The
Gardner-Webb Uniuersity
flbr
Fr/cfay, February 11,2005
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Volume 8 No. 9
The results are in
Survey reveals students’ feelings on food, alcohol and music downloads
Daniel Abrahao
Pitot staff
Gardner-Webb
University’s Department of
Residence Life just received
the results of a quality of life
survey performed last fall.
The survey was given to
students in December and was
intended to provide Residence
Life with the university’s
demographics, as well as stu
dents’ opinions on many
aspects of campus living, such
as dining services, residence
hall staff and services, safety,
security and students’ alcohol
consumption.
According to Rob
Foreman, director of resi
dence life, the survey gives a
snapshot of the school. “It is
basically a satisfaction sur
vey,” Foreman said.
The survey, which also is
performed at a number of
other institutions in the U.S.,
was designed by Educational
Benchmarking Inc. Eighty-
one of the 90 questions are
general, while the others are
specific to GWU.
The quality of life survey
was distributed to 1,000 stu
dents and 660 were returned.
Sixty-five percent of
those who took the survey
said they were female, while
35 percent said they were
male. Of those polled, 36 per
cent were freshmen, 21 per
cent were sophomores, 21
percent were juniors, 21 per
cent were seniors and one
percent were graduate stu
dents. . .
Foreman said that this
was a pretty good representa
tion of the school population.
According to the results
70 percent of those surveyed
checked that they do not con
sume alcohol. Eight percent
checked that they consume
eight or more drinks per
event involving with alcohol
“To the best of my knowl
edge, it seems to be an accu
rate figure,” said Austin
Campbell, a sophomore reli
gious studies major from
Anderson, S.C.
“I think that more than 30
percent of the people here at
Gardner-Webb drink, said
Stacy Linduska, a sophomore
communications major from
Woodburry, Minn.
The results also indicated
that 59 percent of those sur
veyed would be willing to
pay a small monthly fee for a
100 percent legal, all-you-
can-download media service,
including movies and music.
“1 would pay it if it is not
too high,” said Mario Adams, a
freshman from Covington, Ga.
Others said they would
not pay the fee.
“I would not be willing to
pay it, beeause I don’t down
load music,” said Shawn
Pendergrass, senior commu
nications and Spanish major
from Morganton.
According to Foreman,
the RA’s satisfaction scores
were high. “I’m pleased with
the satisfaction of the RA
staff,” said Foreman.
“For as much responsibil
ities as they have, they arc
doing a good job,” said Brian
Lewis, a junior from Raleigh.
Dining Services received
the lowest score of all cate
gories.
When asked how satisfied
they were with the quality of
the food in the dining hall, 10
percent of those surveyed
checked that they were very
satisfied, 12 percent were
moderately satisfied, 20 per
cent slightly satisfied. Fifteen
percent were slightly dissatis
fied, 10 percent moderately
See results page 3
By the numbers
70 percent said
they do not
consume alcohol
8 percent said
that they consume
eight or more
drinks per event
59 percent of
students would be
willing to pay a
fee for legal
music downloads.
'10 percent said
they are very
satisfied with Caf
food
18 percent of
students are very
dissatisfied with
Caffood
Mix up in the system
photo illustration by Joel Fluty
Many GWU students, faculty and staff experienced problems logging Into the new computer system. According to
Danny Davis almost all the kinks of the network are fixed.
Students, faculty learning new computer system
iiTirnli- plnsert for an entire r1a\; r^rpentrhnro. said that he ini
Shauna Porter
Pitot staff
Recently Gardner-Webb
University has been experi
encing some technical prob
lems due to a worm virus, said
Danny Davis, Gardner-Webb
University’s assistant vice
president of business and
director of Information
Services.
About two weeks ago,
GWU’s e-mail server was not
working for students and fac
ulty. According to Annette
Spurling, a secretary in the
social science and communi
cation studies departments,
the e-mail was down about
every other day. Spurling,
who communicates with
departments across GWU,
said that for about a week the
university’s e-mail was unreli
able and complicated.
