The Record/March 16, 1989
Page 5
Haile
continued from page 4
leaching method to effect a turning point in the thinking of the student.
It seems to me that such a college is in most cases the first place where a minority recruit lives together with whites. He comes to his future alma mater with the hope of living together with enlightened peers andneighbors, enlightened by the torch carried by the strong arms of the administration. He comes to be educated, to tease and be teased about the physical difference between him and his new friends and laugh. He also comes with apprehensions, not knowing what the future holds for him. A liberal arts college is a place where his hope that our social system can be rectified is either strengthened or shattered. Does not this "encounter" need special attention from the college administration? The best part in my life is my years in college. Is this what a minority student who graduates from the College of Saint Benedict or Saint John's University will one day write in his memoirs?
Concentration of anything, good or bad, on one segment of the population should be fought legally but fiercely as long as there is time, before it is too late, before it disrupts our society and destroys our civilization. We know that people are capable of destroying themselves together with the person who, they believe, is their offender. Our eye-opener does not have to be an act of desperation by one
whom our society has wronged or cornered. One can oppress people but can never tame them or break them, as one would do to animals, especially in this century when knowledge is open to the public. Concentration is the source of that dangerous association. It demonstrates a basic flaw in our social system. Concentration of power in the hands of the Afrikaners inSouth Africa will inevitably result in the association of white with oppression and black with the innocent victim. Concentration of the prison houses with blacks will result in the association of blacks with crime. Concentration of education with the whites and the lack of it with blacks will mislead us into believing that the white man is more intelligent than the black man. Humannature is shared by all men and women. We all are one and the same. Crime, intelligence, misuse of power, prejudice, discrimination, holiness, and so on are not the monopoly of one segment of our race or society.
"I am Pieter Botha from South Africa. My ancestors came to this place to live in peace and happiness. But the bad British came and oppressed them. The British are really bad people. Now wehave freedom and democracy in South Africa. These Bantus, instigated by the communists, are threatening our democracy, our western form of democracy. But we have faith in Christ In seems these blacks are allergic to interrogation. Some die and some throw up blood during questioning.".
"I am Winnie Mandela from South Africa. These bad white men have deprived us of our
freedom. We will liberate our country with our necklaces. Withournecklaces we will strangle others, blacks as well as whites, who would oppose our movement and envisioned form of democracy, and set fire to their bodies."
"I am Abu Nidal from Palestine. I will kill every Jew or Israeli I could meet—baby, woman, old or young—to liberate my country form Israeli occupation and repression and establish a democratic society in my mother and, a one party democracy, the Party of God. Jews are bad people. They should be thrown into the sea."
"I am Ariel Sharon from Israel. When my parents were taken to the gas chamber by the Germans I escaped through the help of Jehovah. The Germans are bad people. How can one put humans alive into a gas chamber! Never again. We have now a homeland on which we have built our society on democratic principles. These bad Palestinians, followers of Allah, are trying to destroy our democratic society; never again. Last week two of them died when I was interrogating them. The best method to combat resistance is to make them homeless by demolishing their houses. Many extended families are now on the streets, having nowhere to go for their lavatory needs."
"I am Idi Amin, president for life of the beautiful country of Uganda. People do not understand why I put at my dinner table the freshly cut head of an enemy of the state. The head is impolite. Its eyes stare at me while I am eating.
It is a head of bad guy. Uganda will prosper with or without its people."
"I am Pol Pet, a leader of the revolutionary country of Kampuchea. The journalists are attacking me because I depleted the population of my beloved country in my attempt to restructure our society. The society was corrupt. Capitalism and feudalism are the two evils which I am determined to uproot."
I am Hitler, the Aryan. . .; I am the Latin Mussolini...; I am the Georgian Stalin...; I am the African Mobutu Sese Seko. . .; I am the Butcher of Leon; I am Albert Schweitzer, I am Mother Teresa; I am Joan of Arc; I am St. Francis of Assisi; I am St. Kimpa Vita of the Congo; I am St. Tekle Haymanot of Ethiopia. I am St. Benedict. I am...; I am...; I am... No matter who I am or where I come from, I am human; I am humane; I am inhuman. I warn you, don't fall in love with me at the first sight; I could be Mr. Ted Bundy, the "handsome" serial killer who brutally destroyed tens of young people. I warn you, don11 hate me either at the first sight; I could be the Reverend and revered Dr. Martin Luther King who gave his life to cure the cancer of the Great Society. I beg you, do not subjugate your power of reasoning to your power of feeling or vice versa. It is incumbent upon us, humans, to keep the two scales balanced. It is inhuman to be off balance.
Improvements
continued from page 1
college of arts and sciences, agreed that the art department needed to move out of its cramped Engel quarters to provide student artists with better studio and display space. Reinhardt is coordinating the planning for the new art facility.
TriimmeshcommentedthatwhileEngelhashoused the artdepartmentforyears, adequate studios have never been provided and the makeshift arrangements are "not well accommodated to the needs of the department."
Thimmesh confirmed that the building's design has not changed significantly since The Record s report last October. It will include a gallery, several flexible studio-classrooms, sculpture foundry, offices for art faculty, a small auditorium for lectures and slide presentations, and a lobby. The structure will be located west of the short wing of St. Thomas Hall, currently a parking area.
Tennis courts
S JU's tennis courts will soon disappear. They will be replaced with seven pro-quality courts on the same site, says Roman Paur, OSB, SJU vicepresi-dentofstudentaffairs. Lights will allow nightplay on four of the courts. A specially- designed fence will break the wind, and sheltered bleachers will seat several hundred spectators.
