Mississippi College - Tribesman Yearbook (Clinton, MS)

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“TH-GRG’S TOO MUCH- INTGGRITY OH THIS CAMPUS TO HdM€ AW fUM DATING ...” the girls.” Another comment was, I’m not interested in dating just to have a date; it would be nice it you could af- ford to do that.” A more encouraging view of the dating situation was given by one student when asked his opinion, I think it’s fantastic; I ' ve never seen anything like it and never hope to again!” One senior gave this comment, I did have trouble finding a date as a freshman. I lacked confidence and also the Freshmen girls were snooty.” One of the reasons guys gave for not dating more was, I tend to shy away from women looking for a MRS de- gree.” The girls here are too religious for me.” Many guys gave money, or the lack of it, as being a factor in the dat- ing or non-dating situation. The aver- age cost of date, including a movie and food, was about $15 (and that doesn’t even include the gas). In reply to the money situation, one female commented Ballgames don’t cost any money.” Although most guys were generally satisfied with the dat- 4 ing situation, most of the girls felt there definitely is a dating problem: not enough of it, or more bluntly, Its the pits!” I don’t think much about it (the dating situation).” There’s not enough dates; some people you can go out with and have a good time and de- velop friendships, but other people have the wrong idea or think you do.” One female complained that if a girl ever turns a guy down for a legitimate reason, he’ll never ask her out again. In reply to that, a male said whether he asked a girl out again depended on how the girl turned him down. If she sounded regretful and hinted that she would like to go later, he’d call her back again. But, if she had to wash her hair or something, that was that.” Since liberation is slow coming to the South and to the Baptist, girls asking guys out is not done-except when so- cial tribe formals approach, and the girls get to take the ini- tiative. One coed reported, A lot of girls get turned down the first and second time around at formal time.” (It was discovered that duck hunting is a bad excuse for not going). Other girls said they didn’t mind having to do the asking. Some guys were afraid how they would feel if a girl asked them out, disregarding the formals. Various reactions from, It won’t bother me at all; I’d even let her pay” to I don’t know; I’d have trouble. I’d probably pay anyway, or at least my part.” It will probably be a while before equality of dat- ing responsibility is reached here at MC, just as it will be with other equalities. Regardless of sex, a recurrent complaint about the dating situation here at MC became obvious: because of the small size of the campus, everybody knows what everybody else is doing, and if a person goes out with someone twice, they au- tomatically become a couple and no one else will date either one of them. The amazing thing is that all of the students interviewed felt there was a problem, and that this prevailing attitude was erroneous and unfair, but few had suggestions as to how the situation could be improved. One senior male student, speaking from his years of observation, remarked, There’s too much integrety on this campus to have any fun dating . . His suggestion was that if people were more secretive in their dating life, fewer people would know and there would be less talk and hence less labeling. Everyone would then be freer to enjoy themselves. However, with the dating rate being what it is, any date is news, and it is virtually im- possible, short of wearing disguises and meeting on street corners, to date without others knowing. The only other sug- gestion for solving the problem was mandatory dating, which does have its possibilities. Steve Thomas and Jane Watkins share a couch in the Hederman Gunter lobby as they watch an exciting T.V. show. Couples Donald Richardson and Angelique McKeithen, Jackie Jones and Ray Massey, and David Oliver and Kim Bronson enjoy togetherness at Su- per Bowl Sunday in Hederman Gunter lobby.

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Being able to form close friendships, like Karen Bronson and Charlie Johnson is one of MC’s assets. 20 Jokes abound concerning the dating life, or lack of it, on MC’s campus. One might get the impression that there was no interchange between the sexes. In order to get an accurate picture of the male-female relationship on cam- 1 pus, the opinions of an assortment of students were collected. From the male point of view, the sit- uation ranged from ' The girls are easy to get a date-just go to the Hederman- Gunter lobby” to the fact is girls walk around in wads— you never see a girl alone, and a guy would have to be pretty confident to make a move in a situation like that.” One male com- mented, I think most girls are anxious to get dates, but there is a lack of guys with enough confidence to appeal to Randy Follett and Susan Spruell enjoy a quiet moment in the Hederman Gunter lobby.

