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North Carolina Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, North Carolina 27804
OPINION
March 14, 2008
Issue In-Focus: What Changes Would You Make at NC Wesleyan?
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Decree staffers were asked to respond to the
following: What changes would you make at
Wesleyan in the following areas: campus and
facilities, rules and regulations, course offering and
majors, student body, and “other.” Here are their
responses:
CAMPUS & FACimiES
Jarad Brown
The campus has a beautiful exterior with
blooming trees, plush grass, and even a flowing
fountain. Unfortunately its outside appeal does not
carry through inside the campuses walls. While
some facilities are great, such as the Dunn Center
or the Hartness Center, other buildings seem to be
in shambles. The is especially true with the dorms,
which have writing on the walls, plumbing that is
mediocre at best, rooms that look like jail cells, and
an overall rundown appearance.
Building new dorms would be out of the
question, but improvements to the current dorms
are more than viable. A start would be to make sure
showers and sinks drain properly and toilets flush
properly. Also doing something to era.se the graffiti
in stalls and on walls would help tremendously.
Inside the rooms, the college could add a fresh coat
of paint possibly a new color, as well as new, or
at lea.st improved furniture—anything to change
where students "have to live” into a place they
actually don’t mind being.
Joyce Collins
I would definitely move the grill back to the
Hartness Center. Almost every student who was
here when they had the grill in the Hartness Center
would agree that it was much better than the way it
is now. Before the grill was moved, there was better
quality of food and more choices, and you could
actually purcha.se groceries for your dorm room.
In addition, since the Carlton House was sold, that
money should go to building another dorm similar
to it, that’s off campus as well. Perhaps the college
could build suites or something that is modem but
different than die other residence halls.
Kyaire Daniels
There is nothing about the physical makeup of
the campus that I would change. The classic brick
buildings, mixed with the modem elements of the
newer buildings (Gateway Technology, The Dunn
Center, Bodie and Centura Halls), and the wooded
backdrop, give the campus an “authentic” college
feeling. I would like it if more businesses were
located within walking distance of campus. With
us being located on the outskirts of town, we don’t
get to enjoy all that the city has to offer and many
local businesses could benefit from our paUonage.
It would make the campus a more open and lively
place and not so closed off by the brick barricade
that separates us from the rest of the community.
Jenna Davis
The biggest part of Wesleyan that I think needs
to be changed is the activities for students. There
just aren’t a whole lot of unplanned activities for
students, activities diat students can find to do on
campus at any time. The Hartness Center is nice,
but they definitely shouldn’t have moved the grill to
the cafeteria. The grill was a lot nicer when it was
in the Hartness Center. Also, the Hartness Center is
too small to house a lot of student.s, so when a few
students go over there to play pool, a lot of other
students have nothing else to do.
Meghan Herd
1 diink that we have a very beautiful campus but
diat some of our buildings and especially our dorm
rooms are not up to par. We have many facilities
on campus that are kept clean but that have many
maintenance problems. It’s not uncommon to find
windows that don’t open, malfunctioning toilets,
leaks from ceilings, and broken desks. 1 believe that
if the price of tuition is going to keep going up, then
we need to make changes to the little things in order
to keep our school appealing to applicants.
Jade Johnson
As far as the campus and facilities, I would
make upgrades to the dorms and cla.ssroom
buildings. I think that NCWC provides a visually
great campus but it could be improved upon.
Making more spacious aaommodations in the
dorms would be a change that 1 would like to take
place as well as adding more technology to each
of the classrooms. I think that all of the classrooms
should be outfitted with wider desks so that it
would provide a more comfortable workspace for
all students.
Chris Ochoa
I would change the Hartness Center so that
students could have a better place to spend their
time on campus. The Hartness Center should
be larger and have more recreational activities
available. The student center is practically the only
place on campus where students can spend dieir
leisure time and still most of them do not. They
do not utilize the center because there are not any
benefits of using it that stand out NCWC should
consider moving the grill back to the Hartness
Center and provide more areas where students can
participate in a variety of activities. These activities
can include more video game consoles, arcades,
private study rooms, foosball, table hockey, and
other activities that one would find at a student
center at other colleges. •
James Randolph
The biggest issue widi Wesleyan is just
that—Wesleyan has refused to become big. For
some reason, expansion has been treated as a sin
by many members of the Wesleyan community.
Instead of searching for the means to engage in
new endeavors, whether they are establishing new
buildings, improving old ones, or even simply
adding uses for the present facilities, it seems that
Wesleyan has become complacent, even indifferent,
when it comes to the use of our facilities. Last year,.
there was a Step-show hosted by a group of other
school organizations...and that was probably the
biggest event at our own DUNN CENTER!!! I
can’t be the only one who sees a problem with that.
We don’t use our own facilities to our advantage
and that is a major problem.
RULES & REGULATtONS
Jarad Brown
The rules in place here are actually very toler
able and nothing really jumps out at me that needs
to be changed for the betterment of the student
body The no-hat in buildings rule is disconcerting,
but that is more of a non-issue than anything.
However there are areas that need major revision.
