Newspaper Page Text
\ V
The Mercer Cluster
“Part Of The News Thats Fit To Print”
Volume Llll
Mercer University, Macon, Georgia May 19, 1972
No. l&b
Wounded Wallace
Captures Primaries
Known Mercer radicals plot the bombing of the White House at a meeting to plan the trip to D.C. The
plan subsequently fizzled.
Nixon Mines Harbors;
Student Reaction Futile
Some cried, others ap
plauded. But it is doubtful that
anyone received President
Nixon’s address to the world
Monday night with indifference.
That evening, May 8, President
Nixon disclosed his proposals
for peace by announcing his
plans for a continuation and
escalation of the air war over
North Vietnam, and the mining
of six North Vietnamese har
bors-the mines already placed
and set to be activated at 6
EDT, on Thursday May 1U
Mercer University, like other
schools across the nation,
responded with mixed
emotions. Nixon’s speech
became the subject of meal
time debates; classroom
discussions; and a senatorial
letter writing campaign which
spurred fifteen students to go to
Washington and deliver them
personally.
Whatever the reasons, and
the reasons are as varied as the
people who went, the people
who to Washington believed
that by their action they could
accomplish something. Leaving
Mercer at 6:30 Tuesday
evening - , the three cars drove all
night to reach Washington by 8
:00 the following morning. The
cars arrived about an hour
apart in front of the
Smithsonian Institute of
Natural History, and once
together decided to walk over to
the Senate Office Building to
meet Weyman Johnson (who
had left earlier Tuesday af
ternoon) who had an ap
pointment with Senator
Talmadge at 9:45.
Once in the Senate Office
Building the group decided to
deliver the letters to the
respective senators. Many
secretries' mouths dropped
open when this wr.nkled bunch
of college students all crammed
into their office. But once in
troductions weere made and the
purpose of the visit expressed,
the majority of senatorial of
fices were more than friendly
’and helpful.
The first office that the
students visited was Senator
Talmadge’s. The secretary was
very receptive to their concern
over President Nixon’s political
strategy. She showed the
students around the office, had
them sign 'he guest book, and
gave passes to the senate
gallery. She explained that
Senator Talmadge was not in
but that she would tell him that
they came by and give him the
letters.
One inspiring visit in the
Senate Office Building occured
in Senator McGovern’s office.
In talking with the Secretary
she allowed the students to read
some of the telegrams Senator
McGovern had been receiving:
27 to 3 against Nixons move in
Vietnam. (This clearly showed
a discrepancy in figures. Ac
cording to a UPI report, all
telegrams concerning
President Nixon’s speech were
6 to 1 in favor of his policy. The
secretary explained that the
figures of UPI only showed the
number of telegrams sent to the
White House. People who
suppported other points of
views wrote those prospective
(Cont'd. On Page 8)
Last Monday, May 15,
Governor George Wallace was
gunned down in a Laurel,
Maryland shopping center. The
Alabama Governor was
campaigning for delegates in
Tuesday’s Maryland
Democratic presidential
primary The lone gunman
identified as Arthur Herman
Bremer fired five gunshots into
Governor Wallace before being
himself hurled to the ground
and beaten severely about the
head and shoulders by his fellow
Wallace supporters.
On Tuesday, Governor
Wallace swept to overwhelming
victories in both the Michigan
and Maryland primaries.
Collecting 45 percent of the
popular vote in Michigan and 39
per cent of the vote in
Maryland, Wallace bested his
opponents Senator George
McGovern and Senator Hu' art
Humphrey by a healthy margin.
There are two very obvious
conclusions to be drawn from
this tragedy. First of all, the
focus of the campaign will turn
from issues of foreign policy to
issues of domestic tranquility.
Mr. Wallace having the inside
track on the law and order
problem will begin to accrue
more delegates on the votes of
those of the strong-arm per
suasion. Senator McGovern
held a rather clear lead in
delegate strength before the
shooting, but the delegates
gained by Governor Wallace in
these two most recent
primaries only begin a great
swath into McGovern’s delegate
count.
Secondly, gun-comrol will
receive either short-lived or
ineffectual attention from the
Congress. The rage will con
tinue for, say, two weeks. Once
the tide has once more gone out,
the United States will again
return to its rightful place as
best-armed large army in the
universe.
A third less accessible im
plication is that we have ex
perienced another example of
the reversibility of the violent
act. Whatever the motive for
this insane act, its effect is a
proliferation of support for
Governor Walla » not only out
of sympathy but because the
ideals for which be stands take
strength from public
irrationality. Busing,
segregation, states rights,
police strength and a horde of
other psuedo-populist notions
will receive added impetus
from the brutal shooting and the
Wallace campaign will rumble
on toward the White House.
‘Arts’ Director Enraged
Well, the Arts Festivalis here
and now its gone. Wow! Did you
get anything out of it? Did you
even take time to go to the third
floor of the student center to see
what our students had done?
If you were on top of things
and participated I hope you
enjoyed it, and I hope you
learned something, or at least
you got?. laugh out of it. Instead
Waverly Plans Revealed
“Mercer University needs to
become a totally educational
situation instead of merely a
classroom college. Instead of
education for education’s sake,
we need education for living.”
Bruce Gandy new SGA
president, stated this as 4J*e
basis for the SGA pronosals
scheduled for discussion at the
Waverly Conference June 5-7.
Three areas of student life;
academics, housing, and the
Judicial system are being
discussed in hope of creating an
atmosphere more conducive to
learning. Says Bruce, “Our
hope is the Waverly will be a
cooperative situation. The SGA
doesn't intend to ask for things,
we’re asking for help. Help to
build a community here at
Mercer.”
Special committees have
been set up to report at
Waverly. For the first time, the
SGA has established an
Academic Affairs committee
which will continue to function
next year as well.
In the Waverly report
questions and suggestions
concerning the course load of
faculty members, the Black
Studies program, the punitive F
and its effects will be made.
The committee has also
discussed the possibility of
adding a BS degree in
Psychology and has begun
consideration of the need for
students on the faculty
promotions tenure com
mittee. This last matter was
proposed at last year’s Waverly
(Coat'd. On Page 4)
of recapitulating the schedule
I’ll tell you some of the hassels
and cries and laughs the staff
got out of preparing for it.
The idea to put the thing on
was hatched during one of those
dorm room bitch sessions where
the only thing said is
derogatory. “Man I really hate
this place, there is never
anything going on.” “This
school is still in the nineteenth
century, no body ever does
anything that I want to be a part
of.” “I’m leaving at the end of
this quarter, Mercer is nothing
but a suit-case school" Well,
damn it let’s make something
happen! The only itlea that
offered a means of getting all
the divergent cliques involved
seemed to be a festival. So an
Arts Festival sounded as good
as anything else.
The idea started out on such a
grandiose projection that a lot
of the faculty just looked at me
like I was crazy. Classes were to
be called off, there was going to
be something every minute of
everyday, hundreds of people
would flock from all around to
participate. Wow, what a let
down. As time went on the idea
got whittled down further and
further. Then it seemed that
time went too fast, and suddenly
it was but a matter of days
before things were scheduled to
get underway. And what you
see, is what you get.
There were days of elation,
and then there were days when I
was ready to call the whole
thing off. Some Wednesday or
Thursday, I forget exactly, I
was sitting in Jerry Stone’s
office looking over
arrangements made for one of
the days when everything
looked like it was set and ready
to go. every person that walked
in had a letter of cancellation or
refusal. I got on the phone,
made some backup
arrangements, then the next
day all those arrangements fell
(Coni'd. On Page 4)