Mercer University - Cauldron Yearbook (Macon, GA)

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A Look at 60 The followinu piece teas written by Cauldron ropy editor Sharon Strong who in her luo-year tenure on this publication ha, naded through miles of ropy. She soys that an award of alt left over '59 issues of the CAULDRON avails anyone u ho ran unde through this stoi v She is tcell qualified to urite of the Mercer scene because rn no other campus position doc one discover so much of the Uerccrwn. Majoring in the social sciences, Sharon took her degree at the t imers,ty if. the spring of I960. A native of Momn. the plans to continue her work in publications u,th an Atlanta firm. By Sharon Strong INETEEN-SIXTY at Mercer Univer- sity; Iwtter known as the year the rains, came. Rain ivss not all that came, however. So did Richard |{. Neibuhr bringing with bitn a sari of semi campus- wide renaissance. After the renaissance came a type of reformation which began exactly as the other with 93 theses displayed in a prominent plate. This prominent place was a pillar in the lohhj of the student center, and the till! and handsome scroll greeted dis- gruntled Moreoriarts who flocked to the co-op one drippy morning in November, after gingerly side-stepping one red and one ominous colored truck parked on the main sidewalk. There is a rumor that the occupants of the truck were in ‘■tailing additional storm sewers, hut we digress. 93 and cihuhr Connected The notorious 93 and the Neibuhr visit were someHow connected, ft is thought that I ho theses stemmed not only from the general temper of the great theologian's stay tin our campus, but also from disagreements which might have arisen over theological pol- icy. Loch of the these? was a gem of wisdom to those who could figure il out. and only a few among u? (the authors) understood some of them. This was just one of the flit If tricks the Uni- versity played on trtir lives that year, and before I960 was over, many of us found some value in being a member of (lie Mercer family. The Neibuhr visit also falls into dial category along with the visit of Dr. Ran- dall Stewart, English literature scholar from Vanderbilt, Both of these men came to us through the faculty Chris- tian Fellowship, but the real blaze of glory preceded them in the form of dis- cussion groups held to prepare us for the visits. Along with rain came race-baiting, included here because it sounds good with “rain. Many of us were surprised to learn from a letter in the Cluster that the professor» who led us through Nie- buhr and Stewart had lost their effec- tiveness as Supposedly leaders of young people,' Although this probably came a» no shock to the professors, some of the students were enough amused to answer die letter. The Unstick Controversy It all started with an open letter to Christianity professor Ray Brewster from law student Gene Bostick who enti- le tided that the HOPE petitions Brew- ster was circulating were not only nebu- lously worded, but also a great danger to the Southern way of life. Actually it was not professor Brewster, but Dr. Robert Otto who was circulating the petitions; Brewster's talk with Bostick before the letter appeared had not en- lightened his opponent on this subject and the letter was addressed to the wrong “supposedly leader of young people, But in the end any professor in favor of HOPE was branded as a S.L.V.P. who had lust his effectiveness, so il didn't much matter anyway. What did matter was the way the student» came to the rescue. Before it was all over Bostick was called upon to mutch words with some highly indig- nant liberals, among them K. A, presi- dent Hilly Brantley and summa cum Inude scholar Buddy Hurt. The three- ring circus con tin tied a long as the Cluster. Unfortunately this was not very long. Guidance Counsellor Pot Mttffco greets incoming fresh men Sylvia Roberts and Beverly Pittman at President’s Ten 12

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Art played a part in our lives loo, and we neither could nor would escape the interesting works always on display on third floor student corner. Exhibits ilia! year were numerous because of an art department chain reaction of more teachers - . more pupils . . more talent . . . more wrork. F.arlv in i nvctnber those of □? not nn tin- inside track got our first news of Mercer's new president, Dr. Rufus C, Harris. The debt met! Cluster brought it to us in an extra. Although our new leader did not become completely ours until laic in March, one of the first tilings He did was raise faculty salaries. We knew we had a winner on our hands. The lutnelesH ones Campus politics went along in their traditional controversial manner. Before spring elections came around, S.G. V president Bev Bates, had made enough chapel speeches to convince us that the governing body's attempt to establish a tradition of action had at least some foundation. Bui the big mix-up came with spring elections when all candidates qualified as independents. Bates publicly accused a “nameless party of support- ing presidential candidate 01 in Thomp- son. but the accusation backfired and Olin Won in spile of being named name- less. Exchange Student Ujarnne Kvinnsland )forc on 60. . One of the liveliest campus news- papers in Mercer history died on the vine sometime near the end of winter quarter and sprang to life again only twice more during the yenr. The “Ao Cluster this Week” sign on the office door was attributed to a lack of funds preceded by a not un-prcccdcntcd lack of n business manager. It is true we had some elaborate Clusters before the sudden death, hut spoiled Mercen- ary had to content themselves with multicolored issues -of the Gauntlet and mysterious Issues of Truth, The Co-op Wrangle None of ibis would have been so bad if we hadn't had to go all the way !o the drugstore every lime we wanted a cup of coffee after I p.rn.. new dosing lime for the co-op. There was a coffee machine installed for after hours coffee drinkers, but how disheartening to find your Inst dime's worth on the floor when the thing rail Olit «I cups. And all that rain outside. Still 1 o’clock was better than the original new closing lime. 2;30 until Cluster editorials pointed out that this was a minutes before the end of fifth period and about an hour after lunrh- therefore rather futile. A In nit the rain: it has lieen statisti- cally proven by the Weather Bureau land if you don't believe in Weather Bureau statistics, heed now the fact that tin? organization has gotten so scientific it is considering a “fingerprint file of cloud formations» that late 1959 and enrlv 1 %0 contained inure rain than any local year since 1930, Rut as iliis publi- catum states on page £4, all went along ns usual. When things got too ns usual there were the sometimes high caliber campus movies to take our minds off the fact that our university had gone along for fi months without a new president in sight, Among the film room treats were the award winning “La Strada” and Klia Kazan’s “On the WalcrfrnnL I here was also some fine drama pre- sented on the W illingham Chapel stage by the new Mercer Players, new because llicv were so much better than the old. H