Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME 71, NUMBER 3
Cluster
MERCER UNIVERSITY, MACON, GEORGIA
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1988
Moderate Baptists to set up fund
They vote to advance own causes within convention
Thfa article ftppea^ed in the Sept. 11 Atlanta Constitution and Journal
Defender-Advocates
charitable account, giving moderate
churches a clear alternative to the
Southern Baptist Cooperative
Program.
The 63-year-old program, which
took in $130 million in 1987, acts
as a conduit for funds within the
denomination. Churches donate a
portion of their annual budget to the
program, and the money is then
distributed among Baptist Agen
cies. seminaries and missionary
boards.
During the past two years,
moderates have begun to complain
increasingly that fundamentalists,
who control most Baptist agencies,
are ’’tampering'* with the program
by changing policies and budget
priorities within those agencies
For example, in 1986. trustees of
the Atlanta-based Home Mission
gather information from witnesses
and evidence. He or she will then
organize and present that evidence
for the University. He will be tak
ing place of members of the board
who have traditionally been aj>
poipted on a case by case basis to
investigate and prosecute
However, he will have received
specialized training in the organize
tion of evidence and the present*
tion of cases.
Likewise, the defender will have
received similar training. The
defender’s first job is to acquaint
the student defendant with his
rights, the regulations and pro
cedures of the hearing body, and
the charges against him. At the
defendant’s request, he will assist
in the gathering and organizing of
evidence. He or she will attend the
hearing with the defendant to lend
counsel to the defendant to insure
that the rights of the accused are
preserved. At the defendant’s re
quest. the defender will even pre
sent the case. Any accused will still
have the right to bring his own
counsel if such is desired.
The goal of the program is to
3
sion of a national conference, con
vened by the fledgling alliance, in
which 700 moderate Baptist pastors
and lay people called for separating
themselves financially from the
fundamentalists who control the
denomination
Walter Coleman of Asheville.
N.C. who heads the alliance's
finance committee, said the com
mittee "will come up with a plan”
for a trust fund Or foundation by
early Qdbffcr. The plan would then
be adopted by the alliance's direc
tors at the organization's meeting
in Charlotte. N.C. Nov. 28-29.
Establishment of a trust fund
would formalize the intensely bit
ter split between moderates and
fundamentalists within the 14.7
million-member denomination
The fund would function as a
RUFUS C. HARRIS
Former President Dies At Age 91
By DONNA M1LTZOE
Managing Editor
Former Mercer Unjvmity Presi
dent Rufus Carrollton Hirris died
at the age of 91. »
August 22 memorial ser
vice for Harris. Mercer s President
R. Kirby Godsey said. *'I
sometimes told Dr. Harris tht he
was the last of the Kings in higher'
afccation. 1 believe it is true. I told
him that during his years, he
not administer a University-
Tulane or Mercer - her reigned
His leadership was no-
is posture was Olym
pian.”
president
23 years.
During his presidency. Hams
faced then controversial issues such
as integration and Mercer's accep
ting federal grants.
Under Harris. Mercer became
one of the few private Southern col
leges to admit, students without
regard to race. This policy came in
to effect even before the 1964 Civil
Rights Amendment made it lawful
to discriminate applicants.
Harris' administration addi
tionally saw the building of the
Stetson Memorial Library, a move
to the present site of the Walter F.
George School of Law and a $17.3
million increase in the operating
budget of the university.
Appointed an officer in the Most
Excellent Order of the British Em-
Continued on page 3
By SEAN BLACK
Cluster Staff
The student judiciary will be ex
panding over the coming year with
the addition of the Defender-
Advocate Society.
The Society will work hand-in-
hand with the Judicial Council and
the Honor Council in the trying of
cases. In past years, each council
has been responsible for in
vestigating and prosecuting the
cases that came before them. This
task will now pass to the
De fender - Ad vocates.
The Defender-Advocates Socie
ty will consist of twenty to thirty
memb«S. Once a case comes to the
attentio^ of the assistant dean of
Student Affairs, it will be passed on
to the coordinator of the Defender
Advocate Society This position
will be filled by a student member
of the Society the acting coor
dinator. until the middle of winter
quarter, will be Sean Black The
coordinator v^ill assign two people
to each case: one will serve as ad
vocate while the other will be the
defender.
The advocate's role will be to
NASHVILLE. Tenn. - At the
| end to a three-dqy meeting here.
launch-
financial
Alliance — the main moderate
organization — voted Saturday
morning to set up a trust fund or
foundation to support moderate
causes within the Southern Baptist
came at the conclu-
Board voted to cut off financial aid
to small churches that call a woman
as their pastor. Fundamentalists
believe that women are prohibited
by the Bible from having
"sovereignty” over men. and
therefore should not head a church.
Last year, members of the con
vention's Nashville-based ex
ecutive committee voted to cut the
denomination's contribution to the
Baptist Joint Committee on Public
Attain, an educational and lobby
ing group in which Southern Bap
tists collaborate with other Baptist
groups. Fundamentalists have said
they favor, establishing a
Washington lobbying group for
Southern Baptist only
Both votes infuriated moderates
and prompted an estimated 40
Continued on page 2
Underway
provide the judiciary and\the stu
dent body with well trailed ad
vocates who will work to better the
operation of justice among the
students.
Applications for the Defender
Advocate Society are now available
in the Department of Student Af
fairs. Applications will be screen-,
cd by a panel composed of student
justices from both hearing boards!
their respective advisors, and the
coordinator of the Defender
Advocate Society. A 2.5 GPA or
freshman status with a correspon
ding high school record is neeessry
to be eligible for consideration. In
addition, candidates must have the
time to devote to the training and
to actual operation of the Society.
Following the screening of ap
plications. individual interviews
will be held by the same panel.
They will be looking for candidates
who possess good interpersonal or
"people” skills, analytical skills,
-organizational skills, and speaking
ability. Applicants will be notified
during mid-October At that time,
training will begin.
Continued on page 2
