VMI Cadet. February 13, 1970

              VOLUME LVI Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia. Friday, February 13, 1970 Number 19
Chaplain Wilson Expresses
Views On Varied Topics
This week your CAUKT chose to
interview Chaplain Robert K. Wil-son
to find out more about this
man whose job it is to dispense
spiritual nurture and to bridge the
ever-widening religious gap in the
minds of cadets. A native Ken-tuckian
and a veteran of twenty
two years of continuous active mil-itary
service, Commander Wilson
has devoted himself through the
years to the study and application
of Christian ethics. Through tours
' of duty which took him to Japan.
, Korea. China, the Republic of the
1 Philippines and other parts of the
I Orient, he came in direct personal
i contact with the many Far East-
3 ern religions. One of his special-
I tics is Comparative- Religion. He
I has .studied for the past several
I summers at Northwestern Univer-
1 slty in order to keep abreast the
3 latest developments in this impor-tant
Hold. In 1967 Chaplain Wil-son
was the recipient of a Ford
Foundation Fellowship for the
study of Indian religions and cul
ture at the University of Virginia
He majored in Christian Ethics at
Union Theologclal Seminary In
New York under the eminent theo
logian Dr. Reinhold Nelbuhr
Since Jackson Memorial Hall is
the site of Chaplain Wilson's pri-mary
contact with cadets f o r j o r t y -
llve minutes each Sunday morning,
the Interview began with a discus-sion
of his sermons and their
prepar.ation.
INTERVIEWER: How do you go
about building a sermon for ca-dets?
And is there a clifTeience be-tween
preaching to cadcts and.
say, to civilians?
WILSON: I have done very lit-tle
prcaching to civilians, but a
great deal to military servicemen
and to cadets. There is a differ-ence.
It is a delicate operation to
zero-in on the wave-length of both
"AM & FM" of cadets. The 700
cadets who have chosen to come
to J. M. Hall on Sunday morning
represent a very broad spectrum
of denominations.
I t iy to give a general type ser-
Military-Industrial Complex
Conference Phins Continued
Bob Quinlan, chairman of the
Publicity Committee of the Mili-tary-
Industrial Conference, recently
announced further developments in
planning for the conference. The
symposium will be held at VMI on
9-11 April.
Tentative plans have been made
to hold a military weekend at VMI
dui'inti the conference. Cadcts from
other Military coll«ges will be in-vited
to the symposium, and will
be allowed to stay in barracks if
the proposal is passed. Al Bast Is
in charge of this project.
News releases have been prnted
by the Publicity Con)mlttee, and
will be is^iued to the news media
on both college and national level
A pruniotionul tape will also be
made and sent to college radio sta-tions
to further publicize the event.
New authorities on this subject
have accepted invitations to partici-pate
in the conference. The new
participants are: Robert I.ekach
man. Chairman of the Economics
Department at Stonybrook Unlver
slty and author of The ,Age of
Kings; Arthur Larson, World Rule
Law Center, Duke University,
former member of the Eisenhower
.Administration; Theos Thompson,
Commlsioner of the Atomic Energy
Commission: Allen E. W<:inrub,
student leader, Haivurd Univer
slty; and George Wald, Professor
of Biology, Harvaid University,
winner of the Nobel Prize in Chem-isti'y.
To Increase cadet particiiiation,
cadets have been named to moder-ate
panel discussions and a debate.
Bill Williams will moderate the
panel discussion on The Youth Re-volt
on Campus, and Dave Tribo-let
will act as moderator in the
panel discussion on Force as an
Element in Diplomacy. Tom Zar
ges has been selected to lead the
public debate to be held on Friday
10 April.
Ice which will not olTend the sen-sibilities
of any particular dcnj-mlnation.