“You’re prone to miss peo
ple when you call them; e-
mail is so much simpler,”
Spurling said. “It’s hard to get
along without it.”
Janet Land, associate pro
fessor of Engli,sh, who also
experienced problems with
the system, said that the e-
mail problems weren’t that
big of a deal; it simply seemed
like a big issue because GWU
faculty has become so accus
tomed to depending on e-mail.
However, problems with
the server affected the
Campus Shop.
Senior Ashley Dye, com
munications major from
Gastonia, works in the store.
Dye said that in late January
the campus bookstore was
closed for an entire day
because of Internet and net
work problems. The book
store also has experienced dif
ficulty running credit cards
because of Internet connectiv
ity problems.
Wayne Merritt, manager of
the Campus Shop, said that
the registers depend on the
campus network and were
temporarily out when the net
work server was being
repaired.
According to Davis, the
problems stemmed from a
worm virus flooding traffic
over the network. Davis’ team
worked with the university’s
Microsoft provider to fix the
viras problem in a matter of
days.
Andrew Wright, senior
English major from
Greensboro, said that he ini
tially had problems with My
Webb CT—GWU's online
course-offering software.
Wright said that for a while he
wasn't able to get assignments
posted over MY Webb CT for
his professional writing class.
Land, who teaches the
class, said that students origi
nally had problems accessing
infonnation over MY Webb
CT because they were unfa
miliar with the layout of the
new software. She said the
kinks are now ironed out and
she’s still using My Webb CT
to post assignments.
Many smdents said they do
not use GWU e-mail often
because they have a hard time
getting to it. According to
See computer page 3
Business
school
ranks sixth
Christie Barlow
Pitot staff
The Charlotte Business Journal’s “Book
of Lists” recently ranked Gardner-Webb
University School of Business sixth on a list
of 25 MBA programs in North and South
Carolina.
This year saw GWU jump from the ninth
spot to the sixth spot.
The jump places GWU ahead of well-
known programs like Campbell, NC State,
Ciemson and the Citadel. The rankings are
based on the enrollment in the graduate pro
gram, as well as the quality of the degree
received.
According to Anthony Negbenebor, dean
of the business school, the ranking has
already drawn positive attention to the GWU
graduate program.
“We’ve gotten calls,” Negbenebor said.
“It’s giving us publicity.”
Many business students are proud to
attend a university with a high ranking.
“Part of the reason I came to Gardner-
Webb is because I was impressed with the
strength of the business department,” said
Kelly Linsley, a freshmen from Easley, S.C.
“It’s important to have a degree from a well-
respected program, especially when I’m
going to have to find a job.”
Negbenebor also is very proud of this
achievement and credits his students and
faculty for the ranking.
“Some of our [graduate] students come
from schools such as Penn State or Duke,”
Negbenebor said. “We have some of the best
students you can find. We in this school need
to believe we are better and just as good as
others and this (the ranking) is the evidence.”
“Our goal is to be the best, both in qual
ity and graduates,” Negbenebor said. “We
want to be the best small business school in
the region. We feel that we have the people
to do it.”
According to Negbenebor, GWU is one
of the few schools that emphasize business
ethics.
Many graduates are achieving success
with their degrees. “Some of our grads are in
BMW as managers,” said Negbenebor.
“Some in the banks as executives, and we
have several CEO’s.”
Current graduate students agree that the
ranking is important.
“Employers are usually concerned with
credibility and a high ranking,” said Rachael
Riopel, a graduate student in the business
program from Rhinelander, Wis. “It estab
lishes a good ranking, which is reflective of
my accomplishments.”
On the Inside -
Students’ Pell
Grants to increase
in some states,
decrease in
others...
page 3
Pitot Staff argues
over what they
believe would be
God’s political
party...
page 4
GWU students
decide what’s
more important:
Super Bow! or
Valentine’s Day...
page 6
it’s a family affair.
GWU Ladies
basketball team
coached by father
and daughter...
page 8
News
.pages 2-3
Op/Ed
page 4
Features.
page 5
A&E
page 6
Sports....
.pages 7-8