A Call for Justice

, Prescott N. Dunbar, Leave a comment


Dear Rob,



A
MANIFESTO OF JUSTICE FOR LOUISE CLAIBORNE-ARMSTRONG


Benefactress of
THE
UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH
Sewanee, Tennessee



The flower of her
benefaction has withered in the desiccation of our gratitude.


In spite of the hurt,
greetings to you on this day of the Opening Convocation of Easter Semester in
this month of the 148th anniversary of the Chartering of The University of the
South by the State of Tennessee. Sadly, it was at the Opening Convocation of
Easter Semester in 1997 when the Louise Claiborne-Armstrong gift to The
University of the South first went missing from its designated and long standing
role in the pageantry at the beginning each calendar year. Nine tenths of a
decade is a long time for a crisis such as ours to remain unresolved, especially
when the error was unwarranted and only brings suspicion and scorn upon The
University of the South.

I regret to inform you of the
progress made in the Repair the Mace project. None has been made at all.
Consequently, alumni dismay has grown into an infectious disgust with the way
things are handled (mishandled!) on the Mountain. The mistreatment there in
Sewanee of Louise Claiborne-Armstrong’s beautiful ceremonial gift must cease
with all immediate urgency.


In a story that began on
the front page of the first section of the New York Times, we see that
The University of the South’s famed processional Mace appeared in the middle of
page A28 on November 30, 2005, and also in very bright, crisp color on the
Internet, where it is sure to remain visible for a very long time, indeed. A
close inspection of the photograph confirms that the Mace STILL REMAINS in three
pieces! The orb is disconnected and the shaft is askew. Remarkably though, the
glowing Confederate flag of the Army of Tennessee remains in the same pristine
condition as was displayed in The University of the South’s historic 1984 book
by William Strode:

As an aside, I am fondly
reminded today of our Andrew Nelson Lytle, alumnus of the Sewanee Military
Academy, as I see his name and A Christian University and the Word from
that same 1984 book here referenced in a front page article about The University
of the South in the January 2006 Civil War Courier. Anyone familiar
with the highly creative Southern literary tradition there in Sewanee and its
roots in the Vanderbilt Agrarians can not help but see a vivid analogy develop
before their astonished eyes.


Lytle and the Agrarians
wrote in their I’ll Take My Stand manifesto that the graceful Southern
tradition was losing to the invasion of “progress” and Southerners’ chasing the
lifestyle of abstraction offered by Northern materialism. It seems the Mace saga
now proves to us all that the historic Southern appreciation and grace there in
Sewanee has been lost to similar notions of progress, but this time the culprits
are the abstraction of a “respectable” ranking in a national magazine, new
communications and brand marketing, and preferential multicultural diversity.
The victim is the same, only the enemy has changed its name, but not its intent.
Perhaps Lytle was really a prophet, for who knew in 1930 that his militare
essay would so perfectly explain our own distasteful predicament today (he
knew, for this truth is universal and enduring): “We have been
slobbered upon by those who have chewed the mad root’s poison, a poison which
penetrates to the spirit and rots the soul.”


From there in Sewanee
this past summer was returned the money sent in by the Repair the Mace donors
with no mention in the letter of the Mace’s remaining still “broken,” only that
the funds were not needed. By inference, the repairs were assumed by us to have
been completed with monies already there in Sewanee, and thus our checks were
just too late in arriving to be of any help. As a fellow alumnus, you can
imagine our shock when we turned to page A28 while reading the New York
Times article. Have you seen it yet?



This Manifesto continues at www.justicemanifesto.net.

Rob, please be sure to review
the Alumni Call for a current professional appraisal of the Mace and please
have the detailed results mailed to me. If possible, it would be greatly
appreciated if this request will not take several months to fulfill.  Last
February, I requested a current photograph of the Mace. Thanks to you
alone, I did finally receive the photo, but only after a
multiplication of frustrated requests and far too many months of
anxious waiting.

Also, please give careful consideration to my
comments and budget request in the section which includes:

While I know that such a contribution now to the Sewanee Call
capital campaign would help you mightily toward your financial goal, I have
grave concerns about giving any more money to The University of the South.
Scholarship money just frees up other money in the budget to spend on
consultants who do great damage to my alma mater.

Sincerely,

Prescott N. Dunbar