Page 2 November 3,1995 ^
Editorials
The Death Of A Great Idea
Jon Ostendorff
Editor
The Fellowship Work Program
is a new program that has recently been
approved for the summer and fall
semesters.
This program is open to
sophomore or non-traditional students
with a GPA of 2.0 or above. The
students in this program will work for
campus housing other than the
dormitories.
This summer students will
work forty hour weeks and receive a
salary along with housing . In the fall
semester the hours will be reduced to
ten, and no salary will be given.
This promotion was written for
the march 1995 issue of the Clarion. Its
description of the Fellowship Work
Program is similar to the fliers that were
distributed around campus. Sounds like a
good idea doesn’t it? Well it was, until
recently. As of October the Work
Program has been officially disbanded.
When Becky Sanchez (former
work study director) and I designed this
program last year, only five job positions
were available. Also, due to a lack of
appropriate housing, the program was
open only to males. However, we had
dreams of it expanding to encompass
many more jobs open to both male and
female students.
The history of the program is
very short due to the fact that it was only
operational for a mere six months. The
first building the work program students
were given to live in was Duplex unit
four. This worked out very well for the
five students that lived there. The unit was
close to their jobs and had plenty of living
space. During the summer the students
worked full time as agreed to in their
contracts. Everything seemed fine. The
living arrangements were comfortable and
the students were doing their jobs.
Then the first problem arose. It
appears that there must have been some
miscommunication somewhere in the
heirarchy of the Brevard College
administrative staff Somehow both the
work program students and the Women’s
Basketball Team were scheduled to live in
Duplex four during the fall semester.
Instead of placing the team in the
available space in the dormitories, the
work program was forced to move.
However, the move worked out to their
advantage. Three of the students were
given a two bedroom house on Robinson
Avenue ( which is directly behind the
college) and one was allowed to live in
Ross Hall. The house was much better
than the Duplex, and other than being a
little inconvenienced by moving, the
students were happy. During the semester
the work hours dropped down to ten a
week. The house worked out perfectly; it
was not as noisy as the dorms, and all felt
they were getting more studying done.
Then the second problem arose.
Its origms are similar to the first problem.
It seemed to me that again there was some
miscommunication in the vast Brevard
College administrative network. However,
this time the problem was much more
serious. Thomas Bertrand, the president
of the college, hired a new professor to
teach an environmental science course
scheduled to be offered, in the spring of
‘96. In this new professor’s contact he was
given a campus owned house to live in for
a year or until he found a suitable place in
town. The street address of the house is
114 Robinson Avenue, the same house the
Work Program students were living in.
Logically, the students were asked to
leave rather than find the professor
another place to live.
This oversight was so huge that
the president’s office put in a work order
for the housekeeping staff to prepare
Robinson Avenue while the students were
livmg there. No one in the president’s
office seemed to know or remembered
that the work program students were
living in the house. When the work order
reached Campus Life, it was finally
realized that the house was occupied. As
this was happening the new professor,
along with his wife and some of their
possessions, arrived in Brevard expecting
to move into the house. Because the
students could not be moved quickly, the
new professor was allowed to stay in the
guest house temporarily.
Realizing his mistake President
Bertrand offered the work program
students an opportunity to live in the
Dormitories (with roommates) and
continue working to pay for the housing
costs. As a compensation for being
moved out of their house. President
Bertrand also offered the students a free
meal ticket. To him this seemed like a
more than reasonable offer. In his opinion
, with the added meal ticket, the students
were getting more than they originally
bargained for. However, President
Bertrand has not lived in the dormitories
and does not depended solely on the
cafeteria for his meals. If he had
experienced these things, then maybe he
would have realized that this was not an
acceptable offer. The work program
students enjoyed the freedom and privacy
of living off campus. Also they enjoyed
their own cooking much more than eating
in the cafeteria. Thus, the first offer was
declined.
After some negotiation a
reasonable agreement was reached. The
students were allowed to live at the
Robinson Aveune house until after fall
break, and their contracts were bought out
releasing them from all job
responsibilities. If thought of in a
monetary sense, the first offer was the
,better one. The students would save
approximatly $2000 by agreeing to work
and live in the dormitories. However, once
the freedom of living off campus has been
tasted, nothing can substitute for or
compare with it.
With this oversight the College
has inconvenienced three outstanding
students that have never been in trouble
and have above average grades. More
important than this, I believe, is the fact
that the administration has shown that they
cannot be trusted to fulfill promises they
have made with students. President
Bertrand’s justification for breaking this
promise is that the new professor is
necessary for the betterment of Brevard
College. Essentially the new professor out
. weighs a program created to improve the
living standards of responsible students.
Maybe this is true. I do not know what is
involved in ruiming a College as I have
never had the opportunity to do so.
However, I do know that in any kind of
business or cooperation, communication is
essential. Without it large oversights will
become a big problem.
It is a shame the Fellowship
Work Program has died. I feel that it could
have benefited many more students. The
things I learned while working at the
Maintenance Deparment could not have
been learned in the class room. I have
become acquainted with a different aspect
of Brevard College, and I have discovered
that some of the best teachers do not work
in the class room. This is a wealth of
knowledge that I am sure I will draw froni
many times in the future. 1 feel it is
unfortunate that others will not have the
chance to experience this.
Rodent Problem Plagues
Jones Dormitory
i
Jennifer Berry
Staff Writer
If you haven’t heard the news
already, we residents of Jones Dorm are
facing a rodent problem this year. Since
the furst week of classes, screams have
been heard up and down the hallways
from girls receiving a nightly visit from
little field mice and often even rats.
It is a known fact that these
rodents ciry diseases. The proper
authorities have been notified about the
problem, but not much has been done to
clean up Jones arid rid us of these often
un-welcome guesjs. I, personally, have
no problem with the mice. If you look at
it, they were heire long before Jones
Dorm was ever [)uilt and only need a
pleasant relocation.
The rats, ion the other hand, I do
have a problem’ with. Mice can be
tolerated; rats cannot be. Not only do rats
carry diseases, but they are also known to
bite people far more often than mice. If
people are not expected to live with rats
in their homes, then we shouldn’t be
expected to live with them either. In the
Jones basement and trash rooms, there
have been numerous chings of a large
Dwarf Rat. This rat is like the ones in die
inner-cities, and it is highly unhealthy for
them to roam the dorm.
The most that has been done to
control that rodent problem in Jones is the
dispensing of rodent poison which brings
on a whole new argument. Why should
w{e have to kill these little creatures? Not
Wanting or tolerating them iu our living
environment is far different from killing
them. There are plenty of live traps that
c^ be purchased, so that mass quantities
of the animals can be caught an
relocated. With poison and mouse traps,
ajl we are going to experience are dea
ahimals that pose event more of a heal
h^ard, for they have to be moved, an
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