SJU tennis coach Dick Schroeder sees a desperate need for the replacement. The courts have fallen victim to heaving pavement, dead spots, and weeds, making them dangerous. Besides being unsafe, the old courts are an eyesore at the entrance to the SJU campus. "In the (seven) years I have coached atSt. John's, we'veplayed only twovarsity games there,"Schroederremarked."Idon'twanttobring my own team out there, much less invite other schools to play here," he said.
"The tennis courts are important for recruitment through summer camps and for general student and staff leisure interests, " Paur noted. "College campuses areexpectedtohavedecenttennis courts. It is even more important for us in the country. It is equally urgent that our current courts, which are a visual blight at the entrance (of SJU) as well as a serious liability, be removed."
Scheduled to be completed early this summer, the new courts will first be used for two tennis camps in July and August. Schroeder says he is pleased because the $213,000 project will benefit the whole SJU community, not just tennis team members.
Campus Center
Administrators are currently planning the layout of the proposed Campus Center to be constructed west of Mary Hall starting in the fall of 1990. Completion of the two-story center is estimated forearly 1992atacostof$5 million. Paur and two architectural planning committees identified these needs for the facility in a recent letter to Thimmesh: ?Bookstore
* Food service/convenience store
* Campus pub, TV room, game room
* Irifomauon/reception area
* Student Senate/JEC offices
* Student clubs/publications offices
* PC/VAX computer access
* Student post office
* Intercampus bus waiting area
The center will be built close to the current location of Joe Hall, where 25 studentsnow reside. Joe Hall cannot remain in its present location and may have to be demolished, Tavis said, but the option of transporting the building to a nearby location is being discussed.
"At the hub of daily campus activity, (the campus center will be) a gathering place for student and faculty excharige...in abuilding that proudly shows the aesthetic and familiar character of our tradition," Paur wrote. Thimmesh remarked that SJU is currently the only campus in Minnesota without such a center.
Space freed in other buildings after the center is built"allows for theplanning of aminority student meeting lounge, telecommunications studio, sound-proof student band practice rooms with secured instrument storage, student study space," and also the relocation of some offices.
Paur asserts that the center is urgently needed, and he feels current plans are modest but adequate. The committees rejected university guest rooms and a bowling alley as being impractical for the campus center, the letter said.
Warner Palaestra
Renovations and additions to the Warner Palaestra are also being considered, to be funded by the current five-year SJU capital campaign, Institutional Advancement officials told The Record in December.
This project would involve constructing a new fieldhouse including an 8-lane 200m indoor track, along with space for volleyball, field, and intramural events. A wood floor would be installed on the basketball court.
According to preliminary plans, a new 4500- \A/o|lf f\||f
square-foot weight room would be constructed in '¦''» O ¦ IVw UI
a glass-enclosed balcony in the east end of the
gym. (The current weight room provides a tight
1200 square feet.) A karate/exercise room would
also overlook the gym, and additional locker rooms
would be installed under the balcony.
continued from page 1
When theoriginal SJU Palaestrawasbuiltm 1972, Paur said, "we were in very good shape" in comparison with other schools in the MI AC and in the state of Minnesota. But 17 years have passed since then, and many Minnesota private schools have made expensive improvements to their athletic facilities. But Paur feels the proposed renovations "would put us in good shape relative to these schools."
The project may take $5 million, Paur estimated, and just $3 million has been allocated by capital campaignplanners. Andfornow,Thimmeshfeels the campus center is more urgent. "We already have a Palaestra, but we don't have a campus center," Thimmesh told The Record on Monday.
But Thimmesh says he does not underrate the importance of SJU's athletic needs. Also, Tavis stated that if SJU were to receive a sizable donation earmarked for athletic improvements, "we would start tomorrow/' and Thinmesh agreed.
Verses
continued from page 3
the register because of its recent popularity. Marrin said, "A faculty member called me and was very upset that we had the book in the store. She thought we were promoting it unduly by having it on that counter. I put them all in literature shelves where they belong.. .because we don'tkeepthosebooks on the counter indefinitely anyway. I tried to be sensitive to her concern."
When confronted by the possibility of discontinuing sales of The Last Temptation of Christ, Marrin said, "We're not going to stop selling the book; that will be the best way to sell tons of copies elsewhere. We put it where it belongs."
"If people are going to start handpicking titles to worry about,"Marrincontinued, "thenyou're talking about censorship in its worst form. We better go through every theology book here. You could complain about many radical theologians,"
Worland's statements parallel those issued by the ! Roman Catholic Church on homosexuality. "Worland stated the Roman Catholic Church's position on homosexuality," said Bill Franklin, head of the Christian Humanism Project. "We need to have this kind of debate. The point was not to come down on one side. I defend Worland and Muldoon both and I am glad students witnessed open debate." Worland was unavailable for comment.
Peter Farrell, an SJU senior history major, initiated the discussion on homosexuality when he asked about the lifestyle of gay students. "I was disappointed that Muldoon decided to leave," Farrell said. "I wished he would have stayed to argue his point." Farrell added that he was surprised at Worland's statement, which he said seemed "close-minded."
This incident reflects the growing controversy : over homosexuality at SJU. As the university has I tried to come to grips with the needs of homosexual students, several students have formed a "10% club," a group of gay men that meets weekly. Still, I some members of the community feel that more is needed for homosexuals.
'The issue of homosexuality needs to be ad-dressedmorethanitisnow."Muldoonsaid. "Brining it out into the open would certainly help us; I'm not certain how we're going to do that It is ourrole in a pluralistic society to decrease bias and prejudice."-
Farrell echoed Muldoon's concerns stating, "the topic definitely deserves more discussion on campus. SJU has made great strides.. .but they still have a long way to go."
The Christian Humanism Project sponsors the panel discussion for senior seminar classes as an opportunity for professors and students to discuss contemporary issues.
Doit
out of respect
for the dead.
And the living.
