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little man on campus SGA endorses letter from
Cauldron editor Lowery
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Editor's nbte
The SGA passed the flowing
resolution at their regular
meeting on Monday. October 28.
1970
WHEREAS. The Senate is the
representative body of the
Student Govemmen(Association
of Mercer University, and.
WHEREAS. The Senate has
been petitioned by the Black
Student Alliance to act upon
certain of their grievances
against the 1970 (autdron; and.
WHEREAS. The Black Student
All.ance grievances are as
follows
I Page 6-The appearance of
blacks on a page with a "Greeks
are Great" sign makes it ap
pear to readers that blacks are
a part of the (ieek society at
Mercer Also blacks feel that
the quotation that appears on
this page is a mockery of the
meaningful picture of, the
BSA Cauldron protest
indicates racial bias
The recent Black Student
Alliance protest against the
1969-70 Cauldron in which
numbers of the annual were
destroyed and then displayed in
the University student center
with a Hat of grievances was
nothing more than a publicity
trick to throw a dying campus
organization before the public
Aa a public— _-il it sue
ceeded in getting the
organization's name before the
campus, aa a protest of real
concern it quite properly failed
miserably and damaged the
tmagr of the BSA among some
campus leaders
In a letter to the
Student Govern
ment Association
on October 19. the
BSA advised the
; % Senate that the
protest would be
earned out and
elicited the SGA's
support for the protest the
lette* expressed the gretvances
which the BSA protested
A detailed analysts of the
grievances, with s copy of the
• 1999-70 Cauldron on the other
hand lend* to point to a lack of
knowledge by the BSA in what
goes into the publication of a
yearbook and a concentrated
attempt to find a source of
protest which would be large
enough to throw the
organization s name in front of
the entire student body
However, in listtng their
grievances, the BSA did bring
up a number of valid points
about organizational coverage
which future Cauldron staffs
should keep in mind.
U must be admitted that on
page S of the Cauldron there is
some inconpeiency in por
traying blacks on a page with a
banner proclaiming Greeks
Are Great", since blac'.s have
not expressed a desi' to be a
part of Mercer s Greek society
However the inconsistency of
using the quote from Thomas
Paine. "But such ts • the
by Check Jarksoa
irresistable nature of truth, that
all it asks, that all it wants, is
the liberty of appearing ' on the
same page with the moving
picture of black students who
are protesting for the imitation
of the Black Studies In
terdiciplinary Major is difficulty
to percieve
It would seem the quote might
be most appropriate for the
portrayal of the Black students
who are waiting fqr truth to
appear in the form of
curriculum geared to their
-'needs
- By complaining that the
popular black vocal group.
Gladys Knight and the Pips
were given pooreh billing and
jisplay than their backup
group, the comedy t»«im of
Edmonds and Curley. the BSA
protest reached a bright of
lunacy
This grievance showed a total
•ack of knowledge of the
problems of laying out a display
for publications and of the
problems encountered in
photographing under the
existing lighting of Willingham
Chapel
However the BSA does make
a valid protest in pointing out
that Martin Luthfr King was
misquoted on Page 17 of the
yearbook
Misquoting anyone is an error
which c.-nnot be condoned bu
any editor and which can often
cause serious legal reper
cuauons Libel laws must never
be overlooked
The BSA also makes
somewhat of a good point in
noting that the titles and sur
names of a pair of black
custodians at the Southern
School of Pharmacy are
omitted 'Page 04)
However often the dropping
of lilies and* umamea for m
<k vidua Is does not indicate a
lack of respect but rather shows
a great fondness for the m
dividual
In the section on the ad
'ministration and faculty of the
college of liberal arts titles are
eliminated entirely with one
except »oci
It should also be notev that
titles are not affixed to
President Hams name nor the
deans of the college In fact, a
picture of Garland F Taylor,
dean of the college of liberal
arts, is not even included
In protesting tha! a picture of
the U A girls team, a
predominately black team, was
notincluded\in the intramural
section of the annual, the BSA is
again only concerned with
gaming fuel for the fire
Of the pictures of girl s
sthietic teams in the intramural
section only teams from two out
uf the four sororities MICA, and
the Unaffiliates are shown
The only actualy valid
grounds for protest on the basis
of rgee discrimination in the 70
Cauldron which the BSA has
advanced ta the lack of a black
beauty in the beauties section
Ho-, ever the failure cannot
be attributed to out and out
racial discrimination on the
part of the-editor and staff of the
196970 Cauldron
! laving been a member of a
student commission studying
race prejudice in the Miss
Mercer Pageant two years ago.