The requirements for acceptance need to be raised
and the college should really put more emphasis
on looking at a student and figuring what kind of
student they are going to be in college. Obviously
The Decree
since / 960 “of, by, and for the Wesleyan community. ”
Co-Editors
Jenna Davis
Chris Ochoa
STAFF
Assistant Editor
James Randolph
Staff Writers
Nastasia Burnette
Julianne Cyr
Kyaire Daniels
Dianne Daugherty
Kinnberly Garrett
Meghan Herd
Brandon Jones
Amanda Landi
Kimberly McCorkle
Opinion Page Editor
Jessica Smith
Sports Editor
Jade Johnson
Sports Writers
Ashley Ball
Jarad Brown
IVlikey Case
Brock Griffin
Campus Life Editor
Joyce Collins
Photographer
Kathleen Penrod
Cartoonist
Lorenzo Whitley
Special Contributors
Anthony DeGregorio
Matthew Esterline
Grace Wallace
Faculty Advisor
Dr. William Grattan
171 Braswell • Phone: 985-5336
Email: WJGrattan@ncwc.edu
Associate Sports Editor
Trevor Seibert
Jhe Decree office is on the first floor of the Hartness Center.
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represent the individual author’s views, and not
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the college can’t predict how every student will
turn out. But a bad high school student isn’t going
to magically become a good college student. The
college has been “broke” since I arrived and I
realize that this necessitates getting more students
for more tuition; however, time spent on finiing
students who will be here four or five years and get
a degree are financially better for the college than
someone who fails out or is on the verge of failing
out after one or two semesters.
Joyce Collins
One rule that I absolutely disagree with is the
policy of being approved to move off of campus.
This rule is pointless to me. If a student decides that
he/she no longer wants to live in a residence hall,
then by all means they should be free to go. I feel
as if this is another way for Wesleyan to continue
to get money from students, because if you are
not approved to move off campus, then you will
continue to be charged room and board.
Kyaire Daniels
I think that Wesleyan should raise their
enrollment standards and include an interview in
the admissions process. It should .start recruiting for
sports other than football and consider recruiting
for academic programs. I think that if we built a
strong academic program, then we would get more
attention and more students would be interested in
attending Wesleyan.
Jenna Davis
I think that the rules and requirements are fine.
Meghan Herd
I believe that for the most part Wesleyan does
not have too many rules for the student body to
follow and the ones that are being given should
be easy for adults to follow. However, 1 do feel
that the no-hat policy is a little too strict for
college students and could use some modifying.
Not allowing students to wear hats in most of the
buildings and the classrooms is understandable but
not allowing students to wear hats in the cafeteria
is not. We allow students to wear hats practically
everywhere—at games and Dunn Center events, in
the library, and in the Taylor center but not when
we are eating in the cafeteria with friends. It makes
no sense.
Jade Johnson
I think that the rules at NCWC are somewhat
fair and are put in place to benefit the student
population. One that I would change would be
the attendance policy. I don’t think that as college
students we should be allotted a certain number of
classes that we can miss. 1 feel at this point in our
lives it would be our own responsibility to make it
to class each day.
Chris Ochoa
The rule that says one cannot move off campus
until he or she has completed 51 credit hours should
be changed. Wesleyan should allow students to
move off campus after the first year. Since there
is almost nothing to do on campus, then students
should not be forced to stay on campus for half of
their undergraduate career. The least Wesleyan can
do is allow students to live off campus l^fore their
junior year.
James Randolph
The rales and requirements I think are part of
tradition at Wesleyan. I don’t see any that really
cause students or faculty trouble in their day-to-day
routine. Although there are things I would change
like the pestering mles like the hat-policy or the
awkward library hours, I don’t see any serious
issues.
COURSE OFFERINGS & MAJORS
Jarad Brown
The College does do a good job as far as what
majors are available and what courses are available.
I would like to see some classes offered a little more
often, such as creative writing or some of the jour
nalism classes. Some courses are offered once every
two years and that makes it a little hard for someone
who decides on a major late to still graduate on
time. I would also like to see journalism offered as a
major, though I’m not sure how much interest there
is among students to major in journalism.
Joyce Collins
I would like for Wesleyan to offer foreign lan
guages, such as Spanish and French. I am interested
in learning to speak Spanish fluently; therefore, I
have to go to another school or participate in some
kind of program that offers Spanish coursework.
Wesleyan can mislead students into thinking that
a foreign language is offered—Hispanic Studies is
listed in the catalog—but the ttuth is that there are
no courses offered.
Kyaire Daniels
I think that we could offer a bigger variety of
majors and academic programs. We should have
majors for marketing, joumalispi, foreign language,
communication, and art. I would also hire more
professors for the majors that we already offer to
increase the variety of courses. I think that a bigger
staff of professors would allow classes to be offered
on a regular basis and students would be able to
consider a variety of career possibilities without the
fear of missing a once-every-million-year class.
Jenna Davis
I would like to see more majors at Wesleyan like
athletic training or even photography. Majors such
as these would bring a new variety to Wesleyan and-
attract a lot more students.
Meghan Herd
Wesleyan offers many great majors but it would
be nice to see more. Majors such as communica
tions and foreign languages would be a positive
addition to Wesleyan. I think that offering more
majors would make Wesleyan more attractive and
could draw more students.
