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The Mercer Cluster
“Part Of The News That’s Fit To Print’
v
Volume Llll
Mercer University, Macon, Georgia Mat 29, 1972
No. 19
Haywood Reveals Fee Raises l
Abolishes Required Meals
By Jan Suffolk and Weyman Johnson. Jr.
Vice President in charge of
Business and Finance William
T. Haywood revealed to the
Ctuster Friday afternoon that
he would not be attending the
annual Waverly conference due
to a previous commetment at
his twenty seventh high school
reunion. This will be the first
time in his seven years at
Mercer that Vice President
Haywood has not attended
Waverly. He regretted not being
able to attend Waverly, but said
nostalgia and sentimentality
had gotten the better of him. He
stated that it was seldom that
something personal came
between him and his dedication
to the university and was sure
that his past record could stand
on its own merit regarding this.
He told the Cluster that this was
the first time his class had met
since their graduation.
This rather stalling piece of
information came out during a
discussion of the raise in
student fees and the proposals
concerning the meal ticket
program fftr next year. Student
fees will be raised seventy eight
dollars next year. Sixty dollars
going to a new university fee
which will pay the bonded in
debtedness on the Willet
Science Center and the Connell
Student Center.
Students presently paid $10.00
per quarter for the science
center and meal ticket holders
paid $10.00 a quarter toward the
Connell Student Center.
A study committee consisting of
students, faculty, ad
ministrators and trustees,
requested that the $10.00 fee be
removed from the price of the
meal ticket for next year and
instead be charged to all
university students including
law students. This committee
also proposed the abolition of
the mandatory meal ticket for
resident students.
The New University Fee
however, will be $30.00 per
quarter, paid by every student.
This is an increase of $10.00
which is not clearly defined,
plus the old$10.00science fee and
the $10.00 CSC fee which only
meal ticket holders paid before.
According to Mr. Robert
Skelton, University Comp
troller, this new fee is only
clearly designated for use of
CSC and the Science Center, the
rest of the money will be used
for “renovations and repair to
existing structures.” It would
almost seem, there ia a $10.00
markup not being accounted
for.
The rest of the $78.00 raise in
student fees will go to student
activities, who receive their
first fee raise in twelve years.
They will receive $6.00 per
quarter.
At the Board of Trustees
meeting on April 20, 1972, the
trustees ratified the abolition of
the mandatory meal ticket. It is
still not decided how the new
food plan will be operated. Mr.
Haywood stated that the
cafeteria would definitely move
to an a la carte situation with
each food item having a fixed
prfee. It had first been thought
that no student would be able to
buy a meal ticket, but w*th a
great proportion of the student
body on financial aid and many
more without transportation to
get off campus this has finally
been nullified. However,
another problem exists as the
more popular proposal in
(Cont'd. On Page 8)
Vice President BUI Hywood discussed on Friday afternoon the
proposed changes in fees & food services.
Merger Comes As Surprise;
Mercer-Atlanta Baptist ToWed
News of the proposed merger
between Mercer University and
Atlanta Baptist College leaked
from the smoke filled rooms a
bit prematurely and astonished
Mercer students and faculty
alike who have been unaware of
these high level negotiations.
While no one seems to have
pinpointed the source of the leak
WAGA TV in Atlanta has been
Honorary Degrees Announced
Awarded At Graduation
Mercer University will confer
honorary degrees on five
persons at commencement
exercises Sunday, June 4, In the
Macon Coliseum.
Doctor of Laws degrees will
be conferred on Dr. William M
Suttles,executive vice president
and provost at Georgia State
University; Dr. Tomas Fort
Sellers, director emeritus of the
State Department of Public
Health and Judge Linton McGee
CoUins of the United States
Court of Claims, Washington,
D.C. This action wzs taken by
the Mercer trustees before the
sudden and untimely death of
Judge CoUins on April 12, 1972.
Doctor of Divinity degrees
will be awarded the Reverend
Mr. Ward Glendon McCuUough,
executive secretary of the
Brootherhood Commission,
Southern Baptist Convention,
and »he Reverend Mr.
Churles Lee HoUand Jr., pastor
of Briggs Memorial Baptist
Chuand the Reverend Mr.
Charles Lee HoUand Jr. pastor
of Briggs Memorial Baptist
Church of Washington, D.C.
Dr. Suttles, wiU deliver the
commencement address to
Mercer’s 139th graduating clast
at 3 pjn. The Reverend Mr.
