year
Mercer has lost people of high
caliber such as Dr. Easterling
in Language, Dr Ebey in
Mathematics. Dr. Crenshaw in
Christianity, and Mr. Bledsoe
in Political Science. Professors
like these men are becoming
increasingly difficult for Mer
cer to recruit. Mercer’s reputa
tion as an excellent liberal arts
college is slowly but surely de
clining, and it is regrettable
that no solution is handy by
which this demise can be
checked. It is practically a
truism that it is the faculty
which makes a school either
excellent or mediocer. What is
being done to upgrade Mer
cer’s faculty?
The fact that Mercer is not
able to adequately compete fi
nancially with other colleges
in faculty recruitment is well
known. Consequently we have
acquired a faculty composed
of the strange mixture of de
dicated educators and of
people marking time while
they write doctoral disserta
tions so that they can get bet
ter-paying jobs elsewhere. I do
not intend this to be an in
dictment of professors holding
only Masters degrees (some of
my mo6t meaningful courses
have been taught by non
doctors) but merely an obser
vation. Low salaries is one
cause of Mercer's losing good
faculty members, but over
burdening is another major
cause. Faculty members who
must serve on seven or eight
committees naturally may find
little time to teach and meet
with students, and isn't that
the primary purpose of a
faculty? It is my understand
ing that most professors at
Mercer have heavier course
loads than professors at many
other universities; I feel that
this could result in less effect
teaching. Can anything be
done about this?
Many excellent teachers re
main at Mercer, but the ru
mors persist. I have already
heard of the possibility that
professors in both the English
and Psychology departments
may not be returning next
fall. 1 hope that these rumors
are false, but experience leaves
me little room for such opti
mism. As a senior, I am no
less disturbed than are many
underclassmen, for 1 have
come to have respect for and
pride in this institution, re
spect and pride which I do
not want to see diluted in the
years to come. ^ WlJtace
Feedback
Student Letters To The Editor
Dear Editor,
Concerning the a. . . no! In
response to the r. . . no! Ex
ercising my pre.. . no! Irre-
gardless, I be.. . no! Just the
sa. .. no! Oh, well, never
mind. Perhaps this space
should be utilized by someone
who can safely exercise his
freedom of opinion.
Sincerely,
William E. Barnwell
Editor,
In regards to Samuel’s let
ter in the February 3 issue of
theCfusfer I would like to
clarify some points in view of
his mentality (that is if he can
comprehend).
It is you, Samuel, that is
close-minded. I ask you, how
do you plan to enter the
mainstream of American so
ciety (which Is a white majori
ty) by being so militant? The
type of militancy which was
easily detected in your article.
Militancy and violence will get
you nowhere — understand.
They will only tend to polar
ize the two races even further.
Do the “thinking” colored
people believe that the only
way to get invited to dinner is
to kick a person's door down?
If they do — well forget your
thing about "racial equality”,
for plenty of people believe
the same as I — we’re getting
sick to our stomachs at your
rioting, protesting, demanding,
and your race’s famous quote,
“Bum, Baby, Bum”, (which
implies the burning of our
cities). Anymore violence will
not be tolerated, so why not
try to harmonise sometime. I,
and others will not accept you
as an “equal” as long as your
colored mentality believes in
violence and militancy as
means of pining admission in
to the flow of society. I ask
you — would you accept
someone if he was to bum
down your home — think
about it
Samuel, my forefathers
were a minority at one time,
smaller than yours, but they
worked to obtain their free
dom from so-called oppres
sion, they worked to obtain
their constitutional rights. If
the so-called black man would
consider working for the con
stitutional rights maybe he
would appreciate them. I
would like to draw your at
tention to your statement,
". . to give so-called Negroes
their constitutional rights.” It
seems that all you people
want is to be given everything
on a silver platter (or a plat
inum platter in your case). I
am sick with your demands
In 1964 you were given more
than an inch and through
more “civil rights” acts you
have taken fifteen miles! To
appreciate something you de
sire you must be willing to
work, sacrifice, and give for it
— understand.
For your information,
Samuel, your African fore
fathers were the exploiters of
the slaves, it was not all the
white man’s cause as someone
has led you to believe. You
don't even know the word op
pression — you are free to do
anything, and go anywhere.
You have the same, and pos
sibly more rights than the
whites and you're still com
plaining. Until you visit and
witness an Ameican Indian
(remember they wery the first
Americans) reservation (I have
visited many) you won’t rea
lize what oppression and po
verty are “Here Is a group
generally forgotten in all the
excitement over racial equali
ty. In many areas American
Indians are far more segre
gated than the Negroes. .”
(l/.S. News and World Re
port, September 2, 1963).
You colored folk will have a
lot longer time to wait to be
accepted if you continue to
use violence as a means of
achieving “equality”.
Finally, Samuel, 1 ask you
to define, '‘stinking white
racist institutions”? (this In
itself indicates militancy). If it
weren’t for those white Insti
tutions, Samuel, this nation
would not have existed (if it
weren’t for those institutions
you might have been stranded
in darkest Africa). You would
not have been able to have
written such a hate-filled, mili
tant article (try that in a
Communist nation for ex
ample). Freedom of speech
and press were made possible
by those “stinking institu
tions” through a four-letter
word called work. If I were
you, I would think twice or
maybe three times before call
ing them “racist”, because by
the sounds of your article you
are the racist.
