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44
WOW
VOLUME 71, NUMBER 19
MERCER UNIVERSITY, MACON, GEORGIA
MONDAY, MARCH 6, 19*9
Lack of members, funds keep
Mercer’s black fraternities homeless
By CHARLIE SMITH
News Editor
Since the demolition of the
* 'Black Greek House'* in the
Spring of 1987. there has been no
designated meeting facility for any
of Mercer’s three traditionally
black fraternities. There have been
many explanations for this situation
in past years, but with the many ex
planations for this situation in past
j years, but with the arrival of a new
r soririty (Pi Beta Phi) which will
also want housing, the questions
are coming up again.
The Old Bond House was
scheduled for demolition before it
because the Black Greek house in
1983. The administration knew that
Old Bond house was sitting on land
that was ear marked for the new
library/new tennis courts project.
But because it was going to cost ap
proximately $6000.00 to tear the
house down. Alpha Phi Alpha.
Kappa Alpha Psi. and Omega Psi
Phi were told they could use the
house until it was time to clear the
land for construction.
The house had three bedrooms,
one for each of the participating
fraternities, and a living area which
they shared. The bedrooms were
used for chapter/meeting rooms
and no one lived in the house. Ac
cording to Dean of Students Barry
Jenkins, there was a great deal of
vandalism inside the house in
cluding structural damage to the in
ternal walls. The poor state of
repair resulted in the house being
only minimally inhabited during the
last year of its existence.
The black greck men now have
no housing and although there are
rumors of racism, everyone involv
ed agrees that there arc many
complications.
The first and most serious pro
blem in getting housing for Alpha
PHi Alpha. Kappa Alpha Psi, and
Omega Psi Phi is their low
membership. The procedure a
fraternity must go through to get a
house begins with the fraternity
producing 25 percent of the total
cost for the construction of the
house. The University finances the
‘remaining 75 percent. It is also the
fraternity's responsibility to draw
up a plan by which they commit to
pay their monthly rent and mor-
tgange payment to the University.
The mortgage is paid to reimburse
the University for their 75 percent
contribution to the construction of
the fraternity lodge. The only
fraternity to have already com
pleted their mortgage payments is
Sigma Alpha Epsilon which was
the first fraternity to have a house
on Mercer's campus.
It has been estimated that the
construction of a new facility would
cost at least $80,000. Low
membership and restructcd finan-
( ontinued on page 3
Bias: Students are
nation’s greatest resource
The main cause of these pro
blems. according to Bias, is that
"we are afraid of what people will
think of us if we make a stand. So
many of our people are involved in
things that they don't want to be a
part of. but they don't want to stand
alone."
Bias's main empfeisis in her talk
is that people must learn to love
themselves. "Happiness takes
place on the inside and getting to
know who you are. Be yourself.
Love yourself."
Although Bias did not focus on
her son's death in her lecture, she
dkl use the tragedy as a way of il
lustrating something which she felt
all people must remember. “One
of the most bitter cups a parent can
be asked to dnnk from is having to
bury their child. But. after every
storm is a new beginning. There
are people going through harder
stuff today, and they're making it."
A major concern of Bias's aside
from drug and alcohol abuse is the
presence of AIDS. "This thing is
real, and in 5 years we will see the
Continued on page 14
By SARAH CAMBRIDGE
Staff Writer
Thursday night. Lonisc Bias
gave a lecture which focused on the
problems of society in regard to
young people today.
Bias, the mother of the late Len
Bias, explained that "we have so
many problems in our society
because we try to answer the pro
blems in an obsolete way." Her ap
proach, in contrast, is to deal with
what causes such problems as drug
abuse, which was the result of her
son's death, instead of just dealing
with the results.
Dr.
From Max Weber Essays in Sociology.
Great Books Program frees the mind
By Charlie Smith
News Editor
The Great Books Program, one
of the two core tracks offered at
Mercer, makes a traditional
"history of western thought" ap
proach to undergraduate liberal arts
education.
Aravind Arepally. senior Great
Books student, warns against let
ting the program being in-
dimidatmg. "The program is
designed not to weed out people,
but to enhance the quality of
Liberal Arts education at Mercer."
A Great Books student tradi
tionally begins the program in the
Spring quarter of his/her freshman
year with Great Books I (GBK
301)—"Classical Culture: From
Homer to Socrates'As the course
title suggests, this class like all of
Mercer’s GBK’s classes is organiz
ed in a basically chronological
order. After working through the
Iliad, Great Books I classes read
and discuss ancient Greek drama,
and Platonic dialogues.
The chronology of the Western
tradition is continued in GBK U’s
readings up through the Roman
period, GBK 111 and IV's study of
the Judcuo-Christan heritage from
Genesis to Hume. GBK V's work
with the modem world view. GBK
Vi’s readings on the rise of in-
Jividuality. GBK VII and VIH's.
Ytudies of the Nineteenth century,
focussing on Romanticism and
Revolution, and Naturalism and
Nihilism, and GBK IX's discussion
of the modem temper, which
reaches works as contemporary as
Camus and Skinner
Continued on page 5
