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The Mercer
Cluster
Mercer Unnenity Macon, Georgia
Volume IV October 5, 1973 No. 2
Bryant, Davis Discuss
Post-Waverly Plans
Plans are now being finalized
by the SGA for a Post-Waverly
conference which will be held
October 17 beginning at 1:00. In
talking with SGA president Ken
Bryant, he explained that
although an open meeting of this
nature has never before been
Saturday night, September
29th, the brothers of the Phi Delta
Theta fraternity held what was
considered by many to be an open
party to which all freshmen were
invited. That, it appears, was not
at all the case.- Three Black
freshmen who were present at
the party were asked to "please
leave” by the Mercer Security
Police only minutes after they
had arrived.
According to a freshman who
had been talking to the three
Blacks as the Security Police
arrived, they had asked at the
door if they were at all un
welcome. alledgedly planning to
leave if such was the case. They
were told by a member of Phi
Delta Theta that they could go in
and enjoy themselves, which they
tried to do, so he said. They
walked into the lodge, and
recognising a freshman in
another room, went in to talk to
him.
It was then, perhaps five
minutes later, that the Security
Police arrived at the party, and
asked the three .black student*
by Jan Suffolk
scheduled by the SGA as a
Waverly follow-up, that the
seriousness of the recom
mendations whicn came out of
Waverly and the calibre of the
"crunch” discussions warranted
more conversations and planning
to fully explore the Mercer
whether or not they were sup
posed to be in the lodge, to which
they replied that they thought so
The officers asked the three if
they would please leave
peacefully. One of the three told
the officers to ask the member of
the fraternity that had admitted
them if they had been invited into
the party. As told by a nearby
freshman, the brother in question
merely raised his arms and
replied that he wanted nothing to
do with the entire matter.
The three blacks were then
escorted to the door of the lodge
by the Security Police, and asked
to return home, which they did.
The incident was for the most
part, over.
When asked exactly what had
taken place, a member of the Phi
Delta Theta fraternity said that
early in the evening, some
disturbance had been caused by
the appearance of black children
from the nearby community at
the party, and that the Security
Police were called to maintain
the "order" of the party by
CobUbm* Oa Pag,e 8
situation.
"We are hoping by this meeting
to get a much more diverse
student viewpoint as well as
follow up on the recom
mendations which came from the
Waverly conference,” Bryant
stated. "So often after the
passage of the summer months’
interest and enthusiasm for
implementing the recom
mendations completely wanes
and action is never taken. In a
certain sense this is almost
criminal, for much planning not
only goes into the proposals but
they dre a much more accurate
perspective of the type of
changes which Mercer truly
needs.”
^ryant added that although
some work on the proposals had
been made during the summer
months that presently all efforts
seem to be grounded. "I am
especially concerned about the
state of the Academic Affairs
proposals,” he said, "the coor
dinator for off campus projects is
almost a must for a university
which sponsors so much work in
the community. The Waverly
participants seemed to agree that
Mercer must move out into the
Macon and Middle Georgia area
if it is to provide a fuller
educational experience for its
students."
Joe Davis, SGA Vice-President
said in regard*to the Waverly
Conference, "Things look better
now than last spring, but they feel
worse. We left Waverly with the
feeling that we were attempting
to create a human existence in an
inhuman society, now l don’t feel
we are even considering the
Continued On Page 7
Rush Incident
Raises Questions
by Roger forties
Carter Denies
Sprewell Project
by Jan Suffolk
Monday afternoon. Governor
Jimmy Carter finally refused the
building of the proposed Sprewell
Bluff Dam which had been so
eagerly fought for by the U S.
Army Corp of engineers. The
dam which would have been built
at a coat of $170 million would,
have created a 13,330 acre lake
and would have allowed the
Army Corp to acquire 38,000
acres in four counties. Upson,
Pike, Merriweather and Talbot
Carter's denial of the proposal
will end further discussions until
the end of his term and hopefully
forever if the corp follows its
usual course. The Army Corp of
Engineers usually drops its fight
for dam construction once
gubernatorial disapproval has
been stated.
In talking with Dr. Joseph M.
Hendricks, who headed a special
study project on the Sprewell
Bluff Dam through AFF he
called Governor Carter’s
decision “one of the most
courageous I can think of for a
man in public office. It is even
more Impressive when one
realizes that he made it against
the editorial position of the
Atlanta Constitution and the
Macon Telegraph and News, who
I might add showed very little
insight into the situation.”
Hendricks also added that
although his AFP group of last
winter quarter had done ex
tensive research, including
reports to the Department of
Natural Resources and to the
U.S. General Accounting office,
and had talks to Carter per
sonally that he did not know what
if any effect they had actually
had on the decision “I do know,”
he said, "that we were the only
university group who did any sort
of work on the project and that
some of our research was utilized
by both the Department of
Naairal Resources and by the
General Accounting office in
tlieir reports to Governor Carter.
The Army Corp of Engineers was
also forced to quote us in their
report concerning the
availability of recreational
facilities which was one of the
areas we concentrated heavily
on."
In Carter’s statement of
Monday, be said th-t the
“computations of economic
feasibility seem to oe based on
incorrect data and unwarranted
assumptions.” He further went
on to state that the Army Corp of
engineers seems to be "biased in
favor of dam construction” and
asked that the corp be in
vestigated by the U. S. General
Accounting Office, a federal
watchdog agency on spending
and by Congress
Continued On Page 8
Dr. Rufus C. Harris, left. Mercer University president, and Charles
C. Giddens. of Adel, chairman of Mercer s board of trustees take
part in groundbreaking for a new 1350,000 infirmary.
Ground Broken
For Infirmary
Mercer University held
groundbreaking Friday. Sept. 21
for a $350,000 infirmary which
will be erected at the corner of
Edgewood Avenue and College
Street. Dr. Rufus C. Hams,
Mercer president, presided over
the ceremonies.
Dr. Hams in welcoming guests
at the groundbreaking, said, "An
infirmary has long been one of
our mo6t pressing needs at
Mercer. Therefore, the breaking
of this ground represents an
historic occasion."
Approximately $100,000 for the
infirmary construction has come
from Mercer alumni who have
entered the medical profession.
and another $100,000 was given by
the Patterson-Barclay Foun
dation. through the generosity of
Mrs Fred W. Patterson of
Atlanta, a member of Mercer’s
board of trustees. Mrs. Shannon
Mays is co-chairman with Dr.
Maddox of the fund drive com
mittee.
Designed by Ward Dennis of
the architectural firm of Dennis
and Dennis, the infirmary will
have a 20-bed capacity which can
be increased to 60 beds as the
university’s student population
grows. The building is scheduled
for completion by the opening of
Continued Oe Page 7