Newspapers / North Carolina Wesleyan University … / March 5, 1999, edition 1 / Page 1
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/ north CAROLINA ESLEYAN COLLEGE Rocky Mount, N.C. THE pc t4G' ».P.E cT' ' 17/ 1.. oc ECREE* IvOL. 14, NO. 10 ^^Wesleyan^s Student Voice Since 1984^^ FRIDAY, MARCIi5rl999' SGA adopts tight budget for spring On Feb. 25, the Student Gov- •fnmeni Association Senate met '0 decide on the proposed Spring budget as submitted by the Fi nance Committee. After only brief discussion and minor resistance, the Senate passed a budget of $58,500 for 16 organizations. As SGA President Justin Renville put it, “once again the Finance Committee had done well considering the tough job they had.” Starting with requests of more than $105,000 from the same 16 groups, the Finance Committee had tQ do some serious work to get the amount down to the $59,000 that was the Spring Al lotment. Yet they were able to succeed, coming in with the bud get that left $500 for the contin gency fund. In having to cut almost the same amount as the allotment, a number of the organizations’ bud gets took significant reductions. Renville commented that the re ductions were having a number of the organizations consider fund-raising opportunities to make up the shortfall. He also pointed out that it could have been worse but that a number of organizations didn’t turn in budget requests this se mester. Renville added that it wasn’t as if the organizations didn’t have money because the majority of those not turning in budgets still had money left from Fall semester. When asked about the fact that between the two semesters, there was over $200,000 in requested funds and only $119,000 in allot ted funds. President Renville agreed there was a problem. He went on to say that a couple of ways to help cut down the size of the requests was for organiza tions to work together. This would mean more dollars would get spread around and would also re duce the amount of overlapping requests. Spring 1999 Budget (Approved Feb. 25) Requested Approved B.A.C.C.H.U.S. $1,000 S500 Black Student Association 1,125 800 Campus Activities Board 29,790 26,000 Campus Life 850 500 Decree 6,184 4,900 Dissenter 3,000 1,500 Fellowship of Christian Athletes 500 300 Gospel Choir 1,125 800 Greek Council 13,550 3,000 Intramural Sports 23,000 10,000 Non-Resident Student Organization 2,300 700 Phi Beta Lambda 5,251 2,250 Psych Club. 1,000 500 Senior Class 8.000 2,600 Student Government Assoc. 8.500 4,000 S.N.C.A.E. 190 150 Totals $105,365 $58,500 Totals Disbursed S58,500 Total Allotted 559,000 Contingency Fund S500 Previous Contingency 56,144.30 Total Contingency 56,644.30 College no longer recognizes Nu Gamma Phi “Therefore, North Carolina Wesleyan College, effective this date, no longer recognizes the ex istence of Nu Gamma Phi Frater nity.” That is how the last line of a letter read that Nu Gamma Phi President Albert Breund received from Vice President and Dean of Studpnt Life, Dr. Tyrone Bledsoe, on Feb. 17. And truly it was the bottomline. What brought all this about was another letter Bledsoe had received at the beginning of the *eek from a Nu Gamma Phi pledge. In this letter, the pledge sieged a number of hazing inci dents. Among the activities cited *ere: alcohol misuse, including l^'nge drinking; verbal abuse; physical threats; and requirements participate in self-demeaning activities. A number of these ac tivities were actually spelled out in a 'pledge manual,” a copy of '*'hich was also submitted by the pledge. (A pledge in Greek terms is a person who demonstrates the ini- jiai desire to become a member y pledging” but hasn’t been for mally inducted or initiated.) After a brief investigation, Bledsoe, “acting in the best in terest of the College as an official of the College,” found sufficient cause to act immediately by inform ing Nu Gamma Phi that Wesleyan College would no longer recognize the orgbanization as a frater nity. In identifying the “College’s responsibility to ensure the safety and security of all members of our commu nity with particular emphasis on students,” Bledsoe went on to state that “the conduct of (Nu Gamma Phi’s) members does not reflect the College’s goal.” Also included in the sanctions was the provisions that Nu Gamma Phi would cease to participate in any future rush programs as well as any Greek Council-related activi ties. In speaking with The Decree about the matter, Bledsoe ex plained that as a result of the “ces sation of recognition,” the inves tigation regarding the organiza tion as a whole had been com pleted. However, his office was still looking into the matter in or der to determine if there was any personal liability on the part of any of the fraternity members. That means the possibility still exists of individual charges be ing handed out. Bledsoe went on to explain that this incident came at an awkward time as his office had been at tempting since December to work with Nu Gamma Phi on going national. It had been a goal of Bledsoe’s to have the Greek organizations all go na tional. (“Going national” implies that a Greek orga nization becomes affili ated with a national Greek organization.) At present, Nu Gamma Phi was just a local chapter with no na tional affiliation, the only non-national Greek organi zation remaining on campus. However, Bledsoe wanted it clear that it was-definitely the misuse of alcohol and the hazing as well as some of the material found in the “pledge manual” that was highly derogatory that moti vated his action. This point is quite the bone of contention for the brothers of Nu Gamma Phi. In an interview with Albert “Al” Breud and Rocco Danella of Nu Gamma Phi. both expressed concern that difficul ties in finding a national affilia tion may in fact have played a role in what happened to their fraternity. As Breud and Danella explained, Nu Gamma Phi had been put on notice that if they did not have the ball rolling (on go ing national) by the end of the semester, they would be in dan ger of losing their charter. Danella, Nu Gamma Phi Vice President, said that while “they (Nu Gamma Phi) hold no grudge against the pledge for what he did,” the brothers feel frustrated in trying to find out exactly why all of this happened. He went on to express frustration that the brothers and those supporting Nu Gamma Phi had been stymied in their attempts to find out more about the incident or even express their support for the fraternity. Breud. the current chapter president, likewise expressed frustration over this matter. As he explained, Nu Gamma Phi has been around 32 years, since 1967, and he and Danella have been involved in the last three years. Breud said he had no knowledge as to the other times the Student (Continued on Back Page)
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