Northeast Michigan Oral History and Historic Photograph Archive

The Polemic Vol.3, No.4, March 1972, p. 1

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© Pp LEMIC Alpena, Mich. March 1972 Vol. 3 No. 4 President Stoutenburg is working to improve ACC. President Presents Message On February 17, Dr. Stoutenburg, President of ACC gave his State of the College Mes- sage to the faculty and administration. For the record and for student information, the POLEMIC is printing Dr. Stoutenburg’s entire message. As | prepared my thoughts for this presentation, | asked myself what are the most im- portant concerns of Alpena Community College and which of them should | single out to talk about. Some thoughts that went through my mind included curricular needs, student and faculty involvement in governance, new construction, faculty morale, budget, enroll- ment, new programs, college image, alumni relations, student placement and needs of students. Each of these topics, if discussed, would require more time to endure. How- ever, there is an umbrella under which these items can be discussed in detail which will be more profitable to you than for me to talk about them today. That umbrella is the com- mittee work needed to write the Institutional Profile and the Report on Basic Institutional Data for the North Central review scheduled for September, 1972, and February, 1973. Some of you have become very involved, but most of you have not. To this latter group | encourage you to recognize your responsibility as a member of this college community and become involved in the work of the several committees studying the strengths and weaknesses of this institution. As | see it, there are two approaches to preapre for the review. The first is for the ad- ministration to take complete charge and write the total report and the second is for the faculty with the support of the administration to do it together. Obviously the latter method is the only alternative open to us. This institutional review requires inputs from all members of the community. This institutional review allows each of us to analyze and discuss each component part of the college. Those topics | listed earlier can be better understood when they are reviewed from many points rather than from only one peep- hole in this institution. North Central expects by September 1, 1972, the Institutional Profile. This means we have exactly three and a half months before school is out to gather the data, discuss the data, and analyze the data. It will be necessary for this report to be written during the summer in order to meet the September deadline. Again, for your information, let me list the areas that the Board of Vistors will be inspecting to determine whether or not Alpena Community Colege is a viable institution. 1 What is the educational task of the institution? 2. Are the necessary resources available for carrying out the task of the institution? 2 Is the institution well-organized for carrying out its educational task? Are the programs of instruction adequate in kind and quality to serve the pur- poses of the institution? 5. — Are the institution’s policies and practices such as to foster high faculty morale? 6. Is student life on campus relevant to the institution’s educational task? Ts Is student achievement consistent with the purposes of the institution? After meeting this requirement, we will have another three months to prepare the second document of the review - the Report on Basic Institutional Data. This information will be even more difficult to obtain that the data for the Institutional Profile because the statistical reports prepared over the last ten years have not been consistent in their format and, therefore, makes comparisons of certain discreet information difficult to com- pare from one year to another. To rectify this situation, procedures have:been developed to regularize the college's reports. The statistical data aay since 1970 is being put into a new format which should provide consistency in the For your intormation Dean Heimnick and Dr. Bane will participate in a one-day workshop at the North Central Association offices in Chicago next week for the purpose of acquiring additional direction and guidance to prepare for this all-important accredita- tion review. Again, let me state bluntly that the preparation for this review is the respon- sibility of each of us. The place of this institution in the higher education structure of this state and region depends on eacn person’< unqualified participation. Con’t on page three WITCHES ARE REAL - HONEST Do you believe in Witchcraft? Do witches still exist? To find answers to these and other questions pertaining to witchcraft, One might talk to Doctor Raymond Buck- land. Dr. Buckland appeared in Alpena recently, as one of the ACC Arts Councils speakers, to present some information and to clear up some of the fallacies related to Witchcraft. Dr. Buckland holds a PhD in Anthro- which he earned from Kings College in London. A leading authority on Witch- craft, he is the director of the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, located in New York City. In his presentation, Dr. Buckland brought out several interesting points on the his- tory of witchcraft and how it is today. Witchcraft is a religion. It isn’t a univer- sal religion in the general sense because each group, or coven, is isolated from each other with little communication be- tween them. No one knows for sure how many covens there are or where they are. Each coven has it’s own code of rules, but for the majority these rules are the same only worded differently. For all the male chauvinists out there, women are much more important than men because the females symbolize ferti- lity and rebirth, whereas the men symbo- lize death and the here-after. Logically then, if there is no fertility and rebirth, how can there be death and the here-after? It would also be important to note that the leaders of the covens are the High Priestesses, another point for women. Dr. Buckland made a distinction between Witchcraft, Satanism, Voodooism, and Black Magic. The latter three are psudo- religions and use superstition and “evil” magic where Witchcraft does not even recognize it. The main reason for this attitude is that they feel that whatever magic theyuse comes from the person and returns back to that person threefold sometime in their life. Why would anyone want to practice evil magic on someone if they knew it would come back to them — THREEFOLD! Dr. Buckland gave a few examples of how the coven to which he belongs has practiced magic on people to help heal them and has been successful. Some people would brush these examples off as coincidences, but there is a lot of the human brain still unexplorec’ and perhaps magic is to be found in our “sixth sense’’! How does one become a member of a coven? The main requirements as Buck- land stated would be a sincerity, honesty and a belief or a willingness to believe in the powers of witchcraft as a religion. The learning and acceptance process takes roughly one year. Then assuming he still wants to join a coven, he will undergo the initiation rites. This ceremony is com- posed of three parts. First a verbal accept- ance of the coven, it’s members, and it's laws,. Secondly, the person is asked to be accepted by the gods, and finally he is introduced to the tools, the spells, and the coven are sworn to secrecy. Once accepted by a coven the person may easily leave the coven if he so desired without fear of retrebution. A couple of fallacies the Dr. Buckland cleared up were: the coven meetings aré NOT sex orgies. Although all members are nude at the meetings, the idea is to rid themselves of the worthless earthly pos- sessions so that they are free to communi- cate with the gods. The covens do not advertise and there is no admission fee. So if you see an ad, beware, you will probably be taken. Witches ban the use of drugs and Mariuana. They also discourage the excessive use of alchohol. Another point for women liber’s - males are not called Warlocks or Warlords, everyone is referred to as a witch. Dr. Raymond Buckland -- A leading authority on Witchcraft.

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