Brown and White Vol. 82 no. 44

              lehigh university brown and white mmmmmmmmmsm vol 82 - no 44 mmmmmmmmmm bethlehem pa tuesday april 27 1971 866-0331 scranton brewster challenge america to face up to problems by glen clark william w srranton former governor of pennsylvania and dr kingham brewster jr president of yale were the two most prominent speakers at the bethlehem centennial episcopal convocation the anniversary celebration was held in grace hall saturday the theme of the convocation as outlined by rt rev frederick j warnecke bishop of bethlehem was how to deal with crisis and how to accept it as an opportunity for creative living scranton who presided over the affair spoke of the need to focus on critical problems of the united states he said that an affluent society must be realistic and made constantly aware of the problems of humanity " blacks and other minorities are not free and indians who were here long before the rest of us are in poverty and distress he said the former governor added that he believes that the democratic system of government is the best but the system does not bring about rapid change because its methods and mechanics aren't very functional consequently congress and state legislatures are unresponsive to the people and the cities have become treasures of the poor scranton views this as the primary reason for americans to get involved and work hard to bring about more rapid change specifically he referred to the judicial svsteni as one that needs to t>e reformed the bail svsteni is utterly ridiculous and could be changed easily by lawvers he said ho added that " reform never comes fast enough under our system to please everyone but it will never come if we don't participate scranton also commented on national leadership in general he said that leaders must be ahead of the people and il'thev aren't the people car do something about it bv this he meant that leaders must be aware of the problems of tlie nation and be ready to take action to solve them he cited the 1968 presidential election as an example where mccarthy described the problems of the country and the president decided not to run for re-election mccarthy was more aware or at least more willing to express the problems of the nation in this case the former governor concluded bv saving tliat the chances of a major revolution are slim he argued that structure and institution does not change as fast as people dr brewster's views on the student crisis last spring comes from his concerned rapport and astute observations of students faculty and the yale community his major conviction is that student unrest is not the result of a new consciousness forum adopts new statement of drug policy the university forum completed the final action of its initial vpar on a quiet note monday evening in stark contrast to tl events of just one vear ago that led to its inception despite the often pessimistic statements of its critics forum i has survived its first year and tonight the convocation of the members of forum ii will mark the continuance of the sometimes controversial body one of the final actions of forum i monday night was the unanimous passage of a statement on drugs and alcohol to be incorporated into the university handbook the report which was prepared by a subcommittee on drugs and alcohol and received praise from the fommbodv called for the retention of the present statement on the use of alcohol concerning the problem of drug usage on campus the subcommittee issued a lengthy statement stipulating the types of drugs and the dangers associated with them the statement specified that no student can expect the university to serve as a over for an illegal drug market whether consumers be on campus or off the report continued "... the university cannot set down formal regulations the ■ lecision concerning one's infringement on another's rights is judgemental . . t lie university's policy will depend upon the circumstances at tiand finally the report stated that "... the initial assumption is tliat the individual could best benefit from counseling and rehabilitation rather than the assessment of university demerits or other such punishment in general students are penalized only it they fail to give respect and consideration to others hinder the mission of the university or take undue advantage of the unique environment which is associated with this institution a second matter of importance takor under consideration monday was a report by a subcommittee on athletics that called for the renovation of taylor gym the report which was passed unanimously by the forum body noted that "... the problems of over-use deferred main tenance and the introduction of coeducation make imperative the renovation of taylor gymnasium specifically the report called for such maintenance and housekeeping projects as the installation of an adequate heating and vent'lation system the installation of b&w photo by nofhrf.n the campus was aglow during friday night's hallelujah see stories and pictures pages 5 — 7 change not revolution is role of dissent — rusher by john klucsik dissent solely as dissent is a morally neutral act said william a rusher thursday night during his address the nature and limits of dissent the publisher of the national review said that the concept of dissent has a fascination for us there is a long tradition of american dissent but that alone does not make it morally justifiable we have a tpndencv to favor the ugly duckling that grew up to be a swan and support dissenters or those in the minority he said intellectually speaking this is nonsense rusher stated that most popular dissent is not really a minority position and that real dissent is commonly unpopular as examples he cited the john birch society and the american communist party as real and highly unpopular groups of dissenters dissent is essential in a democratic society there must be the opportunity to dissent he said however he made a distinction between dissent and revolution the true dissenter is seeking to change his society not overthrow it as are the revolutionaries rusher emphasized the opportunity for dissent in this country and stated i believe a revolution is justified where there is no mechanism for change i think it is not only justifiable but necessary he said this was the circumstance of the american colonial revolution and the situation in twentieth century russia one of the most striking misconceptions i've run into is that democracy is a form of government where we get our way now that is not democracy it is no such thing as any republican can tell you he argued the rule of the majority regardless of what individuals or groups may want i don't think government has failed because i didn't get my way if we don't always get our way we are free to dissent he said if we decide to defy our society we have the choice to hide our defiance or to get caught at it b&w photo by west the responsibilities of democracy was the theme of william a rushers talk last thursday rusher who is publisher of the conservative magazine national review argued that the true dissenter is seeking to change his society not overthrow it see kent st page 4 see taylor page 4 see institutions page 4