West Virginia University - Monticola Yearbook (Morgantown, WV)

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CHANGE In morals and manners: Liberation from supercilious genuine morality. ' morals frees man for In political ideologies and personal theologies: Rethinking old maxims generates a new faith in old systems for some and creates a proud hope for new systems for others. In issues: From peace marches to panty raids ranged the op- portunities for grouping ; each chose the problems to face and those to avoid. In art: Playgoers still applauded the big productions at the Creative Arts Center, but even passers-by could view issue-oriented guerrilla theatre in and around the Mountainlair. Films were talked about, analyzed, ap- preciated, received as art. In the air and the land Ecological warfare isn ' t remote and distant as Viet- nam is; every day in Morgantown, the skies get a little more murky, the Monongahela gets a little more ster- ile, and nature in general gets raped a little more. In airing grievances: Upset students channeled their anger and disappoint- ment, their fears and desires for change, into ad hoc committees, fasts, celebrations, demonstrations, marches, conferences, trips to D.C. — anything that offered a chance for change. In publications: The Daily Athenaeum completed its last year as a product of journalism laboratories, the Greeks came out with the Greek Letter, and radicalism found a new outlet in The Liberator. In people In life styles In life itself?

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The paradox of a university: Always the same But always changing At West Virginia University 1969-1970 was a year of more change than most years All-pervading All-invigorating Always a sense of CHANGE CHANGE CHA NGE CHA NGE

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I am firm, you are obstinate, he is a bull-headed fool. I have reconsidered, you have changed your mind, he has gone back on his word. These are examples of the Irregular Conjugations with which one linguist enter- tains himself while pondering the nature of men and their opinions. Any three of us can see the same event as very good, very bad, and very indifferent. What is happening on campuses in 1969-1970 also lends itself to such conjugation : A single professor may be a high-minded intellectual, an average faculty member, and a pointy-headed snob to three different observers. Greeks are cool, straight, or reactionary; liberated students are disillusioned flower children, plain old hip- pies, or threats to the security of America. With all the rhetorical possibilities, observers and participants alike are hard put to maintain a clear understanding of just what is happening on campuses, and on this campus. The one thing happening is CHANGE. Change is the atmosphere, the air of WVU 1969-1970. Change is in the newspapers, in the streets, in the classrooms, in the thoughts and lives of the people of WVU. Change is liberalization, or it is the process of discovering new reasons for conservative positions. Change is a new way of doing things, or it is a better way of doing old things. Change is the liberation of the people and of the self, or it is the manifestation of a Communist plot. Change is finding more and more independence and finding it in a group. But CHANGE IS. Old orders are yielding way to new, and newness is still trying to find its own order. Change is the now between the old and the new, the present between the past and the future. Change is photographing campus beauties in miniskirts, when they used to pose in fully-gathered skirts and bobby socks. Change is deciding for yourself on love, sex, and marriage — whatever order they come in. Change is watching campus political parties wrangle over meaningful issues. Change is Greeks whose friends are freaks and vice versa. Change is hearing fascism defined in terms of America instead of Italy. Change is personal, national, cultural, world-wide. Change is economic, social, political. Change is as small as the dot on the i in independ- ence and as large as a war that is thought about as well as fought. Change is acting on your thoughts, living up to them. All of us are involved in the ebbs and flows of change. Our speech patterns reflect the changes of life styles. The lan- guage of the drug and pot scene is probably much more prevalent than pills and grass are. Selections on the juke box seldom rhyme moon and June or even yummy and tummy any more. Now it ' s Mother Mary whispering words of wisdom. Let it be, let it be, and Simon and Garfunkel singing for world-weary lovers, like a bridge over troubled waters, I lay me down. Hemlines, having gone about as far as they can go, threatened to sink below the knees, but didn ' t. So what ' s in a hemline? Perhaps fashions are as sig- nificant as any other indicator of the general mood of a group, and dresses here signal a freer and easier slant on life. People who have it, are flaunting it. It is style, flair, the love of life. It is also concern, activism, involvement.