Yearbook’s Dancing Comments Step on Toes

Howard Esterline Jr. is an unlikely campus rebel.

He’s the soft-spoken son of a Church of the Nazarene minister. His fondest desire is to become a Nazarene minister himself and spread the evangelical Gospel.

He graduated in June from Point Loma Nazarene College, with a degree in religion, emphasizing pastoral ministry. He believes in the church’s right to set a strict code of conduct for students, including a ban on dancing.

The dancing ban is a perennially hot topic at the liberal arts college known for its business, premedical and teacher education programs, and its powerhouse surfing team. Only 40% of the students are Nazarenes.

As editor of the 1989 yearbook, the Mariner, Esterline decided to meet the controversy head-on. Sprinkled throughout the 287-page book are chiding references to the dancing ban, including the downer it inflicts on homecoming.

But the next-to-last page contains a mini-editorial, saying that people who get worked up about dancing are missing the point: There are plenty of other ways to celebrate life without “moving your body.”

Esterline, 22, says he was unprepared for the scorching reaction last week when the 1,400 yearbooks began being distributed.

The student council immediately voted to recommend that the yearbooks be recalled. The administration concurred and began corraling the 500 books already in student hands.

The council cited many student complaints, unauthorized use of the college logo and potential adverse publicity. The administration agreed to pay $38,000 to publish a second, dancing-free edition.

“It was our perception that the students themselves rejected the book,” said college President Jim Bond. “The format was viewed as mounting a personal crusade, and our general consensus was that a yearbook is not the place for a crusade.”

Student body President Jim Manker said Esterline shouldn’t have waited until Page 286 for his editorial. However unintentionally, the yearbook mocks an important Nazarene belief, he said.

“The Bible talks about praising the Lord with your dancing,” said Manker, 22, a communications major. “I don’t think that’s what’s going on at Diego’s or Moose McGillycuddy’s or the places in Mexico where students go to dance and drink alcohol.”

This is not the first Mariner to provoke a campus ruckus. Two years ago the yearbook contained pictures of students baring portions of their buttocks.

Esterline is home in Arizona wondering where he went wrong.

“I’ve always tried to be a model student, to live up to Nazarene standards,” he said. “Now I’m seen as bashing the college and bashing the Nazarenes, and that hurts.”

Trying On Others’ Shoes

Free for the asking.

* San Diego City Councilman Bob Filner likes to experience how the other half lives.

Not long ago he spent a day in a wheelchair. On Monday he wore a blindfold to a council meeting as part of Disability Awareness Week.

A joke at City Hall says Filner soon may try acting cooperative and courteous. Just to see how it feels.

* Prosecutorial humor.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Gay Hugo’s office door is plastered with hurricane headlines. As in, “Hugo’s Trail of Destruction Continues” and “Thousands Flee Hugo Terror.”

Nancy Hoover Hunter might agree. Hugo (the attorney, not the storm) is her lead prosecutor.

Spoiled Sport?

When he was a major leaguer, Steve Garvey had a knack for reading pitches. Before one left the pitcher’s hand, he knew if it was straight down the middle or aimed at his head.

Retirement, or peevishness, may have dulled his instinct.

The Times last week sought to buy time on six San Diego radio stations to promote a story in its Sunday magazine, “Mr. Clean’s Mid-Life Crisis. The Intimate Story of How Steve Garvey’s Life Spun Out of Control.”

One station refused: XTRA, where Garvey has a morning talk show. After hearing the spot, the Garv prevailed on management not to cooperate. Too negative, he said.

Now the magazine story is out and being much discussed. The journalistic consensus: If the story veered at all, it was pro-Steve.