Davidson College - Quips and Cranks Yearbook (Davidson, NC)

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ill letters to the Davkhmiiiiii. 1 lie Stii tient Council appointed a tweKe iiiaii Fraternity Evaluation Committee wliieli eventually proposed three solutions b a - of a majority report and two mi- nority reports. Brought to a trial vote, many individual proposals were ap proved by most of the student body, but the majorit)- of students approx ' ed the minority report which essentially proposed the status qtio. Study was also undertaken by the Faculty Committee on Fraternities, Clubs, and Social Life. Ibis committee presented its own re- port, called the McGavock report since Dr. VV. G. McGavock chaired the com- mittee. This committee approved many of the already proposed changes in the system but suggested rush be deferred until much later in the first semester of next year, followed by sophomore rush the following year. However, the faculty voted and took the proposals one step further: they supported an imme- diate ban of freshman rush for the com- ing year. Now only one vote remained —that of the Trustees at their meeting in late April. Many of the students, meanwhile, not taking time to realize that the faculty had given consideration to its decision, not stopping to think out the best way to convey their dis- approval to the Trustees, and fearing the complete abolition of fraternities in the near future, went wild. With recent Selma activitv and Ku Klu.x Klaiulesti- - .. nery fresh on their minds, they gath- ered, some five hundred strong, one evening which happened to be the mid- dle of Floly ' eek, and marched, sat down, burned effigies, brandished torches, and invoked the Almighty ' s curse on this evil fate which had so recently robbed them of their fraternal rights (rites?). Emotion ran high as the seniors planned a boycott of chapel and vespers. F owe er, a second thought brought more mature thinking to these temjiorary irrational minds, and, with emotions calmed, thev began to serious- ly consider the issues and decide what really needed fighting for. To further soothe tempers, the trustees voted for delayed first semester rush. Fraternal emotion, social emotion, in- tellectual, political, and religious emo- tion—Davidson is a melting pot of emo- tion. Into the cauldron we are immersed and four years later withdrawn in sol- emn maturity to meet the inevitable challenges. Time will reveal the ma- turity with whjch we responded to the emotion and the challenge of David- son ' 64- ' 65. Page Eleven

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gram h tlic Russian R.Rliiija daiKiis, one of Davidson ' s Richardson scholars commented that the best thing he had seen in America was Russian. Not to be left out, some of the local country- men teamed with the scholar from Ecuador to form PRAM, the Project of the Americas, in order to attempt to pro idc better relations anti understand- ing between the two countries. Richard- son Stadium became noticeably bare toward the end of the weekly pigskin battles as spectators envisioned great ex- pectations of a winter of our content. They had not reckoned with a monster of such absurd proportions as the Southern Conference Tournament. .Another challenge which appeared bi- monthly on campus was formed by the film committee of the College Union and called the Film Friends of Da ' id- sdii. It gaml)led optimistically on the hdiie that there would be student and faculty appreciation of films of artistic significance. While attendance at some of the showings was sparse, many films such as La Strada and Birth of a Nation were enthusia.stically received. Not so much a challenge as an opportunity, the music dc|iartmcnt ]iresentcd local .ind imjiorted talent in monthly cham Ixr concerts at the church and I lodson I lall. gain the attendance was often sparse, but the music offered was well- prepared and added a new perspective In campus activity which has so often been lacking in fine arts representation. Meanwhile , the Fine Arts Festival con- tinued its annual spring program with the presentation of speakers, ail ixliib its, lecturers, and concerts. Little progress was matlc in riinming the drinking rule from the books. I low- lier, the Student Coiuicil was clfectiNc in amending the rules in order to |ierniit storage of alcoholic beverages in car trunks. Of course, the motion v as over whelmingly supported by students in the referendum. Nevertheless, one won- ders if the picayunish necessity of identifying car trunks as being oil campus is not a suggestion of the out- dated attitude which still maintains the need for a drinking rule in the (irst place. Finally, that old campus tradition, the fraternity system, pro oked what has probably been the most significant de- bate on campus in many a decaile. An often mentioned but rarely continued topic, the question as to the neccssitx of a change in the fraternity system was proposed by Assistant Dean of Admis- sions Bob Young in November, ' (A. In addition to several Open End debates on the subject, challenges, answers, and further proposals have been presented

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