HoUand wiU preach the bac
calaureate sermon that mor
ning in WUlingham Chapel at
10:30 o’clock.
'Jhe Georgia Region, National
Conference of Christians and
Jews, named Dr. Suttles
Clergyman of the year in 1971
and he was chosen Rural
Minister of the Year for Georgia
in 1959. He is the longtime
pastor of the Haralson Baptist
Church. Delta Zeta Sorority at
Georgia State selected him as
Faculty Member of the Year in
1964-65 and he was named
Georgia State College Alumnus
of the Year in 1964.
A Mercer graduate, D?. Sellers
served as director of the State
Health Department from 1948 to
1960 when he was named
emeritus director. During his
time as director he brought
international renown to the
state laboratories for
methodology and thenique
advances. He' devised -a
technique kngwn as the "SeUers
stain" that continues to be used
all over the world in rabies
diagnosis.
In 1943, at the request of the
Columbian government Dr.
Sellers was assigned to Bogota
to study and modernize the
public health laboratories of
that county. President Harry S.
Truman appointed him in 1952
serve as advisory delegate to
the World Health Assembly in
Cont. On Page 5
mentioned and the story was
carried in the late edition of the
Atlanta Constitution on Tuesday
evening. The Mercer story was
not to have been released until
aU plans had been finalized and
passed by the joint Board of
Trustees. Whether or not the
early release will affect the
proposed merger is yet to be
determined.
The final ratification of the
proposal wiU be the main topic
of business at the May 30th
meetingof theBoardof Trustees.
The proposal originated in a
joint meeting of the Executive
Committees of the respective
boards of trustees on May 1. The
vote was unanimous to merge
the two Baptist insitutions.
Under the proposal, Atlanta
Baptist College will become a
division of the Mercer College of
Liberal Arts and become
Mercer’s second extension in
Atlanta. At present, The
Southern School of Pharmacy is
Mercer’s only link with Atlanta.
Tat nail Park Raped
The Department of Parks of
the City of Macon has begun
drastic landscaping changes in
Tattall Square Park just op
posite the Mercer campus.
Officials at the. Parks Depart
ment have stated that the
“improvements” being made
since the beginning of April,
1972 are for the purposes of
irrigation and the formation of a
new playground. The part
which untii recently was
covered with trees is now
devoid of all the magnolias
which were growing there. Park
officials stated on Tuesday,
May 23 that the trees were being
moved to other parks in the city.
The City of Macon maintains
sixty-eight parks inside the city
limits. Almost all of the parks
but Tattnall Square are located
in middle or upper income
neighborhoods.
The sight of the park now is
somewhat devastating.
Magnolia boughs are scattered
around the grounds. Four huge
ditches are cut through the
North end of the park, two
running from east to west and
two from north to south. A plan
under way last summer to pave
a large parking lot in the nor
theast corner of the park has
now been abandoned. The
parking lot was to be poured for
the patrons of the city tennis
courts located on Tatnall
Square.
Local residents of the park
have been shocked if not ap-
(Cont'd. On Page 8)
Atlanta Baptist is presently a
four-year institution in great
financial crisis.''. It has 25C
studeuts and will graduate its
first class this June. Because of
its financial instability
however, it has been forced to
cut back on the number of
faculty members and course
offerings this year and has
struggled for several years to
maintain its autonomy from
other institutions. A merger
plan was considered
between the schools two years
ago by the Georgia Baptist
Convention but was soundly
defeated at that time.
Mercer President. Dr. Rufus
C. Harris commended the ac
tion of the joint executive
committees, “This forward and
progressive, but challenging
step gives us the opportunity to
create a greater Mercer. It
won’t be easy butweshall con
tinue to pursue the goal of a
distinguished university based
on the great tradition and
Christian Ideals."
Dr. Monroe Swilley, president
of the Atlanta Baptist College
said, “the action will result in
an even more prestigious in
stitution based on the ideals of
it’s founder Jesse Mercer, who
was also the founder of the
Georgia Baptist Con
vention. Reaction from
those board members on the
executive committees has been
extremely positive. A strong
expression of confidence was
voiced concerning Mercer’s
“great and distinguished
leadership and the impact it will
eventually have on higher
education in the most imprtant
city in the Southeast.” W O.
Duvall, member of the Atlanta
board challenged Georgia
Baptists to “join in the efforts to
create an even greater Mercer
such as the Methodists have
done with Emory University in
Atlanta."
