the University Concourse Volume V, Issue 1 September 22, 1999 Table of Contents

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New face, same spirit

Just in case anyone was tempted to think that after four years of energetic debates, probing discussions and unstinting efforts to press this University to still greater heights of excellence, the Concourse might be getting old and weary, we've decided to ring in our fifth year of publication with a brand new look.

The creative genius of our tireless Design Editor, Justine (Franzonello, '93) Schmiesing, has come up with a design that captures at one and the same time our seriousness about truth and our aim of keeping our conversations fresh, lively and--where possible--full of good-cheer.

With this edition we also launch a new regular feature (likewise the fruit of Justine's genius) called the Bulletin Board, which can be seen on p. 12 of this issue. There our readers will find such things as Concourse and Student Forum announcements, suggestions for new topics, and brief reader comments.

Meanwhile, our commitment to our original principles is as staunch and spirited and poised-for-action as ever. We declare anew that an open forum for the raising of concerns and the airing of disagreements and the debating of ideas at FUS, however much discomfort it may incidentally generate, is beyond legitimate; it is beyond worth-having; it is beyond beneficial; it is quite plainly and simply indispensable. It is a necessary help in preserving and promoting every other great good at Franciscan University. Further, we renounce and trample merrily upon any suggestion--let it come from everso high-up or everso low-down on the University's hierarchy of membership--that to engage in public criticism of public things is to offend the laws of charity. We insist upon the very opposite! To neglect to cry out when we see a neevil worming its way into the fabric of a costly garment for fear of offending delicate ears, is to prove but sorry stewards of our charge. In other words-- Love does what it takes, shrieks or no shrieks.

We would also like to use this occasion to remind our readers that the Concourse is an excellent place for students and alumni to become practiced in the almost-extinct and highly-to-be-praised art of courteous and intelligent conversation. (I say students and alumni not to be too flagrant in suggesting that some of our faculty and staff could be deficient in this area.) FUS is very good at devotion and enthusiasm; we preach admirably well; we crackle with orthodoxy. But--let's be honest--we are somewhat wanting in subtlety and grace when it comes to defending and promulgating the truth we love so sincerely and religiously. Deficient, perhaps, too, in listening to and receiving the truth others have to offer us.

There is no better way to remedy these defects than by practicing discourse here, in the pages of the University Concourse, where we are among friends who share our devotion and our good intentions, if not our opinions.

Most importantly, to enter into serious debate about important things is to help one another realize more of Truth; and to realize more of Truth, as Ben Brown shows so persuasively in his article on p.7, is to realize more of God, to grow closer to Him, and to become more like Him.

It is for this that the Concourse exists.

We will be expanding on these things on Thursday, September 23rd at 7:30pm in the Fireside Lounge.. I hope many of you will be able to come! I don't get to campus often and I would like to see your faces.

Kathleen van Schaijik