Yours very truly,
R Christopher Sullivan
Editor:
Anyone having read Jimmy
Samuel's column in last weeks
Cluster would have found it
to have been very interesting,
that is, anyone who was a
world revolutionist. However,
being an American, 1 thought
it STUNK. After looking at
Mr. Samuel's attack on white
mentality, let us now look at
the limitations of black men
tality.
Seeing that Mr. Samuel
does not claim this country as
his is indeed welcomed news.
America is a country built by
those who were willing to
work and suffer for it. Obvi
ously, Mr. Samuel’s black
mentality is not able to com
prehend this because evidently
his idea of America is one
where anyone can get any
thing for nothing. Why, Mr.
Samuel, do you continue to
attack the so called evil whites
when it is these whites who
have given you the freedom
that you enjoy today? In your
own column you stated that
tbs laws granting your con
stitutional freedom were given
to you. Give, that word must
be mighty popular with you
because apparently the only
thing you can think about is
“give me, give me, give me”.
If you have so much mentali
ty, why are you not able to
realize that you can not go
through life expecting some
one to give you everything for
nothing? Mr. Samuel, you had
better be thankful for the
freedom given to you by the
so called evil whites.
I guess that I really do not
expect you to be thankful be
cause you apparently have not
worked for anything to be
thankful for. Your so called
thinking blacks have abandon-
ed their plea for equality for
one of superiority, and yet,
they still demand this without
working for it. Equality is fine
Mr. Samuel, but when you
substitute equality for superi
ority, you are doing the same
thing that you are denouncing
others for. If all you have to
gripe about is the failure of
the whites to give you your
superiority, you do not have
much to gripe about.
My next question concerns
Mr. Samuel’s description of
North America as a wilder
ness. If America is a wilder
ness, what is your native
Africa? Your black mentality
is not able to realize how for
tunate you are to be living in
a country that guarantees each
citizen, except maybe the In
dian, the right of unrestricted
speech, travel, and press (the
one exception to this might
be our Cluster). For Mr.
Samuel to have the gall to
even suggest that he is stran
ded here only points out his
lack of any real mentality.
One can get on a plane and
Ry almost any palce in the
world at any time he wants.
Again, you, Mr. Samuel,
should be thankful that you
are stranded in such a place as
America for I dare say that
millions throughout the world
wish they could be stranded
in such a ‘wilderness’ as
AMERICA.
In your column you talked
as though you are the think
ing blacks representative.
After reading your column I
came to the conclusion that
your mentality would not per
mit you to be the representa
tive of any black citizen
After talking to blacks both
on and off campus. I found
that your claim as representa
tive is not too valid. Not all.
but most of the Negroes I
talked to regard this country
as their country. They agree,
Mr. Sameul, that just because
you do not consider this
country as yours does not give
you the right to say that the
thinking blacks do not con
sider this country as theirs.
Your black mentality is be
yond them. You must not re
present as many people as you
would like to think you do.
By the way, in your column
you talked about giving the
“so called Negroes" their free
dom. Just what does “so call
ed Negroes” mean? If you are
so proud of your black people
and their culture, why do you
refer to them in such a man
ner?
Your figure of 58% con
cerning blacks in the Viet
Nam War is absolutely correct.
However, by some slip up on
your pari, you failed to men
tion that the percentages of
Negroes making up the U.S.
forces in Viet Nam is only
9.7%. Of these 58% do serve
on or in combat areas. (By
the way, in your column you
stated that 58% of the front
line troops are blacks. If you
had any knowledge of the
Viet Nam War, you would
know that there is no such
thing as a declared front line
in Viet Nam.! Your suggestion
that 58% of U. S. forces as
being black only shows your
attempt to make something
out of nothing. If you really
represent the thinking black
man. prove it by asking the
Negro serviceman in Viet Nam
if this is his country. Of
course, I know that you feel
that both blacks and whites
have been brainwashed and
that they have been turned
into military machines, but I
believe that you, Mr. Samuel,
are only jealous that you have
not yet reached such perfec
tion.
What do you mean by the
“stinking white racist institu
tions"? If by these you mean
the institutions that are prohi-
biting world revolutionists
from reshaping American so
ciety, I hope such institutions
last forever. You demand the
end of white racist institutions
and at the same time, pro
claim freedom to everyone,
but how can this be.' in de
manding the end of white
racism you show me your
black racism. Let us both
work to end both extremes of
racism.
In your last paragragh you
said that Mr. Carey would not
be tallying your death on his
statistic sheet. To this I must
agree because 1 will be glad to
do his tallying while he is at
tending your funeral
t Sincerely yours,
Steve Agee
Box 134
Editor's Note
The University's expert
ment with open dormitories
was designed in so ridiculously
restricted a fashion, that 1 am
hesitant to label it progress.
None the less, it does mark
the work of a mind moving in
the right direction, even if it
is at the wrong pace. More re
mains to be done with the
commitment of this column
to the sexual integration of
dormitory recreation facili
ties. .
With the expansion of my
staff, I have decided to launch
investigations into several
practices of different parts of
the University's operation.
First targets: Co-op and book
store. .. The students ought
to know exactly what’s hap
pening and what’s necessary
to change it. I’m part of the
medium, and that's my meaa-
THE MERCER CLUSTER e February 17,1970 • 3