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North Carolina Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, North Carolina 27804
NEWS & OPINION
February 5,2007
Opinion; Regarding College’s
Controversial Hat Policy
By Jessica Autumne Smith
Decree Staff Writer
So, by now you have probably '
noticed the new signs around campus
proclaiming hats as strictly forbidden, ta
boo. and prohibited. The policy and signs
have always been there, but these new
signs are more noticeable for they have
yet to be damaged by the wind and rain.
Off hand, if I had to take a guess, 1 would
say that the hat policy is largely ignored,
assuming most people even know about
it. I wear a hat almost
everyday; no one has
ever said a word. 1 see
other students in the
hallways, classrooms,
and elsewhere with
their preferred choice
of headgear, be it a ball
cap, do-rag, beret or
toboggan. Those who
"obey” the hat rule don’t seem to care
one way or the other if the person sitting
next to them does the same.
The rule forbidding headgear from
the Dunn Center is understandable under
certain circumstances. Most of the events
held in the Dunn Center are “black-tie”
occasions. But elsewhere on campus? In
the cafeteria, where students just want to
hang out for a while before getting back to
the books? In the Braswell Administration
"...pajamas are
permissible, but
hats seem to be
intolerable."
Building, where most of time students are
just passing through? In the classroom,
where pajamas are permissible, but hats
seem to be intolerable?
Also, the hat policy is largely un
enforceable. As I have already observed,
most people, including myself, (if they
are aware of the policy) do not comply
with it. Making a rule that one is unable
to enforce just works to undermine one’s
authority. In my personal opinion, since
it is already as if the hat
policy did not exist, it
would be best to repeal
it or proclaim it null
and void. There really
is no point in fighting
a lost battle; and if the
policy is removed, then
it is no longer able
to work against the
authority structure. I will probably still
wear my hat regardless, just because it’s
my hat, and I think I should choose when
and where I wear it.
Besides, with all the excitement
and debate over the UNC—Rocky
Mount issue, this unenforceable hat
policy seems a very trivial matter, one
best put to rest and taken off the books.
. Vi.-
The Decree
since I960 ‘'of, by, and for the Wesleyan community.”
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Dr. Heather Louch streaks out a Petri dish of bacteria in the new biology lab, located on the first floor of
Gravely Science. The lab opened last fall after summer-long renovations that transformed two classrooms
Associate Professor Erica Kosal noted that the biology faculty and students have enjoyed the increased
space and comfort as well as the modern equipment in the lab, which has been designed for upper-level
biology courses. Decree Staff Photo
New Work by NC Wesleyan Poets
Keep Looking Back, so You Can
Keep Looking Ahead
By Amanda L^di
sitting there remembering.
Of a time long ago, yet
juHadayago.
These memories keep the
paJl alive, hut the pall is dead.
The memories are dead.
If memories keep the paM alive,
then we are living in the paSi.
If both are dead, then we
are the living dead.
Can this be trtie?
Waiting away for what has been...
How can we change?
It's in our nature.
Why cant we move on?
I remember sitting there,
sitting there remembering.
Forever, in the depths of my
living Hell
Forever, chained to the paM.
The real queHion is: do
we want to break free?
Can we... if we wanted to?
I get up, hut the chains cause
me to fall hack.
Icry
Are the tears from the memories?
Or, are they my knowledge of the prison?
A ball of chain made entirely
of water with some salt.
The water made from the holes in
my lower eyelids, that are aBivated
by every fmSrating saddening thing
life has thrown at me.
But, are these things only fruSkating
because they prevent lifefrom being what it
used to he?
Don’t our memories get warped
by the present circumBances?
If a loved one died moUpeople
say he’s a saint
The realperson gets warped
into anotherfantasy that
humans are continuously creating.
The truth is life isn’t a
bucket of popcorn and a large soda
that is frequently bought by the American
The truth is life hurts the beH of us
I remember sitting there,
sitting there remembering
of a time bngago.
A time when little children
when there were no cares,
when the world seemed juS
about perfeB.
Perfed? What is Perfell?
Life is perfeB, and large,
and wondrous,
for moU children.
Innocence l^ me high
and dry early but that
doesn’t mean it would have Bayed.
Sin is what ChriSians call it,
but is sin?
Why blame humans and not
God like the atheiSs do?
Pain, pain.
Death, death.
Hate, hate.
Is this what life holds for
all those bom of man?
I have known little happiness,
KING frompg.1
to hang out with those of a different color
than me,” she commented, noting that
it is more interesting for her to find our
commonalities. “King put a stop to all of the
separation and that’s the reason our com
munity (Rocky Mount) is so diverse now.”
Among the NC Wesleyan partici
pants were two student organizations,
the Sisters of Distinction and the Student
African American Brotherhood (SAAB).
Their photographs are up for display on
CampusCruiser under the announcements
section. Look for “NCWC at MLK
Celebration.”
but enough to know.
To know why I hold on,
why I sit here remembering
why everyone sits in their own
chairs remembering of happier,
more joyous times.
I sit here remembering
sitting there remembering
so that I don’t ever lose sight
“Dissolve”
By Hannah Smith
Life is as dry as the old leaves in fall
for those of us who hold onto lies.
We pull from the hat hoping jir a rabbit
but we draw out our hands with nothing hut tit
, So we tell ourselves that life is okay
we’ll make it in the end somehow,
but the lonely nights lying in bed
always convince us otherwise.
We walk the world searching for answers
digging so deep, but not deep enough.
And know that if we could only push harder
dig deeper, climb higher, we’ll find the answer.
The answer never comes, though,
and we’re left alone with our thoughts
They invade our serenity and bring forth the pm
which digs deeper arul never goes away.
And everyday we accept this pain
we tell ourselves things we hope are true
and grab the mask of happiness and hope it hiki
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The life in us is crumpled and dry
and we Sbmp it and squeeze it until it’s only crumk
How do we expeS to live like this?
It's impossible as you lie dissolving in the grass
UNC-RM from pg.1
system, it is going against my reason
for choosing” NC Wesleyan. However,
she agrees that an increase in campus
programs would benefit the students
because of “how boring it can be with
nothing to do over the weekends.”
Not only would students lose
the low teacher-to-student ratio, but it
will become harder for students to get
accepted to the school, because, after the
change, it might accept fewer high-risk
students, or those with lower high GPAs
and SAT scores. One anonymous student
stated “on a day-to-day basis I hear that
the school lets in every body. If it were
not for NCWC giving me a chance, I
would not be here today. Not all high-risk
students are here simply to have fun or
play a sport. Some of us want to rectify
out slack behavior in high school and be
all we can be now.”