n Student Newspaper of Saint Augustine’s College Raleigh, N. C. December 1999 Index Features 2 Editorial 4 Sports 6 Volume 8 Number 2 Enrollment determines second commencement By Annette Hinkson Staff Writer The seniors as well as underclassmen need to discuss what they want do about the issue of a second commencement. The students that may finish in December need to decide whether they want to experience the feeling of Boyer 011 versus the Convention Center. According to an administrative official, the problem with having a December commencement has nothing to do with the way the administration feels,instead it depends on the amount of students enrolled at St. Aug’s. According to Academic Affairs out of the graduating class of May 1999 there were 33 adult learners from the Gateway Program, ofthe 242 total graduates. “This is the first time since we have had this program, we were able to have graduates,” said Dr. Maurice Taylor, College Provost. At a senior class meeting last year, seniors did not want an on-campus ceremony. There isn’t a big enough area on campus to hold as many family and guests as the civic center holds. Taylor’s question is where should we hold graduation in general not just in December. The question that everyone at the meeting was concerned with was where would graduation be held if it was moved on campus? These seniors were not trying to hear what Taylor had to say about an on- campus ceremony. See Enrollment page 8 Cymbal set stolen from college chapel By Traci Ethridge Editor-in-Chief Due to the recent break-in, the College Chapel can no longer remain open for the students 24 hours a day. During the Fall Break vacation, someone broke into the Chapel and stole a set of cymbals worth approximately $519. Father Logan, the College Chaplin, was the first to discover the theft. “Around Oct. 19'*', I realized that the cymbal set was stolen right from the stand,” said Logan. “There is really a lack of respect for this sacred place.” Logan had planned to make a lot of changes with the Chapel, and one important one was to leave it open at all times so that students could feel free to pray and meditate whenever they felt the need. According to Logan, many students have expressed a genuine %'7'^JV"tS Photo by Bnon Anim-Addo The cymbals that were stolen were located in the stands of the church with the other Instruments. interest in coming to pray at the Chapel, and leaving it open was a way to meet the spiritual needs of the students. There have been attempts to find out who the thief was, such as an email which was sent to the faculty and staff. It states that many of the musicians on campus have been generous enough to allow their cymbals to be used and now they have stolen. The lack of respect on behalf of the students goes beyond just the theft in the chapel. Logan says that on different accounts, he has caught students behaving ungodly-like in the chapel. This is just further reason for the chapel to be locked. “Students used to complain about the chapel being locked,” said Logan. “So I tried to arrange it where it could remain open , but then these sorts of things happen.” Logan has decided not to alert the campus police in hopes that the perpetrator would bring the cymbals back to the Chapel. He hopes that the person would realize the wrong they have done and try to right it. Logan would like to beleive that he has reached the students and showed them the way of God since he has become Chaplin. Logan is more concerned with the welfare of a troubled student over the amount of the cybal set. “Something like this directly affects the students spiritually,” said Logan. “It’s not the money, but the fact of stealing from God’s House.” Logan will continue to minister to all the students at St. Aug.’s as much as possible, but he feels that more students should be concerned with these types of actions because it raises the question of where our campus community is headed. “I wanted it to become a campus ministry, but in order for this to happen all students must take the Lord seriously.” said New Dean, Security to provide students new opportunity Photo by Brion Anim-Ado Chief Twitty is willing to work with students to get them job opportunities. By Harold Freeman Staff Writer Campus Security needs new recruits and is working with Student Affairs to create a program that will use students as liaisons for their department and possibly others, said Byron Bullock, dean of Student Affairs. Despite having an active criminal justice department, which produces quality prospects in this field, Charles Twitty, chief of Campus Police says there is a lack of interest in employment with his department. Unlike many other institutions, St. Aug’s does not have a joint partnership between the two departments, so there is no program in place to maintain security personnel or provide students the opportunity for experience. But Bullock says this is going to change. “This is very important to me,” he said. “We need to get students actively involved.” Bullock’s main focus is to keep the students happy. Twitty’s responsibility is to keep students safe, and he says with Bullock’s cooperation, the department looks to be headed in the right direction. “Students know better than we do about what’s going on (here) on the yard,” Twitty said. “We depend totally on the people we serve.” He said that idea of creating a cadet force to handle the patrol aspect of campus policing would create a channel of communication between Campus Security and the students it serves. He also said that students don’t have a complete understanding of what he and his officers do. “People have to understand, the job is 95 percent security and 5 percent policing,” he said. “If someone wants to work with our department in order to arrest people and write countless speeding tickets, then this is not the agency for them.” Twitty said the cadet force will allow students the opportunity to view the yard as he does, creating respect for the job he and his officers do to keep everyone safe. He also said that good students make his job easier, and he appreciates that. “The students here are good, they pretty much police themselves,” he said. Stan Elliott, the criminal justice instructor in charge of internships, says the responsibility of working with Campus Security would be good for the students and that he would support such a program for internship credit. “It would be good for students to experience it first-hand and find out for themselves,” Elliott said. He added that he would be more than happy to support the program. For now, Dean Bullock plans to conduct an internal review of Campus Security in order to assess X