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••THE MERCER CLUSTER";'
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Mercer University Macon, Georgia , February 15, 1972
No. 13
Schoenbrun
speaks here
David Schoenbrun, award
winning commentator, author,
and teacher, Tuesday com
pared current American
criticism of the media to the
ancient Greek practice of
beheading the messenger who
brought news of a Greek
military defeat. He said, “the
press should be sentinels on the
watchtowers of freedom."
Schoenbrun, Mercer
University’s third ‘‘Insight’’
series speaker*, said in
Willingham Chapel that “it is a
tendency to condemn the press
for bad news.”
“For example,” Schoenbrun
said, “when Mike Wallace first
reported the atrocities at My
Lai, CBS received 7,000 letters.
Fully 80 per cent of those letters
condemned Mike Wallace for
reporting such an event.”
Schoenbrun, who is a former
Washington bureau chief for
CBS, sympathized with those
who criticize the media for not
"telling it straight" but ex
plained that the media is
responsible for qqoting the
government.He chargedthat the
government itself is often guilty
o! ‘‘brainwashing,
manipulations, distortions, and
lies."
**It is almost a duty of the
press to be negative,”
Schoenbrun said, “because the
professional newsman cannot
expect the government to tell
the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth. We cer
tainly cannot expect govern
ment officials to hold a news
conference and tell us what
mistakes the government made
today. It is our duty to check the
facts-and often when we do
check facts, we find errors or
outright lies."
Schoenbrun opposed what he
called the “Agnewian syn-
v drome" of never interrupting or
^challenging presidential
statements. “When we cannot
challenge a statement made by
our government, we come
dangerously close to developing
a political atmosphere like that
in Soviet Russia."
"Vice President Agnew and
Attorney General John Mit
chell,” Schoenbrun said,
“expect the press to be
cheerleaders for the society,
applauding every aspect of
governmental decisions without
regard tp fact.
"Nations and people lose their
liberty in the throes of a grand
illusion,” he warned. "Our
grand illusion is the belief that
our government is always in the
right and is at the mercy of the
media who deliberately distort
the news for their own publicity
seeking ends."
Schoenbrun emphasized that
it is the duty of the American
public to support the media so
that the voice of the public can
be heard over the deafening
roar of political doubletalk.
“Do you realize,’^ he asked
the audience, “that more than
90 per cent of the letters to
media come from organized
If Mercerian sent
If to Washington
f
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Mercer ROTC cadet Jack
Carstensen will attend a Pen
tagon Seminar in Washington,
D.C. on February 24-25, 1972.
Cadet Carstensen and 250
other ROTC students from
campuses throughout the
country will meet with
Secretary of Defense Melvin
Laird, Asst. Secretary of
Defense Roger Kelley and other
Department of Defense officials
at the Pentagon on February
24th.
Carstensen said. "I think it
will be a very beneficial ex
perience and I’m looking for
ward to it very much. I hope to
pass on the information I
acquire to the Mercer com
munity.” Carstensen will attend
a breakfast meeting with U.S.
Senator Strom Thurmond on
Capitol Hill, February 25th.
While in Washington the cadets
will participate in Reserve
Officers Association meeting
including a banquet at which
Speaker of the House Carl
Albert will receive ROA’s
Minute Man of the Year award
Carstensen will also attend an
Army luncheon hosted by ROA
that will be addressed by
Secretary of the Army, R>bert
Froehlke.
groups who have a specific ax to
grind?"
Stressing the need for the
media to inform their
audiences, Schoenbrun said
that the press should struggle to
educate, explain and argue the
news so that the public does not
get a one-sided picture.
Schoenbrun, now a professor
of international affairs at the
Graduate School of Columbia
University, spoke on wide-
ranging political issues at an
informal luncheon following his
lecture at Mercer.
Schoenbrun projected that
Cont. On Page 8
Journalist David Schoenbrun addresses
audience in the Willingham Chapel.
a Mercer University
Law school dean
to take bank post
The First National Bank and
Trust Company in Macon and
Mercer University jointly
announced the resignation of
Samuel A. Beatty as dean of the
Walter F. George School of Law
and his appointment as vice
president and trust officer of the
bank.
Six persons have been named
by Mercer President Rufus C.
Harris to recommend a suc
cessor to Dean Beatty.
The six named and the groups
they represent are Judge W A
Bootle (university Board of
Trustees). T Baldwin Martin
(The president's Council), Mrs
Leah Chanin (law school
faculty), George C. Reid (law
school students), Robert Steed
of Atlanta (law school alumni)
and Lamar Sizemore of Atlanta
(law*school Board of Visitors)
The resignation will be ef
fective in June at the end of this
school year when Beatty will
assume duties as trust officenn
charge of the bank’s Trust
Department
In making the announcement.
Mercer President Rufus C.
Harris and Tom E. Greene, Jr.,
president of the bank, spoke
approvingly of Beatty.
President Harris said, "While
the University regrets the loss
of Dean Beatty, nevertheless it
is pleased that by such loss it
can help to provide the bank
with so able and competent an
officer. We are pleased that he
will retain a part of his con
nection with the law school by
teaching part-time on the
faculty."
Greene said, “Our Trust
Department has enjoyed
significant growth in recent
years and we look forward to
our association with Sam
Beatty. His high degree of in
tegrity, knowledge and ad
ministrative abilities will
enable the continued handling
of the bank's trust assets in a
most professional manner. He
joins an experienced staff of
trust officers and employees
dedicated to their job."
Beatty was named dean of the
Mercer law school in May of
1970 after serving as professor
of law at the University of
Alabama Law School. A native
of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, he
attended the University of
Cont. On Page 8
Returning Indians
offered scholarships
Mercer University is offering
10 scholarships to Creek Indian
students in recognition of the
Creek families who are moving
to Macon from Ocmulgec,
Oklahoma.
The return of 12 families by
April 15 is a commitment made
recently to Charles H. Jones,
president of the Ocmulgee
Auxiliary board of directors and
president of the Greater Macon
Chamber of Commerce Jones
is credited with the idea of
establishing an Indian trading
post at Ocmulgee National
Monument.
Mercer President Rufus C
Har^ said, "The return of
these families to the home of
their forebears is an event that
has caught the interest of the
entire community and Mercer
wants to show its recognition of
this event in a tangible way."
The scholarships in the
College of Liberal Arts will be
offered young men and women
who qualify for admission to
Mercer as do other students
who are admitted.
The Creek families will not
only operate a trading post at
(Krmulgee National Monument
but also will work at the 1-75
Information Center to en
courage tourists to visit Oc-
- mulgee and other points of
interest in Macon. Several local
font. On Page 8