1 am acutely aware of the
problem that arises when
members of different races
attempt to define beauty We
often do not see eye to eye
Without any black members
on the Cauldron staff to watch
out for those particular areas of
bias of which we are often not
aware, an error of (his sort was
inevitable. (
In the letter which the BSA
sent to the Student Government
Association a warning was
included advising "Whites
against further publications uf
this nature " The warning
staled that if publications such
as (he 1969-70 Cauldron continue
black reprercussiont will
('•at on Page «
blacks pictured on the stairway
2 Page 2S-The (autdron
deliberately gives Gladys
Knight and the Pips lower
billing than the comedy team of
Edmonds and Curley Tu is
doreth rough poor photography
work of Gadys Knight and the
Pips pictures, smaller pctures
of Gladys Knight and the Pi pa
than of Edmonds and Curley.
smaller print given to Gladys
Knight and the Pips by the use
of upper and lower ccse for
their names while Edmonds
and Curley's names appear in
full caps
3 Page J7-One of the two
most disgusting and
disrespectful sections ui the
entire Cauldron is the misquote
and misrepresen'ition of (he
late Dr Martin Luther King's
quote The original quote as
stated by Dr King was taken
from a Negro spiritual- "Free
at last' Fee at last' Thank Gd
Almighty, we are free at last'"
4 Page ZH.'llhough we
realize that the Cauldron staff
waa not direct!/ responsible for
the'^natenal listed under the
Pharmacy School, the Cauldroo
staff was completely res poo
sible for ecerything that ap
peared in the book The
disrespect illustrated by the
Cauldron staff's refusal to
supply the black keepers of the
House with their proper titles
and surnames is unforgivable
i Finally, the BSA feels that
the complete failure of the
Cauldron staff to picture any
member. of the l;A girl's team
ui inconceivable This team was
the recipient of a best all
around trophy for their per
formance in intramural sports,
yet. not one picture, in the
section labeled Intramurals,
represented any member of the
UA girl's team *
Along these same lines, the BSA
feels that the failure of the
( autdron to picture any black
girls In the Mercer s Playboy
section is an acknowledgement
of their prejudice against black
bearty. and.
WHEREAS. The Senate has
receive a reply from John
Lowery. 1970 ( autdron Editor
and.
WHEREAS. Mr Ixrwcry a reply
is as follows
Dear Senate and SGA mem
bers
I come brfore you tonight not
to give a rebuttal to the BSA
proposal The things that I say
are my own (flings and
thoughts, and I do not suggest
that I speak far the entire 1969
70 Cauldron staff I do. however
wish to express my apologies as
a member of the 1969 70
(autdron staff, first, to the
Noember* of the BSA
organization for my errors of
c-jm mission and, to the student
body and staff for my errors of
omission The misquote of the
Rev Dr Martin Luther King
Jr and the failure to supply the
Uack keepers of the House with
their proper titles and sur
names are flagrant violations of
basic human ethical principles
The failure to include within the
1969 70 ( autdron events -eg
Greek Week, relays, intra nurai
•ports* and people «e g
R O T.C., faculty i ts altrttuped
to unfortunate operation; I flaws
fallibility
flaws and human fallibility
There were also unique reasons
during the 196970 school year
which I do not argue excuse the
mistakes of the 1970 Cauldron,
but which did combine Unmake
those mistakes more probable
The 1969-70 Cauldron but which
did combine to make those
mistakes more probable The
1969-70 Cauldron staff began as
a conglomerate of ap
proximately seventy, motivated
student* This group included
every segment of the Mercer
community As the school year
progressed those motivated
seventy dwindled to a bard
pressed fifteen Responsibility
shifts meant gaps, wasted time
and duplicated effort Several
days after the final deadline
Ted#and I sent in Die last pages
I am not attempting to c ade
any responsibility for in fact it
does be with the staff and the
editor ui particular Yrt, I do
affirm that every individual,
every organization, and every
department owes to itself and to
the Mercer community aa a
whole, a degree of respon
sibtlity in the form of par
ticipation and co-operation
toward the Cauldron
Finally. I wish to turn to a
problem which faces us all
prejudice The 1969-70 Cauldron
staff has been accused of
deliberately slighting Gladys
Night and the Pips, of
deliberately failing to picture
any black beauty in the Mercer
Playboy section, and of
deliberately misrepresenting
blacks in their campus ac
tivities I wish to deny that any
of these were deliberate
However. I am aware that
unintentional slights can be as
painful, or even more painful,
than slights Dial are deliberate
Perhaps some of these unin
(rational errors can be better
understood by taking a realistic
look at the terms white con
•riousnesa and black con
sciousncsa It has become
possible to apeak of the
reduction of overt acts of
prejudice now. in some areas of
our society and especially on
our college campuses where the
respect for each individual's
rights are or should be
cautiously cherished Yet, I am
still vet. much "white con
sc loua in my covert ictiona
those actions of which not even I
know the motivation nor con
sequences No matter how hard
I try to empathize, to see my
motivfs and actions as an ob
jecUve thing, I cannot No
matter to what extent I might
desire to see actions aa a Greek
sees them. as a black sees them
or any other individual sees
them. I cannot w^ile con
^ciousness. hlafka con
•ciouancsa. and even demea
that he ts prejudice is only
tooling himself The protest
display by the BSA and sub
•equent conversations stem
m t ng from dial through to
others cjn this campus ideally to.
efvery individsul I have
prejudices Rierefore. as editor'
•4 the 1971 t au 14mm> I ask for
)uur help For with your help I
may be able to refrain from
unintentionally offending or
slighting any prrson or group
Without your help, we run the
risk of repeating that which has
torn ua apart and
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