Dear new subscriber, 9/30/96 It has come to our attention that you may be interested in an underground newsletter about Pensacola Christian College. We at The Student Voice want to thank you for taking time to read this letter. The issues we address on a continual basis can be very controversial and hotly debated, and the questions we try to address are equally as serious. The Student Voice is about honesty. It is about openness. It is about treating you like the adult that you are. We believe that whatever your opinions may be regarding the philosophy at PCC it is a legitimate position, even if they are in disagreement with ours. Unfortunately, according to the administration your view is either unimportant or flat-out wrong. Why else would there be sanctions for expressing a disagreement with a policy of the school? We try to provide a forum where this discussion can be conducted without fear of reprisal. Just to give you a little background on The Student Voice, it began as a web site to which opinions and comments were posted on a regular basis, but we quickly realized that not everyone who has e-mail access at PCC also has internet access. Therefore, we decided in the middle of September to transform our method of communication from a web page to an e-mail newsletter. The number of "subscribers" grows daily and it is our goal to have over 200 readers by Thanksgiving, and at the rate we are growing we should easily reach that number. The writers of The Student Voice are not students of PCC, but rather we make up part of the alumni family. In the vernacular of today's hip culture, we've been there, done that. Many people ask us why we do not "get some backbone" and state who we are. We remain anonymous not because we are afraid of identifying ourselves, but because we see this as nothing more than a distraction of the real issues. Whether you know who we are or not does not change a thing we are talking about. The Student Voice is currently a weekly publication in which we discuss a specific topic related to the school and include some of the comments and responses we recieve from our readers. We also include various other items of intellectual interest that we feel you may find interesting. It is pretty much a free-spirited editorial page. Please don't be afraid to respond in any way you see fit. We have learned from a reliable source at PCC that e-mail is NOT monitored, and we keep all correspondence STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL unless you specifically request your name or e-mail address to be posted. The following discussion is what we originally had posted on our web page, and it should give you a basic idea of where we are coming from. << BASIC POSITION OF THE STUDENT VOICE 1. Since PCC is a human organization, it is not perfect. 2. Since it is not perfect, it is subject to improvement. 3. This improvement, in our opinion, centers around the philosophy of authority and regulations that have produced both an extreme paternalistic environment and a level of intellectual development that is embarassing to call it "Christian." 4. Authority comes from God only. 5. Since all authority comes from God, if the authority to create a rule, regulation or policy cannot be traced back to God, IT IS INVALID AND ILLEGITIMATE. 6. If a rule, regulation or policy is invalid or illegitimate, this does not mean it can be disregarded if the student has agreed to abide by it. 7. This issue is subject to many different views and opinions, and for the administration to stifle a DISCUSSION of it simply because there is disagreement is unhealthy and arrogant. 8. It is UNHEALTHY because it prohibits the mind from growing (which seems to be contrary to the purpose of a college). 9. It is ARROGANT because the administration is essentially saying that their position is the only one that is not only right, but that is worthy of acknowledgment - yours is nothing. 10. A discussion of these kinds of issues can bring about an understanding that students do not need to be treated like small children to develop normally or to grow in Christ. 11. We have been given intellects, not so that we can give up our God-given responsibility to exercise judgment and discernment to a group of administrators, many of whom have never even had children, but to exercise our free will to glorify God. Our position is not a result of "bitterness" or "hatred" as many people immediately conclude, but rather this is simply an attempt to create an open dialogue about issues that face the students of PCC. As we have explained numerous times, DISAGREEMENT DOES NOT EQUAL BITTERNESS. So please, while we are perfectly willing to discuss our motives, our motives are essentially irrelevant. Regardless of our motives, the issues remain the same; they do not change simply because a couple of individuals have or do not have a particular motive. "When you have no basis for an argument, abuse the plaintiff." - Cicero Also, please refrain from using the well-worn, but irrelevant argument that because we decided to attend PCC, the issue is somehow settled. Again, just because someone decides to go to PCC does not mean the administration has carte blanch to do whatever they want. It may mean we must follow the regulations, but it doesn't automatically render them valid. For some reason, many people at PCC seem incapable of comprehending this concept. Let us illustrate it this way: We live in a particular state, and by agreeing to live in that state we also agree to abide by its rules. This does not, however, mean that all of the rules are valid or even wise (if valid). But we still must obey them. No one would take the opinion that simply becuase we live in a state and must abide by its rules we are therefore precluded from disagreeing or discussing our disagreement. Quite the contrary. Our First Amendment is first precisely because it was understood that this freedom (and right) to discuss things freely was as important as the right to live. Of course, there are differences between a private college and a state, but the principles do not change. That is the important point to understand. The college itself, in fact, analogizes itself to a community. Consider this excerpt from the 95/96 THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE ARRIVAL: "Just as every other community must have policies for the citizens to follow, so PCC has policies for the overall well being of the PCC campus." (p. 24) This is a valid, correct statement, but every other community allows its citizens to be a part of the policy-making process. Community organizations also understand and for the most part put into practice the philosophy that its citizens can take care of themselves and don't need the community to run their lives. Community organizations also realize that their authority is limited to what has been delegated to them, whether it be the people directly or the people indirectly through another elected body. So, while it is true that PCC needs policies to govern their "community" just as any other community would, it is also equally true that just like any other community, the leaders must understand the limits of their authority and be responsible and understanding when it is exercised. We invite your comments, whether pro or con. These comments will be distributed to the mailing list. Your name WILL NEVER be included unless you specifically request that it be. If you do not want your comments distributed publicly, please indicate this and we will honor your request and respond privately. If you would like to respond specifically to something written by us or by someone else, please indicate this and we will include it w/ your response so as to make it as fair as possible. We are also open to any QUESTIONS, suggestions or criticisms. We are also open to discuss ANY OTHER TOPICS you may want to discuss, but we prefer to keep it focused on PCC. "[T]he proper response to opinions one finds offensive is counterspeech, not censorship." - Richard Duncan >> We thank you for your interest, and we hope you find the newsletter enlightening. THE STUDENT VOICE