Jade Johnson
The majors at the college should be expanded,
in my opinion. We should try to include majors that
larger colleges and universities are offering. That
would help to bring students to the college. I think
that a lot of students would benefit from a larger
music program as well as a communications major.
Chris Ochoa
Wesleyan should offer a pre-law program and
other graduate degree-seeking tracks for students.
Many students plan to continue on to graduate
school and I do not think Wesleyan promotes that
type of mindset. I am a justice studies major and I
want to go to law school, but I had to pay a large
amount of money to’a professional tutor to help
me prepare for the Law School Admission Test
and also learn about the application process to law
school. Wesleyan should offer courses and even
majors that help prepare students for graduate
degree programs.
James Randolph
Expansion, expansion, expansion!!! I can’t
say enough about how much more diverse, how
much more academically and socially developed
Wesleyan would be if the faculty and students were
willing to give way to expansion. Most students
remember the messy UNC-Rocky Mount ordeal...
Well, maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea. If we
could get more degree programs...i.e. a journalism
or communications major to improve the very
paper we are writing now, a foreign language
program, physics, or biochemistry, if we could offer
any one of these programs it would likely increase
admissions and a larger student body makes for a
larger population of people capable of assisting the
entire campus in its development.
STUDENT BODY
Jarad Brown
The student body is the thing on campus that
could undergo the most renovation. An effort
to bring in more well-rounded students would
help, but most of the change needs to be student
initiated. We need students who are more involved
in bringing activities to the campus or participating
in them once they are available. A stronger student
voice is also needed.
Joyce Collins
Within Wesleyan’s student body, I would like
to see more campus participation. It’s hard to argue
that we need more activities on campus when there
is not consistent attendance.
Kyaire Daniels
I would like to see a more diverse student body
at Wesleyan. AlUiough we do have a variety of
cultural backgrounds it’s safe to say that we are still
limited. It’s easy to pinpoint a student to a particular
major and/or sport. Which can be called stereotyp
ing, but it’s the trath. Students from Afiican, Latin,
or Caribbean backgrounds can be attributed to
soccer, while a majority of African American male
students either play basketball or football. As for
the female population, well, it’s hard to say because
there are so few here in the first place.
Jenna Davis
I believe we have a great student body It’s
diverse and there is a great blend of interesting
people.
Meghan Herd
NCWC has had in the past a pretty diverse
group of students, which I think adds culture to
our campus. I think that it is important to continue
recruiting students from all backgrounds. And
keeping up with programs such as our Finland
exchange is very important.
Jade Johnson
I think that the student body here is a diverse one
and it is becoming more so as the years go by. The
exchange program with Finland has brought in a
couple of students from a more diverse background
than what we are used to seeing here at Wesleyan.
I think that more programs such as that will help to
increase the diversity at the college. It would also
help the students to learn about different cultures.
Chris Ochoa
If I could help change something about the
student body at Wesleyan, then I would want to
make all the students more active in organizations.
Students should be more active in campus life
and want to make changes that will help other
students. 1 would want the Students to pull their
numbers and use their power to help change rales
and regulafions. Overall, I would want the students
at Wesleyan to be more ambitious and passionate
about their education and opportunity
James Randolph
Expansion...that pretty much covers it. The
more students we get, the more money we get—the
more money we get, the easier it is to expand. The
male-female ratio is also terrible here. As I stated
in a previous response, when half of the entire
- on-campus population consists of football players,
the rest of the campus gets a little boring while
they practice...that could be an incentive for some
of the extra-legal and less-than-condoned activity
constantly occurring around campus. Without
growth, it will and can only get worse.
OTHER IDEAS
Nastasia Burnette
Things haven’t ever changed for the better
here and I don’t believe that anything is going to
change here at Wesleyan. Me saying what should
be changed about our school would be a waste of
time because I can’t do anything about it. I will just
say that everything—the buildings, classes, rales,
staff, student body, and campus—is the way that
the President wants it to be. However, if all of my
credits could transfer allowing me to be considered
a junior at a better school closer to home, then I
would just change schools.
Joyce Collins
Gabe Raynor should be rehired as a staff
member. When Raynor was working here, the quan
tity and quality of campus activities were better.
Jenna Davis
I have been impressed with the new intramural
program. I think it has incorporated a lot of new
activities into the Wesleyan campus and has gained
the interest of the student body. It finally gave us
something else to do on campus since Rocky Mount
doesn’t really have a lot to offer students. All in all,
I don’t believe there is much I would change about
Wesleyan. I’ve enjoyed my four years here and
wouldn’t change a thing.
Chris Ochoa
The graduation application fee should be
included in tuition. Over the four-year period that it
takes to graduate, students pay an outrageously high
amount for tuition every year. After four years of
paying, a student, like me, would have contributed
about $60,000 towards Wesleyan for tuition. I
definitely feel like I did not receive a $60,000
education and experience. The least Wesleyan can
offer is to include the graduation application fee in
the tuition. It feels like the school is just trying to
drain even more money out of my pockets.
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