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PAGE 2-THE CLUSTER, OCTOBER 3*. «•*
-Editorials
Lesson in Greek
By SPENCER PRICE
"What is fraternity?" ...begins the introduction to our manual of
fraternity education." It’s a very personal thing. It’s a totally new
experience which offers”, among many other things, "feelings of
doubt and high spirits." I pondered the meaning of those words on
several occasions though ! had read them for the fust time less than
a month ago. Yet unable to interpret them fully, I made my way to
Thursday night's associate’s meeting unaware that a clearer understan
ding awaited less than an hour away.
We began the meeting as we begin all meetings - with pertinent
| announcements and discussions of old and new business. Thirty
| minutes later, the discussion changed focus. "What do the words
3 ‘every man a man’ mean to you?" asked the brother in charge of
j fraternity education. As each associate struggled for just the right
words to express his thoughts, recollections of an incident I had
I witnessed weeks earlier instantly came to mind. In the cafeteria one
c afternoon, several members of a fraternity convinced an independent
student to leave “their" table. The only explanation offered was that
the individual wasn't a member of the fraternity and hadn’t been in
vited to sit at that particular table.
A targe group of Mercer students, dismayed at Friday's decision to stop the 6 week Christmas break,
are call'n* for students to protest today from 10 am - 4 pm in the Quad.
Please Note
The Cluster would like to make a correction to last weeks arti-
ck on "Late Night with Setgfned." The event was sponsored by
SUAB. the United Spirit Syndicate of Mercer University (USS
1Mat J
Mercer), and the Mercer Ui .versity Athletic Department.
\
Letters To The Editor
Regarding the English Sr. Comp...
Dear Editor,
, What angers roe roost about the
"mysterious" critical reading of
the English Senior Comps is the
implication that ail English majors
(eel dissatisfied about the test. I, for
one. am not party to "the groups,"
but because of their ambiguity, 1
have had to deal with several
"snide" comments from professors
and students of other departments.
One remarked. "What do you
want? The answers?"
The Comps, as 1 understand, do
not test what we know, but how
well we can know. It is a test of
critical method: can I critique a
novel on my own. In my opinion,
the test should consist of all un
familiar material.
As for the fear that the entire list
can not be read in time for the ex
am. each candidate has at least
three months and at most eleven
months to folly prepare. A novel
can be read on average tn four
evenings, a play in ooc night, a
poem less than that. Preparation is
Dear Editor.
I would like to reply to the group
of English majors who expressed
its collective objections to the way
in wtocfc the Senior Comps are ad
ministered As a senior with too
# much to do as «is, I would certain
ly prefer not to have to take the
Comps. However, I do have to take
them, and that's that. The purpose
of the exam is not to test how well
we can absorb a professor's lecture
purpose of the <
3 tx lo test bow
work This purpose would be
defeased if we were told of the
reading list so far ia advance that
we could arrange our daises to in
clude aa much of the material as
poasMe. Mercer's English depart
ment wants to turn out graduates
who can read a brand-new book
with as critical eye as they can read
Jane Eyre or Byron or Joyce (all
"essential " works). One cannot do
dul. If aoe must depend on lectures
to determine how to dunk of a
book, then cate has no business with
a B.A. in English, honors or nor.
We’re all in the same boat on this.
I. for one, have never to much as
held in my hand over half of the
works on the list. The point is, how
wed can I criticize the ones I have
read? We’re all grownups now and
ao one’s going to spooo-feed us
anymore. This leoer will appear
after the fact, but I hope dun at a
group, you all did well. If not, try
reading instead of whining.
Sincerely,
Leigh W. White
not the problem. And as for the
comment about professors using
the Comps as a method of "mak
ing up" for what they did not
teach, 1 read that simply as an
insult.
Also, to set in stone one list of
THE major works of English
literature is impossible. One. such
a list would be unwieldy. Two,
such a lists implies that that which
is not included is not literature.
Those kinds of assumptions are
dangerous Virginia Woolf. Zora
Neal Hurston, lean Genet, and l.A.
Baraka, for instance, would find
themselves excluded once again
from a canon based on white,
upper-class, heterosexual, male
western values. The comment.
"Only essential works should be
included," deserves a big
raspberry.
Just because most of Mercer's
departments have "done away”
with Comps a oot reason to end the
English Comp. If anything, it is an
arguemem to reinstate the others.
The Bio-Chem Comp helps a stu
dent get into mod school; does
anyone honestly believe the English
Comp doesn't help a student with
entrance into grad school?
Yea, I did pay dote to $40,000.
But 1 paid that so go to Mercer Not
MacDonalds.
Dutifully signed.
Charles R. Junkins
That event caused me to take a serious look at my decision to become
involved with a fraternity. 1 took those doubts with me to the
associate's meeting. When my turn came (o offer my explanation to
the question at hand. I related the episode to the group. “Could the
actions of those fraternity members be considered the actions of
’men”' 1 asked. "Do males prove their manhood by rejecting others
merely because they don't belong to a specific organization."
The doubts that accotnpaniedrmeTtrtfic"meeting were increased
several fold when those around sne failed to respond. At dial point
I decided my words had fallen ontieaf ears and that little if anything
had been gained. It wasn't until ihAmecting was about to be adjourn
ed dun I learned how wrong I wak.
“I think whai happened was wrong." said a fraternity brother, "and
I don't think dial is what being a man is all about. In fact, that isn't
what fraternity is all about either." As he continued to speak, my
doubts began to give way to reassurance - my words, it seemed, hadn't
fallen on deaf ears after all. Merely. the silence was indicative of how
intendy each member considered the essense of the story 1 had told.
As 1 left the meeting, I realized how relieved I felt. 1 possessed
a new sense of respect for the fraternity and its members and 1 fell
a renewed sense of anticipation at being involved with such a group.
From the words spoken by the brother, and by die brothers and
associates who spoke later. 1 gained a clearer understanding of those
words 1 read a month before - "fraternity offers feelings of doubt
and high spirits." It was my first lesson in Greek.
Cluster