I try to tune in on where
cadets arc. In the six years 1 have
been heie I have dealt with just
about everything from Playboy
philosophy and situation ethics to
science and the "God-i.s-Dead"
theme. We try to bring in special-ists
who can do ji'stlce to love,
romance and marriage. We deal
with the problems of loneliness,
alienation, fru.stratlons, and the
many 'hang-ups" which plague
any college .student. Cadets aren't
especially concerned with theology
and abstractions. The object of a
sermon Is to comfort the afflicted
and to afllict the comfortable.
Some of our cadets need comfort,
,ind many of them are all too com-fortable
and need to be afflicted.
As to the sources of my ser-mons,
generally speaking they are
result of my exposure to the
college .subculture in one way or
anothor. Often I choose a popular
song such as the "Sounds of Sil-ence"
by Simon and Garfunkle and
use It as a springboard. I try to
keep current by reading the liter-ature
depicting the college scene.
INTERVIEWER: How do you
make your sermons revelant to
cadet afl'airs and problems?
— 'Many semions are generated
from counseling sessions with ca
dets. Others come as a back-lash
from my courses In Ethics and
Comparative Religion. Still otheis
come I'rom my observation of those
"up-tight" cadets who ai-e seek-ing
real solutions to their prob-lems
of meaning, of being. You
know, I like Who am I? What am
I?
INTERVIEWER: Do you make
any significant innovations in your
sermons for special weekends
knowing there will be more civi-lians
in your congregation that
Sunday?
WILSON: Special week ends, like
"Winter-Hops" mean that I have to
communicate to a wider range of In-terests
and needs in the congrega-tion.
This certainly compounds the
difficulty. I must somehow tune in
to parents, dates, and cadets. There
is always the possibility of alienat-ing
soniebody In the group. It's
a real challenge.
INTERVIEWER: Could you de-scribe
your role as an "out-of-the-classroom-
an d-Commandant's Of-fice"
personal advisor to cadet*?
WILSON: I'm not certain I un-derstand
what you mean by that
question. I consider counseling my
most important job on the post.
To this end, I have been studying
for the past several months and
durins the semesters as well, at
the University of Virginia where
I am !i candidate for the Master's
Degree in coun.selor education. I
do have one foot In Academe and
the other in the pulpit, and a third
In my office as counselor. I am a
special assistant to the Superin-tendent.
therefore r. member of the
Doctor Willimn C.
Duvuloii To Spenk
At VMI And W&L
stair. .\Iy salary as Post Chaplain
comes from a private endowment
creatcd by the h^-irs of John M.
Camp, a V.Ml gr.iduate of the Class
of '0,1. My salary as LccUirer in
Comparative Religion and Ethics
comes from the .'*tatc. I act as liai-son
between cadets, parents, and
the admini.stration. I consider it
a manv-splendored-job.
INTERVIEWER: How do you
feel abmit the so-called 'New Mor-ality."
the new radicalism, the cur-rent
opposition to military .service
that pervades the American scene?
How d ) the.se things affect cadets?
WILSON: Now. that a three-stage
rocket question if 1 ever heard one!
As for the 'New .Morality" it is .
really an ' Old Morality" dressed
up in .1 new rhetoric. The formula
for the so-called New Morality
comes from Episcopalian Theolo-ginia.
Jo.<eph Fletcher's Situation
Kthics. This formula is greatly mis-understood
by many people. Ac-tually.
this is a most difficult ethic,
one that Is hard to implement.
Condensed to its essence it means
simply this: "The greatest good
is to love people and use things."
That's as old as Jesus. Playboy
people like Hugh Heffner reverse
this high ethical concept and pro-ceed
to use people and love things.
Christian love Is an unconditional
j thing. Playboy love Is too, too con-ditional!
.^sk any Playboy Bunny
about this. Love is a negotiable
commoditv. People are used and
discarded as so much rubbish. The
so-calle.l ' New-Radicalism" is incu-bated
in the middle class and up-per
middle class affluence. It is a
definite break with tradition and
authorlt.v. It represents a dis-enchantment
with middle-class
mores and folkways, the e.stablish-ment.
K is described by Professoir
Roszak of California as "the coun-ter-
culture." It thrives only in the
luxury of affluence. Come a de-pression
or recession and it will
vanish.