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German exchange student Udo Hebei became known to MC when Kissimee sent him an in- vitation to rush KT, not being able to tell if the name Udo was male or female. To make it up to him, KT made him an honorary member. DiFFERIMT When I took Sociology, the professor defined ethnocentrism as the belief that one ' s culture is the best and all others are interior or wrong in their customs. Having always considered myself to be openminded, I was sur- prised recently to find just how much ethnocentrism I have about the United States, when I talked with some of the international students and missionary kids who were born and raised in other countries. The experience was of great benefit to me in gaining a glimpse of countries I will never see ana has helped to erase some prejudices and misconceptions I had not even been aware existed. The German exchange student at MC this year is Udo Hebei from Jo- hannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. The university recently cele- brated it s 500 year anniversary, having been founded in 1477. The schod presently has an enrollment of approxi- mately 25,000 students. Having spent a year in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1974 as an exchange student in high school, Udo ' s had time to become accustomed to life in these United States. He does admit that Mis- sissippi is quite different from Pittsburgh. An English and literature major, Udo[s year here will be advantageous to him back in Germany in securing a teaching position. The college life is vastly different in Germany than it is here. One of the things Udo com- mented on was the way students live on campus-not just living in the dorms, but carrying on their whole lives on campus. In Germany, going to the university is more like going to a job-a person drives in to class in the morning and leaves after class. Not as many students live on campus, al- though there are some dormitories. A popular way of living is for several stu- dents to go in together and share a house. There isn ' t as much social cam- pus life, although there are many lec- tures and activities on campus related to studies. One of the most interesting things Udo revealed was that the stu- dents on German campuses today are about three times as politically active as students in California universities in the 1960 ' s. The educational system in Germany is such that by the time a student makes it to college (and getting into college is tougher) he has taken courses in high school that equal the core re- quirements we take in the first year of college. Instead, the student goes right into whatever he wants to major in. Also, there are no B.S. or B.A. degrees offered. Rather the students go five or so years to college and receive the equivalent of a Masters degree. A college year in Germany is made of two semesters. One lasts from the middle of October to the middle of Feb- ruary and the other from the middle of April to the middle of July. Five months of vacation time sounds abso- STROKES lutely heavenly, but Udo informed me that the off-time isn ' t just holiday time. For example, Udo knows the re- quirements of the courses he plans to take before each semester begins and is expected to have his novels and plays read before the semester even gets un- derway. (I wonder how many MC stu- dents picK up any kind of book in the summer?) Even though the school year has five months without classes, the university itself is not closed through- out this time, and facilities are open for student use. One difference Udo has noticed in- volves student-faculty relations. With the University so large, there is very little interaction between student and faculty as compared with MC. This dif- ference would probably be the same be- tween MC and the University of Michi- gan or any school of such large size. The lifestyle of the German students is quite different from MC students. The matter of dress shows one of the biggest differences. Girls very seldom wear dresses or make-up or do any- thing with their hair other than letting it go naturally. Udo said their basic at- titude is such that guys accept them more for what they are rather than what they look like, and he feels there is much more male-female equality in Germany than over here. Dating is done differently. Young people in Ger- many have fewer formal dates but rather meet at popular dancing or meeting places and then pair off. Typi- cally, a student may stay out until one o ' clock or so in the morning, but since classes never start before nine o ' clock and rarely before ten, this works out fine. It is common for classes to con- tinue until seven or eight o ' clock in the evening. A familiar face on campus for the past four years has been that of Duong Tan Ngygen. Although the face may be very familiar, the proper name of this individual can be pronounced correctly by only a few. Hence, shortly after Duong arrived at MC in 1975, a wise person quickly gave Duong the new name of Skip for a reason even Skip doesn ' t know now. Skip was born in Hue ' , South Vietnam, the third largest city in the country and, according to Skip, the most beautiful city in South Viet Nam. During the mass evacuation from Vietnam in the summer of 1975, Skip was able to catch one of the last flights leaving the city. The rest of his family, including his brothers and four sisters, are still in Viet Nam. On arriving in the U.S., Skip was sent to the refugee camp in Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas. Since he had already learned some English in Vietnam, Skip was able to act as an in- terpreter at the camp and help in re- settling the refugees. While at Ft. Chaffee, Skip saw an American friend who had previously served as a journey- man in Viet Nam. This friend in- troduced Skip to another journeyman Doug Kellum, from Tutwiler, Missis-