Protest Cafe. Food
“We shall overcome,”
On Friday, January 15, the
cafeteria was the scene of an
almost total boycott on the cafe
teria food. Students proceeded
through the food line, heaped
their plates and then returned
them to the garbage crew, for
the large part untouched. As the
movement gathered steam the
students sat down at the tables
and, after some hesitating, be
gan to chant “We shall
overcome,” “We want meal tic
kets, ” “Hardees, how we love
you, how we love you, our dear .
old Hardees,” and other pleas-
natries. After a few speeches i
were made and two German She
pherd puppies were refused ser
vice the group disbanded to re
turn to classes--or to the snack
bar. The protest had definitely
made an impact, judging by the
shocked expressions on a few
faces.
“Fill it op; dnmpit out” a typical scene in Wesleyan’s cafteria
food protest movement.
.Shortly after this Incident
the Senate Grievance Committee
met with Mrs. Richardts Vander-
slice, Suervisor Auxiliary Enter
prises, to try to find a groud
of common agreement and work
toward a solution of the food
problem.
General criticism from the stu
dents was expressed by the fol
lowing points; (1) the food is
generally of poor quality, (2)
It is served in an unattractive
manner, (3) The students are
dissatisfied with the portions
served, (4) Because of the poor
attitude of some of the cafe
teria help the line often moves
very slowly, (5) There is no
variety in the foods, (6) The
students who do not eat regularly
feel that they are in reality
paying for the food of others
These points were further ela
borated and discussed by Mrs.
Vanderslice and the committee
at length. The following sugges
tions were these;
The
VOL. 5—NO. 8
Decree
Wesleyan Players To Present
One-Act Play In Spring
The N. C. Wesleyan Players
are approaching the spring
season from a slightly differ
ent angle this year. Dr. David
Batchelor recently revealed
plans to deviate from the us
ual procedure of producing one
longer spring play by bringing
out three one-act comedies in
stead. The three plays to be
presented are; “Spreading the
News” by Lady Gregory, “ Bed
time story” by Sean O’Casey,
and “Passion, Poison, and Pe
trifaction” or “The Fatal Gazo
gene” by George Bernard
Shaw. There are various rea
son for doing this.
In the first place, this will
broaden the experience of thfe
Players, not just from an act
ing point of view, but also from
a technical stand point as well.
Each participant will receive
valuable experience from this
change with less time being re
quired, This, after all, is one
of the primary objectives of this
organization.
In the second place, this will
also nrovid*^ a charige for the
audience. All of us beiiefit greatly
from the productions turned
out by the players, and these
three plays should add greatly
to our experience.
A third reason for such a move
is to enable more of the students
to participate in a play this
semester. Naturally three plays
require more actors and tech
nicians than one longer play. By
jj€(ing this more students will be
able to gain valuable experience.
It is even conceivable that an
actor in one play could switch
to some other job in another
play, thereby widening the scope
of his theatrical skills. In ad
dition to this the length of the
plays will enable the players to
present a productio n with far
more theatrical polish then be
fore—thotigh they have never
been lacking in this department.
Finally, the last play “Pas
sion, poison and Petrifaction”
by Shaw, will be entered in com
petition. Dr. Batchelor has plans
to enter the play in the dis
trict competition of the Carolina
Dramatic Association ( of which
the Wesleyan Players are a mem
ber) , Play Festival at Louis-
burg (Allege in March. From
there he hopes to go to the
state competition in Chapel Hill
before bringing it back to Wes
leyan. The play will be entered
in the “play production” div
ision of the Festival, which Is
divided into play writing
and play production.
Dr. Batchelor also points out
the fact that the Wesleyan play
ers are not an elite group who
move about in their own eso
teric realm. Parts for the plays
are open to all, and skill and
previous knowledge are not by
any means mandatory. Much tal
ent lies dormant here on cam
pus and the only way to strike
tne spark is to try out for a
part. Enough participation will
lead to a membership in the
Wesleyan Players which is an
honorary, educatiotial group.
An added feature will be a
guest director, Mr. William A.
Rawls, who has had previous
experience in the New York Thea
ter. Although Mr, Rawls is no
longer in the theater profession
ally his interest, nevertheless,
still lies strongly in this dir
ection and Dr. Batchelor hopes
that the players’ experience in
working with him will be a fruit
ful one.
LTUESDAY. FEBRUARY 2. 1965
Attention!
On February 4, 1965 there will
be a meeting sponsored by the
North Carolina Wesleyan Col
lege Young Republicans. The
purposes of the club will be an
nounced at this the first meeting
of 1965. There will be a guest
speaker on a subject revelant to
current social problems in this
state and in the nation. The time
will be 8:00, and the meeting
place will be announced and also
posted on the doors of the Ad
ministration building on the night
of the 4th.
All Democrats, Republicans,
and non party aligned members
of the college and Rocky Mount
area are invited.
Dr. 3atclie!or discusses with
the Wesleyan players.
Ed L«wis the Spring Season of
(1 and 2) It is the general
opinion that the food could be im
proved by the removal of excess
grease and water. It is also felt
that the food is adequate or
superior in quality when pur
chased, but becomes sub-stan
dard during preparation.
Mrs. Vanderslice stated
that excess water did produce
a messy plate and that she would
reinstruct her help to exercise
more care in draining the food
during the serving. Excess
grease , it was determined, came
not from the cooking, but from
the draining of the food. Steps
will be taken to correct this.
As for the quality of the food,
it was acknowledged that mass
preparation of food did somewhat
lower the quality but that this
is a problem with any institu
tion. (3) As for alleviating the
problem of quantity the students
feel that : (a) Larger portions
could be served when a student
initially passes through the line;
(b) The line be kept open five
or ten minutes after closing,
for anyone who desires seconds.
Also there was a suggestion to
install a “mechanical cow,’'
Here (part a) it was pointed
out the adequate portions were
served but that many students
return their plates relatively un
touched, therefore, wasting a lot
of food. Also, a student can
return for “seconds” after the
rest of the student body has been
served. As for part b., the line
is kept open for such a per
iod ( or is supposed to be kept
open) after the cafeteria is clos
ed for anyone who desires second
servings. Meat is the most ex
pensive item on the menu and
there are always two meats; a
“preferred” and a “second”.
Everyone may get one serving
of the “preferred”. If seconds
are desired, the “second” will
be given to them. Mrs. Vander
slice said that she would see
about getting a larger percen
tage of the “preferred” in or
der that seconds of this will be
served rather than the “second.”
This, however, may not be feas-
able—they do operate under a
budget, (4) It seems that some
of the cafeteria help is always
pushing the students to decide
what they want, but the tone of
such a request often causes a
student to return a comment,
thus again slowing up the line.
A posted menu and labeling of
the foods would prevent time-
consuming decisions at the count
er also an occasional smile does
not seem unreasonable.
The answer to the first part
of this and the (very last) seems
to lie with the students. It was
pointed out that constant remarks
to the staff every day, three
times a day would be enough to
demoralize anyone, and that per
haps the occasional smile should
pertain to the student too.
As regards the second part,
menus are now being posted and
it is hoped that these will ser
ve their desired purpose.
C5) The planned weekly menu
offers little or no variety as is
evident by the fact that the same
meals appear on the same day
of each week.
(a ) The suggestion has been
that, when seafood is offered as
the Friday meal, at least one
other meat should be offered also.
If a student does not want fish
he should be allowed to have a
meal of shrimp or scallops,
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