See CHAPLAIN WILSON Page 7
What's Oil The Inside
Hill II i//i<(»i.« oil Rork
I'uUe: r wf Formal Hops
Rankem An- Cadets Too
Lovkliu on "Coinimler CoimicUnisiifr
page J
page. 3
page a
page a
Special Performance
Through the generosity of Brigadier General Frank
McCarthy, USA ret., the VMI Corps of Cadets will at-tend
a special performance of the movie, PATTON,
which premiered in New York last week. General Mc-
Carthy, a VMI graduate, is producer of the multi-mil-lion
dollar film.
General McCarthy has made arrangements with
Mr. Ralph Daves, manager of Lexington's State
Theatre, for this event. Mr. Daves has announced that
the theater will be closed on the afternoons of the 5th
and 6th of March to all except cadets, and members of
the faculty and staff of VML There will be no charge
for adinissiun.
Professor William C. Davidon
Chairman of the Department of
Physics at Haverford College, Hav
erford, Pennsylvania, will serve as
a visiting lecturer at VMI and
W&L, Thursday and Friday. Feb-ruary
19 and 20.
Mr. Davidon will be visiting un-der
t h j auspices of the American
Asscoiation of Physics Teachers
and the American institute of Phy-sics
as part of a broad, nationwide
program to stimulate interest in
Physics. Lectures, informal discus-sion,
assistance to faculty mem-bers
concerning curriculum and re-search
problems in physics will
highlight Dr. Davidson's two day
visit.
University of Chicago
Dr. Davidon is a graduate of
the Univei'slty of Chicago and at-tended
Purdue University. He was
formerly employed as an associate ! 1
physlcii.t at the Argonne National
Laboratories and also served as
research director and research as-sociate
at the Nuclear Instrument
and Ch,;mical Corporation, Chicago
and the Fermi Institute for Nu-clear
Studies at the University of
Chicago, respectively.
His a'eas of research have in-cluded
the theory of elementary
particles and foundations of quan-tum
mechanics and mathematical
See PROF. D.WIDSON page 2
(^.aleiidar of Events
1:30 PM
9 PM
FEBRUARY
13
13
13
13
14
14
14
14
a PM
7 PM
19
19-'»0
Varsity wieslling, V.MI at DaiiJoion College.
Varsity track. HOME. VMI vs. Wake Forest.
Midwinter Hops, formal, gymnasium, music by The
Drifteis and Ginger Thompion an.l l!ie Odyssey.
Planetarium demonsl,.-atlon.
Varsity swimming. HOME. V.MI vs. Loyola.
Varsity wrestling. VMI at Guiifoid.
Varsity and rat baskelball. VMI at Wil'lam and Mary
College.
MiJwinter Hops, semi-fo.nul, gymnasium, music by
New York Reek anJ Roll Ensemble and Cliuck Berry and
Glory River.
Varsity [rack, IIO.ME. VMI vs. Virginia Tech.
Observatory showing.
Coni-ert of the Paul Winter Conlemporary Consort, pre-sented
by the Rockbridge Concert-Theater Series,
Jackson Memorial Hall. (Admission limited to season
sub-scribers.)
Varsity baskelbal', HOME. VMI vs. The Citadel, with
preliminary rat game, V.MI v.s. F e . i um Junior College,
at 6 P.M. Field House.
Sounding Brass Seminar, 19,10. Lejeune Hall.
Faculty Woman's Club annual card party, .Moody Hall.
Summer Reading Program panel discussi;;n, "Between
Super Powers,' moderaltJ by Colonel B. M. Gilliam.
Discussion of two books. "Pi'og:K>s, Coexistence, and
Intellectual Freedom," by .\nJiei Sakharov and "On
Dealing with the Communisl Woild " by George F.
Kennan. Lejeune Hall.
Varsity and rat basketball, \'.Ml ut Richmond.
Varsity swimming, Stale Inlcfcollegiale Meet, William
and .Mary College.